Referrals & Session Packages
Refer a patient to another specialty in your clinic, follow them until they start, and sell and count packages of sessions
When a doctor sends a patient to another specialty in the same clinic (for example orthopaedics to physiotherapy, or internal medicine to nutrition), Docistra keeps track of the referral by itself: whether the patient booked, started and finished. Treatments given in several sessions can be sold as a session package and counted visit by visit.
Refer a patient
Tap Refer on the visit
On the visit page, tap Refer in the header. Doctors refer from their own visits.
Fill in the referral
- Specialty: one of your clinic's other specialties.
- Doctor (optional): a specific doctor, or Any doctor of the specialty.
- Diagnosis: filled in from the visit; change it if needed.
- Plan and instructions: what you want done, for example "knee strengthening, no flexion past 90 degrees".
- Suggested sessions (optional).
Tap Refer
The referral is saved. Referrals already made from this visit are listed under Referred from this visit.
If your clinic has no other specialty yet, add that doctor on the Doctors page first.
Referral statuses
The status changes by itself as the patient moves along:
| Status | When |
|---|---|
| Not booked yet | The referral was made, and the patient has no booking with that doctor or specialty yet |
| Booked | The patient has a booking with the doctor, or with any doctor of the specialty |
| Started | That visit was completed, or a session was counted on the referral's package |
| Completed | The referral's package is used up |
| Declined | Closed by hand because the patient declined |
| Cancelled | Closed by hand because the referral was withdrawn |
A cancelled booking puts the referral back to Not booked yet. Doctors and managers can close a referral by hand with Close referral: Patient declined (with an optional reason), Withdrawn, or Done once the patient has booked or started. Reopen brings a declined or withdrawn referral back.
Session packages
Sell a package
Tap New package in the visit's Session package card, or on the patient file's Care journey card. Enter the service, How many sessions?, the Package price (EGP), and, for reception and managers, what was Paid now (optional) and how. A package sold for a referral is linked to it.
Count a session
On a visit with that doctor or specialty, tap Count this session. The closing sheet offers it too when you finish the visit. Each visit counts once. Tap the undo arrow to take a session off the count. When the last session is counted, the package completes by itself.
Payment
The package price is the charge. Reception and managers tap Record payment to add a payment on the package; it counts in Finance like any other payment. The package shows Not paid, Partly paid or Paid, and what's left.
Stop and resume
Stop package asks why the patient stopped: got better, no improvement, cost, no time, travel or distance, medical reason, went elsewhere, no reason given, or other, with an optional note. Resume brings the package back.
Care journey on the patient file
The Care journey card on the patient file's Overview tab shows:
- Each referral: who referred, to what specialty, its status, and links to the referring visit and to the booking or first session.
- Its packages, with sessions done and left.
- The pain score over sessions, for physiotherapy and pain-management visits.
- The next visit or follow-up.
Reception sees the packages and the next visit, but not the referrals.
The Referrals page
Owners and admins open Referrals in the sidebar. Doctors have My referrals, with only the referrals they wrote or received.
- Last 90 days: how many were referred, booked, started and completed, and the Conversion rate (patients who started treatment in the other specialty out of all referred).
- Referred, not in yet: patients referred 3, 7, 14 or 30+ days ago who still haven't come, each with Call, WhatsApp and Close.
- Packages (last 90 days): sold, active, completed and stopped, with Why they stopped.