What should we send the referring office after we see their patient?

Referring offices keep score in exactly one currency: what happened to my patient. Most receiving practices pay out in that currency exactly once — the clinical report, eventually. The practices that referrers consolidate around pay three times, briefly, at the three moments the sending office actually wonders. None of the three messages takes a minute to send.

Message one: "Received, we're on it" — same day

One line, the day the referral arrives: "We received your referral for [patient] — our team is reaching out to them today." It answers the question the coordinator hasn't asked yet and marks you, from hour one, as the practice that doesn't need chasing. Almost nobody sends this message, which is exactly why it registers.

Message two: "Scheduled" (or the honest alternative)

When the patient books: "[Patient] is scheduled for [date]." And when they DON'T book — the message that builds more trust than any other: "We've tried [patient] three times over two weeks without connecting. Could you nudge them at their next visit?" The failed-contact note converts a vanished referral into a shared project, and it tells the office you track their patients even when the news isn't tidy. Silence in that situation reads as your failure; the honest note reads as your diligence.

Message three: "Seen, report on the way"

After the visit: seen, report sent (or the date it will be). The coordinator can close their loop and tell the physician. That's the whole system — three one-liners riding the events you already know about, sent automatically or by a named owner, in whatever channel the office prefers.

What never goes in the loop

Clinical detail beyond the formal report, anything the patient wouldn't expect shared, and marketing of any kind — the loop is an operational courtesy between professionals, and one promotional line converts it from service into spam. The loop IS the marketing.

Score your loop today

The free score scores your whole intake — arrival capture, contact speed, persistence, and loop-closing — in three minutes, 0–100, with the monthly cost of the gaps estimated from your own numbers, assumptions labeled. The loop axis is where most practices are surprised.