eReferrals are a way to send secure electronic referral communication between primary healthcare providers, hospitals, specialists and allied health practitioners.
They can improve the quality and efficiency of the referral process by reducing delays, errors, and duplication.
Primary Health Tasmania and the Tasmanian Government Department of Health have partnered to bring an eReferral system to Tasmania. The system uses HealthLink Smart Forms for primary care users, linking to the referral management system for public hospitals.
eReferral is gradually being rolled out in Tasmania. The latest information about the rollout is available on our online engagement portal.
Who can use the eReferral system?
The system can be used by the following healthcare professionals and services in Tasmania:
all general practices
all non-GP medical specialists working privately
all allied health providers
all of Primary Health Tasmania’s commissioned services
Tasmanian Health Service outpatient services in the north, north west and south.
Primary Health Tasmania is working with Telstra Health to integrate the system into Communicare and MedicalDirector Helix to make it available to Aboriginal health organisations and general practices migrating to cloud-based record systems in Tasmania.
eReferral is completely electronic, secure, and removes the need for faxes.
HealthLink Smart Forms are integrated into existing general practice clinical software packages (Best Practice and MedicalDirector). Primary healthcare organisations not using this software can receive referrals and send correspondence using the My HealthLink online portal.
HealthLink Smart Forms are centrally hosted. This means when templates are updated, everyone gets the new version instantly. They contain mandatory fields and business rules, guiding referrers to provide the essential requested information for the referral.
In addition to centrally hosted templates, the HealthLink Smart Forms system contains centrally maintained addressing information for non-GP specialists working privately, and allied healthcare providers.
When the referral is submitted, it is stored in the correspondence area of the patient’s clinical record with a watermark detailing the date and time it was received by the recipient’s system.
The Australian Government (through Primary Health Tasmania) and the Tasmanian Government are funding HealthLink Smart Form use in Tasmania, so there is no cost to primary healthcare providers or their patients.
Resources
A range of resources is available to support people using the eReferral system. They include ‘quick guides’ and more detailed instructions for using HealthLink Smart Forms to refer to the Tasmanian Health Service, private non-GP specialists and allied healthcare providers.
Click here to go to our online engagement portal for more information, including updates on the latest system enhancements.
A member of our engagement team can visit your practice to provide an overview of the eReferral system and how to use it. Please fill in this short form to request a visit.
If you need technical support while using HealthLink Smart Forms, please contact HealthLink direct on 1800 125 036, go to the HealthLink support web page, or send them a message.
We welcome feedback on the eReferral system so we can continue to make improvements. We’re keen to know works well, and what could be better. Please get in touch with Primary Health Tasmania via email or through your General Practice Liaison Officer (Tasmanian Health Service).
