The Referrals Team adheres to NOAH Policy A.128, which outlines processing times for different referral categories: emergent referrals within one business day, urgent referrals within three to five business days, and routine referrals within two to four weeks.
Up to June 3, the team maintained compliance with all priority status referrals. However, the implementation of our IT transition and the new Epic system posed significant challenges, impacting their workflow. Following the Go Live phase, the team couldn’t process referrals as before. They had to manually enter over 2,500 referrals into Ochin Epic, adapt workflows, and implement workarounds. This was further complicated by being short four team members, and they had to adjust to NOAH’s new phone system.
Upon returning to the office in July, they faced an influx of over 6,000 referrals. Their objective was to regain compliance promptly, leading to ongoing evaluation and modification of assignments and productivity. They introduced new strategies to enable rapid adaptation and tackled the surge in patient calls and complaints by enhancing communication with the Patient Engagement Center, providers, and clinic leaders.
By August, they were over eight weeks behind with routine referrals and two weeks behind with urgent referrals. In early September, their efforts started yielding positive results. As of September 18, the team was fully staffed for the first time ever and only two weeks behind with routine referrals, achieving compliance for both emergent and urgent referrals.
These are the shining stars of the Referrals Team:
- Kimberly Beckert
- Zenaida Ceniceros
- Tim Dedeaux
- Fidel Fadel
- Berenice Hernandez
- Chanya Miranda
- Sandy Morrison
- Jacqueline Mosqueda
- Jhoana Rebolledo
- Darlin aka Vanessa Ruiz
- Cecelia Sisneros
- Leslie Thomas
- Patricia Weiss (Supervisor)
- Claudia Zazueta
This team regularly demonstrates their proficiency with referral knowledge and processing, making a positive impact for patients to receive much needed medical care and treatment.
They have been challenged individually and collectively to Be the Change and as a result have become Stronger Together for NOAH.
