The process of referring patients from primary to specialty care can be slow and difficult. University of California, San Francisco (UCSF), faculty members at San Francisco General Hospital (SFGH) have developed an electronic system (eReferral) to streamline referrals while also aiding consultations among care providers.

In SFGH’s system, referral requests are submitted electronically and then reviewed by a specialist, who can consult with the referring provider until the clinical issue(s) have been resolved. As a result, in some cases the patient will not need to be seen in person by a specialist. This system has improved the timeliness of specialty care, the appropriateness and completeness of referrals, and the primary care provider’s tracking of referrals.

SFGH has worked with organizations across the country to help launch similar programs in differing settings, such as at the Brigham and Women’s Hospital (BWH) in Massachusetts and the Community Health Center Inc. (CHCI) in Connecticut — a nonintegrated setting.

Learn about SFGH’s eReferral system, how it has been implemented at BWH and CHCI, and the benefits of and barriers to spreading this model. Hear from:

• Alice Chen, chief integration officer, SFGH
• Jeffrey Greenberg, associate medical director, Brigham and Women’s Physicians Organization
• Nicole Jepeal, project manager, CHCI
• J. Nwando Olayiwola, associate director, Center for Excellence in Primary Care, UCSF
• Delphine Tuot, assistant professor of medicine, UCSF Division of Nephrology, SFGH

A recording of the webinar and the presentation slides are available below.