The delivery of primary care services to patients has become increasingly complex over the last 10 years. Alberta’s growing and aging population has created numerous pressure points in many areas of service delivery. Family physicians and their staff have identified referral coordination between family physicians and specialists and other community health organizations to be an area of concern.
Family physician offices are finding it increasingly difficult to, among other issues, access appropriate services and expedite treatment through the health care system. They report a lack of access to information as well as long waiting periods for health assessments with specialists.
In order to help family physicians and their staff deal with these issues, the PCN has developed the Referral Coordination Program.
The purpose of this initiative is to assist physician clinics in scheduling and tracking appointments with specialists, outpatient clinics and other community agencies. To accomplish this task, the LBD PCN has hired 4.0 FTE Referral Coordinators to work in the LBD PCN’s centralized office in Leduc, Alberta.
The Referral Coordinators will advocate for the patient and assist the physicians in making sure patients move through the system as seamlessly as possible, with good quality care, from both within and outside the PCN. They will develop linkages with various community health resources to deal with patients requiring treatment and referral. The Referral Coordinators will develop and manage patient referral programs, confirm appointment details with referring offices as well as initiate, maintain and update the referral database and confidential medical files and records, as indicated.