Completing Patient Transfers

While we do everything in our power to correctly match patients with providers, there are times when patients would be better served by transferring to another Nourish dietitian, such as when a very clear mismatch in specialty or availability is present.

Please carefully review the material below for instructions on facilitating patient transfers.

For both initial and follow-up sessions, it is your responsibility as the dietitian to reschedule the session if a conflict or issue prevents you from attending.

First, communicate with the patient and arrange a new time to meet. Sessions can be updated in Healthie by dragging the session to a new time, or selecting the edit pencil and moving to the newly agreed upon time. We do not use the rescheduled session within Healthie. Then, be sure change the status of the appointment.

If you are unable to find a mutually-agreed upon time, initiate a provider switch for the patient following the below process.

There are a few reasons why you may wish to transfer a patient to a new Nourish dietitian.

• You're not an expert in the patient's specialty needs / requests.

• You, or the patient, had a schedule change and availability is no longer compatible.

• Your patient is moving to a red state which you are not currently licensed in.

• Your patient notifies you that they wish to switch dietitians.

For the best patient experience, do your best to identify potential transfer needs as soon as the patient schedules with you. If there is ambiguity, or you need additional information to confirm a transfer is needed, please see the patient for the initial session to determine necessity, and if needed, and to have clear next steps to facilitate the transfer.

If you had a nutrition assessment with a patient you are transferring, It’s expected that chart notes are detailed, clear, and concise so the next dietitian has relevant information that is easy to interpret and act upon.

There are three processes for initiating transfers:

• Best practice is to directly communicate with the patient and allow them to choose a new dietitian. Provide instructions on how to select the new dietitian, as well as any additional considerations to keep in mind (such as specialty selections).

  • Use the below template to communicate transfer requests with patients:

    Hi [Patient first name],

    My name is [Your Name] and I wanted to reach out to you regarding transferring you to another Nourish dietitian as I [provide your general reasoning for having to transfer here].

    The easiest way for you to find a new dietitian suited to your needs is to use our 'request a new dietitian' link. This link will ask you questions about what you are hoping to treat and match you with an equipped dietitian.

    Please do not hesitate to reach out with any questions. Thank you!

    Best,

    [Your name]

  • Please Note: After sending the transfer link to the patient, please cancel your session. This ensures the patient is aware that the appointment is no longer taking place, even if they do not see the transfer link.

• If you know of another Nourish dietitian who is willing to receive the transfer, first, inform your patient, then, fill out this form to request the transfer. It is not necessary to email support@usenourish.com in addition to submitting the transfer form.

  • Below is a draft email you can send to the patient if you haven’t discussed it with them yet. Feel free to customize or change the wording as you see fit.

    Hi [patient first name],

    I wanted to connect with you regarding transferring you to another Nourish dietitian as I [provide your general reasoning for having to transfer here].

    I’ve spoken with our Clinical Team, and located another great match for you! Our Customer Experience team will be contacting you once the transfer is complete, and share more information on how to schedule a new appointment.

    Please do not hesitate to reach out with any questions. Thank you!

    Best,

    [Your name]

  • Please Note: After sending the transfer link to the patient, please cancel your session. This ensures the patient is aware that the appointment is no longer taking place, even if they do not see the transfer link.

• You are hoping to find another Nourish dietitian who will receive your patient transfer. In rare cases, you may want to provide a warmer handoff for a patient. Perhaps it's a patient you have been working with for a long time, or they have a very specific condition. While it shouldn't be used as regularly as it can keep the patient waiting, you can post in the #clinical-patient-transfers channel, following the template below, to find a new dietitian match.

  Transfer Template Posting:

  • State (include Red/Green State): Red States are those in which an RD can only see patients there if licensed in that state & Green States are those that any RD can see patients from

  • Pt Age/Preferred Pronouns: Age, Pronouns (he/him, she/her, they/them etc.)

  • Reason for working with RD: Patient’s stated reason for visiting RD

  • Specialties Needed: Nourish Specialties needed to treat patient (Eating Disorder, Gut Health, SIBO, Weight Concerns, Bariatric, Diabetes, PCOS, Autoimmune, etc.)

  • Cultural/Language Needs: If patient speaks another or has language preference, if patient has cultural or religious preference (e.g. Would like to work with an RD very familiar with Indian cuisine or an RD who understands specific religious dietary restrictions etc.)

  • # of Appointments with current RD: Number of appointments patient has seen current RD

  • Reason for Transfer: Why RD is transferring this patient (e.g. Misaligned specialties, scheduling conflicts, RD overbooked,

  • Background: Brief and relevant patient background (Include relevant medical hx, dx, conditions, labs/tests, symptoms, care team, behaviors, dietary preferences/restrictions, food access, and any other information that may be pertinent)

  • Preferred hours/times hours (Include time zone): Include if the patient has days/hours that work best for their schedule, include patient’s time zone.

  • Additional Care Considerations (Optional): Any other important care considerations (examples: gender affirming care, pt likes very direct communication etc.

Patients can request to switch dietitians directly in their Patient Portal, within the Appointments tab. Patients will then go through an abridged sign-up flow to be matched with a new dietitian.

If a patient transfers to a new dietitian, both the new and the previous dietitian will be notified of the transfer, with rationale, for coordination of care purposes.