Referral Level Timeout is the amount of time before the referral is pushed out to a broader network. When a referral is initially created, it is first sent to the “VIP network”. After the set Referral Level Timeout has elapsed or if there are no matches, the referral is then pushed out to the Practice Network. After the set Referral Level Timeout has elapsed or if there are no matches, the referral is then pushed out to the GetReferdNetwork.
But what happens at night or over the weekend Tolling!
The Referral Level Timeout helps to ensure that the patient won’t be stuck waiting for a network that either can’t or won’t accept the referral. At the same time, we don’t want to penalize a user’s network because a referral was sent at 4:59pm, or because a clinic has Saturday morning hours while their network is closed. We therefore created a tolling function for non-urgent referrals during nights and weekends.
The system is aware of the sending user’s time and date. We use this information to automatically pause the ReferralLevel Timeout countdown until business resumes on the next business day. For example: Dr. Julia’s office has set their Referral Level Timeout at 60 minutes. Dr. Julia’s office creates a referral at 4:45pm. The Referral Level Timeout countdown pauses with 15 minutes elapsed at 5pm. The Referral Level Timeout countdown resumes at 8am on the next business day. If the VIP network doesn’t book the appointment, the referral will be made available to the Practice network at 8:45am. If the Practice network doesn’t book the appointment, the referral will be made available to the GetReferd network at 9:45am.
We want users to go about their normal routine of sending referrals without worrying about the clock or the calendar. It’s the end of the day but the last patient needs a referral? No problem – send the referral with GetReferd and it’ll stay quietly available for your networks until the countdown resumes tomorrow morning, or Monday morning.
We don’t apply tolling during holidays, as different clinics and practices and hospitals observe different holiday schedules across different countries. Rather than ask our users to consider how much of their network might be on holiday, users can simply send a holiday referral with the usual settings. Networked providers who are open will see the referral request first, followed by other providers who are open…and the patient will receive an appointment. Tolling is a legal doctrine that allows for the pausing or delaying of the running of the period of time set forth by a statute of limitations, such that a lawsuit may potentially be filed even after the statute of limitations has run.