Overview
The How did you find us? field records where each patient came from, so you can report on which referrers, marketing sources and existing patients bring in new business. Each patient has one source. A source can be:
an existing patient
a referring doctor
a third-party payer
a marketing source (see Marketing Sources)
Collecting it on your intake form
The best time to capture this is when the patient first fills in your new patient intake form. Add the question to that form template so every new patient answers it, and the answer reaches the patient file and the Referrals report without anyone typing it in.
Set it up in this order:
Create your marketing sources first. Go to Contacts > Marketing and add a source for each common, fixed way patients find you, such as Google, Facebook, Instagram, your website or a local directory. See Marketing Sources.
Add the question to the form. In the form template, choose Add to form > Patient File Fields > How Did You Find Us?
Set the answer options. The component starts with Friend/Family, Doctor, Insurer and Other. Change these to match how your patients find you. Each option has a Label, a Referral Type (None, Patient, Referring Doctor, Third-Party Payer or Marketing) and a Link to Source.
Link your marketing options. For each fixed source such as Google or Facebook, add an option, set its Referral Type to Marketing, then choose the matching source under Link to Source. A linked option is matched automatically, so the patient file gets a consistent source name instead of free text. Link to Source is also available for Third-Party Payer options. For Patient and Referring Doctor options it shows N/A, and staff check the suggested match when they process the form.
Do not use a Single Choice or text question for this. Those answers stay on the form and never reach the patient file or the report.
When staff process the completed form, they review the source and accept or reject it, as with other patient file fields. The source is only saved to the patient file if it is accepted. See Processing Completed Forms and Creating Form Templates.
Keep the list of sources short and stable. Reports group by source, so "Google" and "Google search" set up as two sources are counted separately.
Setting the source on a patient file
For patients who did not complete the form, or to change a source:
Open the patient file, go to the Patient Details tab and click Edit. If your practice uses the term Client, the tab is called Client Details.
In How did you find us?, search for the source by name. Use the buttons above the results to narrow the search: All, Patients, Referrers, Payers or Marketing. If your practice uses the term Client, the Patients button reads Clients.
Select the source. Referral Date fills in with today's date. Change it if the patient was referred on a different day.
Save.
Choosing a new source replaces the old one. On the Patient Details tab, the source shows as a link to its file with the referral date in brackets. You can also set it in the New Patient window when you create a file.
The Referrals report filters on the referral date, not the date the file was created. If you want the report to reflect new patients, set the date when the patient first contacts you.
Running the report
Go to Reports > Patients > Referrals.
Set Referral Source to How did you find us? (the default).
Choose Summary (one line per source) or Detailed (each patient listed).
Tick Referral Date Range and choose the period. It defaults to This Month. Only patients whose referral date falls in the range are included.
Optional filters:
Transaction Date Range, which limits what counts towards Billed
Transaction with
Item
Referred By, where you untick Patients, Referrers, Third-party Payers or Marketing to leave a type out
Tags
Click Generate Report.
Results are grouped by source. No. is the number of referrals in the date range for that source. Billed shows the income generated from the patients each source referred. Patients with no source recorded are not included. Detailed lists each patient with their address and referral date. The Excel export adds the source, referrer, organisation, referrer type, full name, address split into fields and the patient ID.
How is this different from a referring doctor on the account?
The account referral (Medicare or DVA, with a start and expiry date) is separate. To report on those, set Referral Source to Referring Doctors in the same report. See Adding a Referring Doctor to an Account.