How many times should you call a referral before returning it?

Why three

One call is not enough. Families miss calls from unknown numbers, work shifts, or are already at another appointment. A single voicemail is easy to forget.

Ten calls is too many. Every extra call is time your team is not spending on the next referral, and a pile of half-finished files is how a backlog starts. Most families who are going to answer do so after the first or second try, especially when an email follows the voicemail.

Three tries, each with an email, gives a family several ways and several days to reply, and gives your team a clear point where the referral leaves their desk.

How to space them

Make the first call on the day the referral is filed. Make the second two business days later, and the third two or three business days after that. For an urgent referral, shorten the gaps to one day each.

Try different times of day. If the first call was in the morning, make the second one late in the afternoon.

What each try should include

Use the same script each time, so families hear the same clinic whoever calls. Say who you are, which doctor sent the referral, and give a direct number, an email address and your website, so the family can answer whichever way suits them.

Send an email straight after each voicemail with the appointment you are offering. Many families answer the email before they call back.

Returning the referral

After the third try, tell the family in the last voicemail and email that you will let their doctor know. Then return the referral with a short note: the dates of each call and email and the number you used.

This keeps the referring doctor in charge of the patient, and keeps your queue for families you can reach. The same idea applies to booked patients who do not confirm: move them at most twice, then return the referral, so nobody is pushed forward forever.