Referrals are made routinely in healthcare. However, if a referral is made in a negligent manner, you might be personally held responsible for providing that referral. There are three basic, but critical risk management techniques for social workers when handling patient referrals for transitional care to home.
If you cannot avoid providing only one name, you must establish a consistent procedure for ongoing vetting of the home care agency. Make sure you check credentials, licensing, experience, sanctions, etc. You should interview the agency you are considering for a referral. You should interview other professionals in the community to gauge the agency’s reputation. Follow this procedure diligently whenever making referrals and re-verify the information you collect on a regular basis. By exercising due diligence, you can show that you acted reasonably and professionally when making referrals.
Regardless of which method you use, always record the names of persons, agencies, or other referral sources you have provided your patient. Your records are your best defense in any malpractice litigation and they may protect you if your referral is ever questioned in the future.
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- Thoroughly vet home care agencies before you decide to put them on your list of possibilities – what is their standard of care? Can you trust them to take care of your patient? Will they properly contact your patient, set up an assessment, and coordinate their care to ensure a safe discharge? Will they make your job harder if they do not provide full service?
- Provide multiple home care agency names whenever you make a referral.
- Make every effort to be neutral about the referral options so that the patient and/or family does not perceive your preference of a particular agency.
If you cannot avoid providing only one name, you must establish a consistent procedure for ongoing vetting of the home care agency. Make sure you check credentials, licensing, experience, sanctions, etc. You should interview the agency you are considering for a referral. You should interview other professionals in the community to gauge the agency’s reputation. Follow this procedure diligently whenever making referrals and re-verify the information you collect on a regular basis. By exercising due diligence, you can show that you acted reasonably and professionally when making referrals.
Regardless of which method you use, always record the names of persons, agencies, or other referral sources you have provided your patient. Your records are your best defense in any malpractice litigation and they may protect you if your referral is ever questioned in the future.
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BrightStar Care - Cuyahoga West is the best referral partner in the Greater Cleveland area
We are a team of nurses and healthcare professionals who care deeply about our promise to deliver A Higher Standard across everything we do – the way we care for our patients, the way we care about our employees and the way we take care for our valued partners. We also understand that social workers are some of the most overworked, underpaid, and underappreciated skilled professionals. For these reasons, we pledge to do the following...- Be the professionals you can trust with your patients’ lives.
- Get the job done right! We will take good care of your patients and will handle every case properly from its beginning to end stages.
- Ensure a safe discharge. We will make your job as a social worker easier by having all our "ducks in a row," "crossing all of our T's and dotting all of our I's".