Challenge: Emerson Hospital wanted to understand how successful its specialty referral efforts have been, as well as learn more about the specialty referral attitudes and behavior towards Emerson.

Objective: To understand the reasons and barriers to referring to Emerson specialists, as well as understand opportunities for improvement in its specialty areas, ultimately to drive referral to Emerson.

Solution: Two studies were conducted 6 years apart among Emerson-affiliated PCPs and NPs, each consisting of a Qualitative Exploratory of in-depth phone interviews and a follow-up Quantitative online survey to confirm and quantify the findings.

Result: Plan-it made operational and communications recommendations to help improve specific specialty areas, as well as the hospital’s outreach to primary care providers to drive an increase in specialty referrals to Emerson.