Healthcare · free · about 4 minutes
Get the Referral Scheduled in One Business Day: The 8-Check Referral Intake Scorecard for Specialty Clinics Nationwide
The referral faxed Tuesday. The patient called another clinic Thursday because nobody had called them yet. The referral source remembers which clinic left their patient waiting. It happens wherever the referral queue has no named owner.
The Healthcare Referral Intake Scorecard is a free, self-scoring checklist of eight checks for clinics and specialty practices nationwide, run remotely across the United States by Rodgers Intelligence Group, based in Denver, Colorado. Mike Rodgers wrote the checks and answers every question himself. Each check is a written rule: it says what in place looks like and gives a stated fix when the check fails.
Your answers never leave this page. The scorecard runs in your browser. Nothing is stored, nothing is sent, and there is no email field. Demonstration, not a client result.
The 8-check scorecard
Answer each check. Your result updates as you go. If a check is missing or partial, its fix appears underneath. The result is a finished document you keep: a score, a verdict and a fix list, and the eight checks on this page are the written rulebook behind it.
-
Check 1
Referrals land in one monitored queue
In place Fax, portal, phone and email referrals arrive in a single place that a named person owns every morning.
If it fails Name the owner and the queue today. Unowned referrals are the most expensive free revenue in the building. (about 10 minutes)
-
Check 2
Every referral is logged with date and source
In place Received date and referring office are recorded at capture, so leakage is a number you can see instead of a feeling.
If it fails One row per referral in one sheet: date, source, status. You cannot measure leakage until it is written down. (about 15 minutes)
-
Check 3
Eligibility and benefits are checked before the scheduling call
In place Staff know the coverage answer before they call, so the patient is not scheduled into a denial.
If it fails Run eligibility at capture, not at arrival. Most practice systems do this in two clicks once someone is assigned. (about 20 minutes)
-
Check 4
Contact happens within one business day
In place First outreach happens next business day, with a documented attempt when nobody answers.
If it fails Set a rule: every referral gets a call attempt by the next business day and two attempts are logged before it sleeps. One rule, no new software. (about 5 minutes)
-
Check 5
Scheduling picks the right provider and slot type
In place New consult, procedure or follow-up is matched to the correct visit type at scheduling, not at check-in.
If it fails Write the slot-type rules on one page for schedulers. Wrong slot types waste the provider's afternoon and the patient's day. (about 25 minutes)
-
Check 6
Records and orders are requested at scheduling
In place Outside records and the signed order go out at the moment the appointment is created.
If it fails Move the records request to the booking step in your checklist. Day-of-visit record hunts are the slowest hour in the clinic. (about 10 minutes)
-
Check 7
The referring office gets confirmation
In place The referring office hears back that their patient is scheduled and later what happened. That is what keeps the referral stream open.
If it fails Send a one-line confirmation to the referring office at scheduling. It costs a minute and it is the cheapest marketing in healthcare. (about 2 minutes)
-
Check 8
Referrals over five days old get escalated
In place Anything unworked past five days shows up on a list somebody has to answer for.
If it fails Add a five-day aging column and review it at the Monday huddle. Referral leakage is almost always measured in days, not in intent. (about 10 minutes)
Fix these, in this order:
What your score means
- 8 of 8: Your referral intake converts. The next gain is upstream: measure referring-office volume and close the loop with the top five sources.
- 6-7 of 8: Leakage is timing, not capacity. Fix the two failing checks; most are ownership and one-page rule edits.
- 5 or fewer: You are paying for referrals you never receive. Fix checks 1, 2 and 4 first: one queue, one log, next-business-day contact.
What the current process costs
Nobody sends a bill for the current process, which is why it survives. The work lands on the referral coordinator or the clinic manager covering the queue, and the eight fixes above carry their own minutes. Add the minutes for the checks that failed on your scorecard and multiply by what an hour of that time costs you. The answer is your own number for one week of referrals, and you are the only person who can compute it.
Hold that number against the routes on this page. Fixing the checks yourself costs the minutes printed on each fix. The RIG One-Workflow Review is a $3,500 fixed fee, with a written readout within ten business days after required access, and the readout is yours to use with any vendor or internally. Fewer than three failing checks says the fix list is the right route; three or more says the workflow is worth a written look.
Frequently asked questions
What is the Healthcare Referral Intake Scorecard?
It is a free, self-scoring checklist of eight checks for clinics and specialty practices nationwide. Each check states what in place looks like and gives a plain-language fix with a minutes estimate when it fails. You finish with a score, a verdict and a fix list.
How long does it take?
About four minutes. You answer each check as in place, partial or missing, and the score and verdict update as you go.
Where do my answers go?
Nowhere. The scorecard runs in your browser: nothing is stored or sent and there is no email field. Your result appears on the page and stays with you.
What happens after the score, and what does the next step cost?
Fixing the checks yourself costs nothing beyond the minutes each fix carries, and the free 12-check Client Intake Test Kit needs no email. If three or more checks fail, the RIG One-Workflow Review is a $3,500 fixed fee with a written readout within ten business days after required access; it is not a retainer, and details are at rodgersintelligence.com/workflow-review.
More questions, answered directly
What does my score mean?
The score counts the checks that are in place. The verdict under it says whether the workflow or the effort is the problem, and the fix list names the failing checks in the order to take them.
Do I have to buy anything to use this scorecard?
No. The scorecard is free and the answers stay in your browser, and the free 12-check Client Intake Test Kit needs no email. The One-Workflow Review is a $3,500 fixed fee, with a written readout within ten business days after required access, for the case where the workflow is the problem rather than the effort.
We are a specialty clinic inside a large system. Does referral intake still apply?
The eight checks run from referral received to scheduled visit, which is the surface your referral sources judge you on. The scorecard measures the workflow your clinic runs, whatever system sits behind it.
Who is behind this scorecard?
Rodgers Intelligence Group, based in Denver, Colorado. Mike Rodgers wrote the eight checks and answers every copied summary sent through rodgersintelligence.com/contact himself. The checks are written rules; nothing on this page is a client outcome.
The next step
1. Fix it yourself (right for most readers)
Every failing check above carries its own fix and a minutes estimate. Three of the eight checks are calendar or template edits you can make this week.
2. Free, ungated kit
The 12-check Client Intake Test Kit covers the whole intake surface, not just this one workflow: rodgersintelligence.com/client-intake-test-kit. No email required.
3. Priced next step, with its cost
If three or more checks fail, the honest read is that the workflow, not your effort, is the problem. The RIG One-Workflow Review is a $3,500 fixed fee, with a written readout within ten business days after required access. It is not a retainer, and you do not need an automation build for the review to be worth the fee. The readout is yours to use with any vendor or internally, and it is not credited against the build price. Details: rodgersintelligence.com/workflow-review.
When not to book it: fewer than three failing checks, no authority to change the workflow, or a project already covering this process. In those cases, fix the checks yourself and re-run this scorecard afterwards.
4. Talk to a human
Send your copied summary through rodgersintelligence.com/contact and you will get a reply from Mike Rodgers, not an autoresponder.