Implementing Automatic Referral
This focus area will walk you through the necessary steps for implementing an automatic referral system in your hospital.
Automatic referral is a proven, evidence-based strategy to increase participation in cardiac rehabilitation (CR). Automatic referral is the systematic, automatic referral of all qualifying patients to CR through the hospital electronic health record (EHR), requiring providers to actively "opt out" to prevent the referral from automatically moving forward.
Automatic referral alone has been shown to increase referral of eligible patients from 32% to 70%.
This set of TAKEheart training materials can help your hospital:
- Identify the key factors to consider when designing, testing, implementing, and troubleshooting an automatic referral system within your hospital’s electronic health record system
- Take the necessary steps to prepare and support staff for implementing automatic referral.
Consolidated Curriculum for Implementing Automatic Referral
This curriculum combines the content from four of the original TAKEheart on-line virtual trainings into:
- a single slide deck that can be customized by users for their own educational or training purposes
- a consolidated implementation guide that provides detailed actionable guidance for implementing the strategies described in the PPT presentation
- a comprehensive resource guide with links to supplemental tools and a comprehensive reference list.
BEFORE YOU BEGIN: Read the USER'S GUIDE (PDF, 416 KB) to learn about how to get the most of out of these materials.
Explore the original TAKEheart trainings and webinars to learn more about how automatic referral can be implemented in your hospital.
Original TAKEheart Training Modules
The consolidated curriculum for Implementing Automatic Referral is a streamlined and restructured set of training materials drawn from two training modules that were originally presented live to a group of hospitals working in real time to implement strategies to increase patient participation in CR.
Hospitals wishing to take a deeper dive into one or more of the topics covered in the consolidated curriculum can view recordings of the expert-led trainings and download the accompanying presentation slides and implementation guides from these two training modules:
- Training Module 5: Building and Implementing a Successful Automatic Referral System
- Training Module 7: Troubleshooting Your Automatic Referral System
Related Webinars From the TAKEheart Learning Community
TAKEheart Learning Community webinars, held between 2020–2022, featured discussions among CR experts and CR champions from diverse hospitals on wide-ranging strategies for improving CR program operations and addressing patient needs. Recorded versions of these webinars as well as the accompanying slides and event summaries are available for download.
Learning Community webinars relating to the topics covered in the Implementing Automatic Referral training curriculum include:
Cerner Q&A
- Stephen Hines, Ph.D., TAKEheart's Training and Technical Assistance Lead, Principal Associate, Abt Associates (Moderator)
- Kathy Lee Bishop, PT, DPT, CCS, FNAP, Board-Certified Cardiovascular and Pulmonary Clinical Specialist, Program Manager, Emory Saint Joseph’s Hospital Cardiac Rehabilitation Program
- Guru Patel, Director, Clinical Informatics, Office of Quality & Risk, Emory Healthcare
This webinar for hospitals with Cerner EHRs was led by a team of Cerner experts and provides answers to common implementation issues from both the clinical and IT perspectives.
Video: Cerner Implementation Issues Question & Answer Session (1:00:02)
Q&A Sessions: EHR Q&A Sessions (PDF, 299 KB)
Slides: Cerner Q&A Session (PDF, 2 MB)
Epic Q&A
- Stephen Hines, Ph.D., TAKEheart's Training and Technical Assistance Lead, Principal Associate, Abt Associates (Moderator)
- Amy Miller, M.D., Ph.D., Chief Health Information Officer (CHIO) at Beth Israel Lahey Health
- David M. Rubins, M.D., Medical Director, Advanced Decision Support, Mass General Brigham Digital Health eCare
This webinar for hospitals with Epic EHRs was led by a team of Epic experts and provides answers to common implementation issues from both the clinical and IT perspectives.
Video: Epic Implementation Issues Q&A Session April 2022 (1:01:29)
Q&A Session: EHR Q&A Sessions (PDF, 299 KB)
Slides: Epic Q&A Session (PDF, 685 KB)
