Apricot users can now refer program participants directly from your Apricot system to another partner Apricot system. (and receive them too!) This is one that Social Solutions kept very close to the vest while they developed a functionality that organizations will be clawing to get their hands on as quickly as possible. With the Apricot’s new “Closed Loop Referrals” feature, organizations can now send and receive referrals to and from outside organizations and track the acceptance or rejection of those referrals – all within their Apricot site!
Critically, this feature is being tested in five cities in the United States:
- Baltimore, MD
- Fresno, CA
- Minneapolis/St. Paul, MN
- San Antonio, TX
- Washington D.C.
Here’s what we know and where you can learn more:
Do clients need to consent when I make a referral for them?
Yes! Clients can sign a signature field to consent to sending information to the other organization OR you can obtain verbal consent from the client. You will need to indicate how the client consented before sending the referral.
What happens if my client no longer wants or needs the services I sent the referral for?
Staff can view your outbound referrals and retract any that have not yet been accepted or rejected.
My organization would like to make referrals, but we do not accept referrals from others, should we still opt-in?
Yes! You can configure your organization profile so that you can see other agencies in the network, but your organization will not show up. Similarly, if you find that your organization is at capacity and cannot accept referrals, you may temporarily disable inbound referrals.
My organization is small and there may be times when we cannot handle more referrals, can we stop receiving them in those situations?
Yes! If you find that your organization is at capacity and cannot accept referrals, you may temporarily disable inbound referrals.
Can I send referrals to another city, or do they need to be within a certain radius of my organization?
Yes! If you have a client in need of services elsewhere, you can enter a new city in the search and look within a given radius of that location. Keep in mind that while this feature is still new, you will only be able to make referrals to organizations within other test cities.
I would like to build a report in Apricot to show our inbound and outbound referrals – can I do this?
Kindof, but mostly not. Every client that moves into a new system will have a new Tier 1 form record in the receiving system, but nothing distinguished that as a referred record, or where it came from. You can add a field to your Client record to note that it was received by referral, but that’s about it for now. In the near-ish future, we expect that both outbound and incoming referrals will be available in Apricot results and other Apricot reporting. Treadwell’s Apricot services team can help you set up your configuration for the best reporting.
Will I get a notification when I log into Apricot that I have pending referrals? Or can I set up an email trigger to notify me?
Currently, this is not possible. When you navigate to view your referrals, if there are any new inbound, you will have a circle with the number of referrals waiting next to inbound. This is also an expected enhancement.
Can I send any of my Tier 2 forms with my referrals?
Referrals only send Tier 1 (profile) information to the receiving organization. All other information that you want the receiving agency to know should be put in the notes section.
Can I use Apricot’s closed loop referrals to send information to agencies that do not use Apricot?
This feature is coming! Currently, only organizations using Apricot will be able to send and receive referrals. However, Treadwell can help you automate sending data back and forth between different Apricot systems using the Apricot API. Check back here for updates!
When we are able to send referrals to non-Apricot organizations, will my client’s information be vulnerable?
While referrals cannot yet be sent to organizations not using Apricot, that function is coming. When it does, only non-identifiable information will be sent via email to the outside organization.
When will my city be included?
While we do not know which cities are next in the queue for inclusion in the network, if you want to be included in the next round of cities, be sure to let your Account Manager know! Social Solutions will be releasing this feature to other cities based on interest and need.
Network Referrals is a new and exciting feature! As with most of the new Apricot features, Social Solutions will continue to expand and improve the functionality. As those updates are released, Treadwell will continue to keep you informed. If you want to learn more about Closed Loop Referrals, feel free to reach out to Treadwell to schedule a review of your Apricot software.
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