Product Development · Healthcare operations
Build for the person using it between appointments.
Make it easier for clinic staff to manage referrals and follow up with patients.
Discuss a similar challenge01 / The challenge
Where the work began.
A clinic network needed a clearer way to manage incoming referrals. Staff moved between patient calls, scheduling tools, shared inboxes and documents from referring practices.
Missing documents, unanswered calls and changes in ownership were difficult to see. An unresolved referral needed a visible next step, even when the person managing it was interrupted or handed the work to a colleague.
02 / The approach
What we did.
RFA brought together a product manager, service designer and engineer, with referral coordinators and clinic operations staff involved throughout the design process. The product centered on an administrative work queue.
Referral records captured the referring organization, destination service, assigned coordinator, contact attempts, missing requirements and next contact date. Statuses distinguished received, incomplete, ready for scheduling, scheduled and closed records, with explicit reasons for closure.
Queue views surfaced referrals awaiting contact and incomplete submissions. Saved progress and an activity history supported interrupted work and handoffs. Permissions reflected agreed responsibilities across locations, with sensitive information limited to what the workflow required.
Integration requirements were assessed against the clinic’s existing systems and available interfaces. Duplicate checks flagged possible matches for staff review rather than automatically merging patient records.
03 / The scope
What the work covered.
- Administrative referral queue
- Status and handoff design
- Access and integration assessment
- Administrative evaluation plan
04 / The outcome
What the work established
The work established a defined administrative queue, referral states, ownership and contact history. The scope connected those records with saved progress, handoff history and access requirements.
The evaluation plan specified referral aging, completeness, consistency of outreach and administrative handling time. Clinical triage decisions stayed with appropriately qualified staff.
In a clinic, you rarely finish an administrative task without an interruption. Being able to reopen a referral and immediately see what was missing, who owned it, and the next step was the detail that mattered to our staff.