What each referral status means

Referral statuses help your team track where each patient is in the referral process.

Using statuses consistently keeps your referral workflow organized and helps Referral Intel provide more accurate dashboards, follow-up, and reporting.

Short answer

Each referral status represents a different step in the patient’s journey from referral to scheduled care, declined care, or completion.

Your team should update the status whenever the patient moves to a new stage.

Why referral statuses matter

Referral statuses help your practice understand what is happening with referred patients.

They help answer questions like:

Who has been referred but not scheduled?
Who has scheduled an appointment?
Who has not responded?
Who has had care or treatment recommended?
Who still needs follow-up?
Who scheduled recommended care?
Who declined?
Who completed the referral process?

Accurate statuses make the referral pipeline easier to manage.

Referred

Use Referred when a patient has been referred to your practice but has not yet scheduled.

This is usually the starting point for a new referral.

A referral may enter this status when:

A referring provider submits the online referral form
Your team manually adds a referral
A referral arrives by fax, email, phone, or paper
A patient is referred but has not yet contacted your practice

At this stage, the goal is to help the patient schedule.

Scheduled

Use Scheduled when the patient has scheduled their first appointment or consultation.

This status means the patient has moved from referral to appointment.

When marking a patient as Scheduled, enter the appointment date if prompted.

This helps Referral Intel track referral-to-appointment conversion and may notify the referring office that the patient has scheduled.

No response

Use No response when the patient has not responded after follow-up.

This status means the patient was referred, but your practice has not been able to get them scheduled.

Depending on your setup, Referral Intel may move a patient to No Response automatically after a defined follow-up period.

This status helps your team identify referral opportunities that did not convert into appointments.

Care or treatment presented

Use Care or treatment presented when the patient has been seen and your provider has recommended care, treatment, or another next step.

This status is used after the appointment or consultation when a recommendation has been made.

Examples may include:

A procedure was recommended
A care plan was presented
A treatment plan was reviewed
A follow-up service was recommended
A surgical or specialty service was discussed

This status helps your practice track whether recommended care is eventually scheduled.

Care or treatment scheduled

Use Care or treatment scheduled when the patient schedules the recommended care or treatment.

When marking a patient as Care or Treatment Scheduled, enter the scheduled date if prompted.

This status helps your practice understand how many recommendations become scheduled care.

Depending on your setup, the referring office may also be notified that the patient has scheduled recommended care.

Declined

Use Declined when the patient clearly decides not to move forward with the recommended care or treatment.

This status should be used when the patient has made a decision.

Examples include:

Patient declined treatment
Patient chose another provider
Patient does not want to proceed
Patient cannot proceed for financial or personal reasons
Patient decided not to move forward after reviewing options

Do not use Declined just because the patient has not responded yet.

Completed

Use Completed when the referral process or recommended care has been completed.

This status helps your team close out the referral workflow.

Depending on your practice, Completed may mean:

The referred appointment was completed
The recommended care was completed
The treatment plan was completed
The referral no longer needs active follow-up
The care episode is finished

Your practice should decide what Completed means in your internal workflow and use it consistently.

Which status should we use if the patient is still thinking?

If the patient has not declined but has not scheduled recommended care, do not mark them as Declined.

Use the status that best matches your workflow.

For many practices, the patient may remain in Care or Treatment Presented until they either schedule, decline, or move to another follow-up status.

The important thing is to use statuses consistently across the team.

Which status should we use if the patient cancels?

If a patient cancels an appointment or scheduled care, update the referral based on your practice workflow.

Depending on the situation, the patient may return to:

Referred
Scheduled
Care or treatment presented
No response
Declined

For example, if the patient cancels and does not reschedule, your team may need to return the patient to a follow-up status.

Which status should we use for self-referred patients?

Self-referred patients can still move through the same status workflow.

A self-referred patient may still be:

Referred
Scheduled
Care or treatment presented
Care or treatment scheduled
Declined
Completed

If your practice tracks self-referrals separately, make sure the referral source is entered correctly.

What happens when a status changes?

Changing referral status may affect:

Dashboard data
Referral conversion reporting
Patient follow-up reminders
Referring-office notifications
Internal follow-up lists
Case acceptance or care acceptance reporting
Outreach decisions

Because statuses can affect both workflow and reporting, update them carefully.

Best practice: define statuses during team training

Before launching Referral Intel, make sure your team understands what each status means.

This prevents confusion and helps everyone use the system the same way.

A simple internal rule is:

Update the status when the patient meaningfully moves to the next step.

Best practice: avoid status shortcuts

Do not use a status just to “get the referral off the list.”

The status should reflect what actually happened.

For example:

Use No Response if the patient has not responded.
Use Declined if the patient clearly declined.
Use Scheduled if the patient has an appointment on the books.
Use Completed if the referral workflow is finished.

Clean status use leads to better reporting.

Common mistake: leaving referrals in Referred too long

If a patient has scheduled, the referral should not stay in Referred.

Leaving scheduled patients in Referred can make dashboards inaccurate and may cause unnecessary follow-up.

Common mistake: marking patients as Declined too soon

A patient who has not answered the phone has not necessarily declined.

Use Declined only when the patient clearly says they are not moving forward.

Common mistake: not entering required dates

Some status changes may require dates, such as an appointment date or care date.

Enter those dates when prompted.

Dates help Referral Intel track timing, conversion, and notifications.

How to update referral status
How to view a new referral
How to manually add a referral
How patient follow-up automations work
How referring-office notifications work