Create and Send a Referral
Prepare, review, and send a patient referral from Zscribe.
Every outbound referral stays linked to one patient and one referral record from draft through delivery.
Permissions: You need referral send access to create or send a referral. A clinician with clinical document review access must review an AI-generated letter.
Start the referral
You can start from any of these locations:
- Referrals: Select New Referral, search for the patient, then select the correct match. Zscribe does not create a draft until you select a patient.
- Patient chart: Start a referral from the patient actions. The chart patient is selected automatically.
- Encounter: Open Post Session, then select Referral Letter. Zscribe opens or reuses one referral draft linked to the encounter patient.
Prepare and send
Confirm the patient, reason, specialty, and urgency.
Write the referral letter, or select Generate with AI.
Review AI output against the patient record. An authorized clinician must mark AI-generated content reviewed before it can be sent.
For an encounter referral, edit the generated letter directly in the rich-text editor, then select Send.
Select a recommended referral partner, search the active directory, or add a partner if you have referral management access.
Choose fax or secure email. Only delivery methods with a valid destination are available.
Select the supporting documents that belong in the package and review the final details.
Select Send referral.
Zscribe sends the existing draft; it does not create a second referral.
Editing after review: Changing the letter, patient, reason, or template invalidates the review. Review or confirm the updated version before sending.
Troubleshooting
Send referral is disabled. Confirm the letter is ready, required clinical review is complete, the partner is active, a valid delivery method is selected, and all attachments are supported.
The right clinic is not recommended. Search the active partner directory. Recommendations rank existing clinics; they do not add external providers automatically.
AI generation failed. Retry generation or write the letter manually. The same referral draft remains open.
Which referral template is used for an encounter? Zscribe uses the latest published template selected on the appointment type. If none is selected, it falls back to the organization default and then the system Standard Clinical Referral Letter template.
Related
- Next: Track Referral Delivery
- For received referrals: Review an Inbound Referral
Need help? Contact your administrator or reach out to support.