Draft a referral letter with Referral Assist

Why it matters

When you send a patient to a specialist, the specialist needs to know why. Writing that explanation is routine work you repeat for nearly every referral.

Referral Assist is a Magic Button, one of the one-click buttons Tabflows places beside the work they act on (the settings call them smart buttons). It drafts the referral letter from the open chart and places it in Elation's referral form. You check the facts, confirm the recipient and send it.

How it works

Referral Assist appears in Elation's referral pane, the form Elation opens when you start a referral letter. It shows as a REFERRAL ASSIST chip with the Tabflows mark at the top of the pane. You don't install it: Tabflows presents it with the pane. It needs Hide smart buttons turned off and Tasks or Sidekick on your account. Tabflows must also have turned Referral Assist on for your account.

1. Open the referral pane for the patient. Referral Assist starts on its own and shows Drafting....
2. It reads the chart and picks the single referral the chart supports best.
3. The chip shows one line: the suggested specialty and the chart findings behind it.
4. Select Insert. Referral Assist puts the complete letter body in the form and fills the To field from Elation's provider directory for that specialty. The button then reads Inserted ✓. If it couldn't set a To contact at all, the chip says the letter is inserted and asks you to select the To contact manually.
5. Read the letter, edit it, confirm or change the To contact, and send the referral the way you always have.

If the chart doesn't point to a referral, the chip says "No referral suggested from the current chart context." and offers Re-evaluate. If it couldn't draft, for example because the request failed, it says "Could not draft a referral." and offers Retry. If the form couldn't be filled, it says "Could not fill the referral form. Retry to insert again."

What it reads and what it never does

Referral Assist reads up to eight of the newest items in the patient's Elation chart feed, items that require action first. An older finding the referral rests on may not reach the letter, so add it yourself. It also uses a summary of your clinic's Practice Brain, the shared clinic knowledge, for background such as your preferred referral workflow, and your name and practice name for the closing.

When the chart doesn't supply a detail, the draft is set up to leave a bracketed placeholder, such as [Specialist name], for you to fill in. When Tabflows finds a directory contact for the To field, it also writes that contact's name into the letter in place of [Specialist name].

Referral Assist drafts and inserts. That is all it does. The letter sits in your Elation form, where you read it, edit it, pick or confirm the To contact and send it. It does not send, fax or submit the referral.

Check the letter before you send it

• The specialty is the one you intend.
• The reason and the findings match the chart, with the right dates and values.
• No bracketed placeholders are left in the letter.
• The To contact is the specialist you want. Tabflows fills it with a directory match for the specialty, preferring one with a fax or Direct address, or with the first suggestion Elation offers. It may not be your usual specialist.
• The specialist named in the letter matches the To contact.
• The letter says nothing the chart doesn't support.

If you don't see it

Open Elation's referral pane for the intended patient and confirm Hide smart buttons is off. In the Tabflows sidebar, select Settings (the gear), then Clinic settings. Your Profile opens in a new tab, and the switch is in the Sidekick section of Account. Update or refresh Tabflows, then reopen the referral pane. If Referral Assist still doesn't appear, contact Tabflows Support; it may not be turned on for your account.