--- title: Referrals | Avara description: Send and receive patient referrals between Connect contacts, configure appointment types for inbound referrals, and manage referral workflows. --- ## Overview Referrals in Avara Connect let approved partner organizations send patients to your practice — and let you send patients to theirs — through a structured, auditable workflow. Each referral carries patient context, optional supporting documents, priority, and an expiry date so your team can triage and act on incoming requests efficiently. ## Configuring Appointment Types for Referrals Referrals are tied to **appointment types**. In [Appointment Types](/clinical-platform/appointment-types/index.md) configuration, you can mark an appointment type as **Connect available**. When enabled, any of your explicitly approved Connect contacts can send referrals for that appointment type. ### Direct Booking (Clinical Platform) If your organization uses the [Avara Clinical Platform](/clinical-platform/overview/index.md), you can optionally go further: allow Connect contacts not just to **send** referrals, but to **book their patients directly** on your calendar for that appointment type. When direct booking is enabled, you can choose whether to **require payment upfront** or allow booking without collecting payment at scheduling time. Public promo codes configured for that appointment type can be applied during the booking flow as well. ## Notifications and Worklist Assignment When a referral arrives, the right people need to see it quickly. - **Notification list** — Configure a list of users to be notified when a new referral comes in. - **Referral assignees** — In the **Connect contacts** subtab on the Connect page, you can assign a user on a contact’s profile to process referral tasks from that organization. Assigned referrals appear explicitly in that user’s worklist. ## Managing Inbound Referrals How you resolve a referral depends on your product tier. ### Clinical Platform Customers When you receive a referral, you can: - **Book the patient** — Schedule the patient directly from the referral on your calendar. Booking resolves the referral automatically. - **Mark as resolved** — Close the referral without booking if it has been handled outside the system or is no longer needed. - **Cancel** — Cancel the referral if it should not proceed. When you book a patient from a received referral, the referring provider is automatically granted access to view **that appointment only** under [continuity of care](/connect/continuity-of-care/index.md) — no manual share step required on either side. ### Connect-Only Customers Connect-only organizations can **mark referrals as resolved** or **cancel** them. Direct calendar booking from a referral requires the Clinical Platform. ## Sending Outbound Referrals To send a referral to another organization, that contact must have at least one appointment type marked **Connect available**. You can only send outbound referrals to Connect contacts who have opened a compatible appointment type for inbound referrals. Attach any supporting documents the receiving provider may need — typically chart notes, visit summaries, or documentation intended for payer submission — directly to the referral before sending. ## Referral Details ### Attached Documents Documents can be attached to any referral. Common attachments include chart or visit notes for the receiving provider’s clinical use, or documentation required for payer submission. ### Expiry Each referral includes an expiry date. Payers often require referrals to remain valid within a specific window; you can set expiry accordingly. Avara Connect does **not** strictly enforce expiry — expired referrals remain visible but serve as a signal for your team to review whether the referral is still actionable. ### Priority Referrals can be marked **normal**, **high**, or **stat**. In your referrals list, items are ordered by priority: **stat** first, then **high**, then **normal**, so urgent requests surface at the top of the queue. Coming Soon **Prior authorization and eligibility checks** are being built into the Avara Connect referrals workflow. These will help verify coverage and authorization requirements before or during the referral process.