title: Improving care coordination in the specialty referral process between primary and specialty care.
abstract: There is growing evidence of sub-optimal care coordination in the US. Care coordination includes the specialty referral process, which involves referral decision-making and information transfer between primary and specialty care. This article summarizes the evidence of sub-optimal care coordination in this process, as well as potential strategies to improve it.
authors.affiliation: Department of Internal Medicine, Southern California Permanente Medical Group, Kaiser Permanente, Primary Care, San Diego, CA 92110, USA. carolinelin76@gmail.com
authors.forename: Caroline Y
authors.initials: CY
authors.lastname: Lin
mesh_terms: D003266:Continuity of Patient Care / Q000458:organization & administration* / Q000592:standards; D006801:Humans; D033181:Information Dissemination; D011320:Primary Health Care / Q000458:organization & administration* / Q000592:standards; D011785:Quality Assurance, Health Care / Q000458:organization & administration* / Q000592:standards; D012017:Referral and Consultation; D014481:United States