Caller and Referral Source - Don’t assume they’re the same!
Posted by Mike Ferris on Friday, October 10, 2008 and posted in HospiceQuestion: You get a call from a daughter whose father is in the hospital. She inquires about your service and you schedule a visit. After you hang up, you fill in the referral form. Who do you list as the referral source?
Most hospices code the referral source as “family or friend” because a family member made the call. But how did they hear about you? The only case in which the family/friend is the referral source is:
Or you might assume that the hospital is the referral source because that’s where the patient is. But wouldn’t the hospital call you directly? Unless someone at the hospital actually had a conversation with the family “off the record,” it’s doubtful that they are the referral source in this case.
So what’s the big deal? If you’re trying to assess what marketing strategies have the greatest impact, then you’d better be asking the caller how they happened to call you today!