Referrals are where the health system leaks
Patient referrals are vital to good care. They secure the right diagnosis and treatment plan, second opinions and continuity. But the system is highly fragmented, which makes closing the referral loop difficult — and a referral that does not close is a patient who did not get care.
The number that starts the argument
Source
Figures as reported in Cad Care Aid Foundation, Appendix B — Organisation Associates, citing the Institute for Healthcare Improvement and the National Patient Safety Foundation. Categories overlap; a provider may use more than one route.
Six pages
The referral problem
What actually breaks, and where.
Read more →Vendor-neutral applications
One network, many systems.
Read more →Closing the loop
Three-way communication that holds.
Read more →Clinical decision support
Automating the routing, not the decision.
Read more →Medical IoT
Shared instruments across care environments.
Read more →Evidence base
The numbers, and what they do and do not show.
Read more →One diagram
Fix a referral pathway.
For hospitals, laboratories and district programmes.