Self eReferral
Self-referrals are an effective way for patients to submit referrals to participating clinics and physicians. This is typically done in Ocean through Website Forms which can be hosted on a clinic website or sent to a patient via email. These website forms are typically associated with an eReferral listing that is also associated with a FHIR API integration. While this is using the Website Forms, this doesn’t require the Patient Engagement FHIR API integration, as this is solely reliant on the patient’s ability to access the form and send an eReferral. However, in the case of using Patient Authenticated Website Forms, this will require the Patient Engagement FHIR API integration.
Once this is enabled and a self-referral sent, a FHIR payload will be sent to the associated endpoint, however, this payload will differ from other payloads which are sent by a referring provider. They can be distinguished from service provider-initiated referrals because ServiceRequest.requester will reference the PractitionerRole resource of the receiving clinic, and the QuestionnaireResponse.author will reference the Patient resource instead of the sending Practitioner.
A few important pieces to note:
- It’s important to ensure that the form being used for the Self-referrals has a patient demographic section present to collect the patient demographic information as the forms don’t include a demographic pane. Omitting these form questions will cause the Patient resource to be sent in the payload without any associated patient information leading to an “anonymous” referral on the Ocean portal and potentially the EMR.
- Additionally, implementors should confirm with the sites' business stakeholders whether they want patient self-referrals to be processed in the same way as service provider-initiated referrals (e.g. can they create a new referral in the RMS Target/POS or should they only once they have been 'accepted' within the Ocean Portal).
The image below shows the settings required for the Self-referral process:
