Just over 4,000 of those were to MUSC physicians or facilities. Evert said MUSC has good reason to seek referrals from Carolina Family Care. The payer mix of its patients is very good, with a high percentage commercially insured. Also, the network is becoming busier every year, and can potentially bring a lot of business to the Medical Center. Physician and patient preference are two reasons.
Ease of access is another.
The specialist would then use the information on the form to decide whether he would take the patient. Making appointments was tricky, as this was handled almost exclusively by the individual secretaries of each physician, and the number of clinic slots was limited. It was common to wait two to three months for an appointment if one could be had at all. Today s community-based physicians have a new set of expectations, Evert said. They expect specialists to welcome referrals and to make arranging that referral simple and efficient.