Managing in-network referral availability and requests

After in-network referrals are activated for your account, you can manage the availability shared with referral partners, review and respond to appointment requests, and turn referrals on or off for specific partners.

Note: The workflows in this guide apply to most in-network referral partners. Some partners may have additional setup requirements, availability settings, or workflow differences. For partner-specific information, see Partner-specific guides.

In this guide, we'll cover:

• Managing in-network referral availability
• Managing in-network referral appointment requests
• Turning in-network referral requests on or off
• Partner-specific guides
• FAQs

Managing in-network referral availability

Note: To receive in-network referral requests, make sure your Accepting new clients status is turned on. When this status is enabled, prospective clients can request appointments online based on your availability. For more information, see How do I manage my Accepting new clients status?

You can manage your availability for in-network referrals in your SimplePractice account. Once you've set up your availability, members and/or care coordinators can request appointments through your referral partner's provider directory based on this availability.

Important: The following workflows apply to Optum, Lucet, Uprise Health, and Evernorth. To learn how to manage availability for ComPsych referrals, see Managing ComPsych referrals.

To make your existing availability visible to referral partners and begin receiving in-network referral requests:

1. Navigate to your calendar
2. Click the gear icon > View availability schedule

3. Select the availability block you’d like to edit

Note: To learn more about creating and editing your availability, see Managing your availability blocks

4. Under In-network referrals, check the box for the referral partner(s)

5. Click Save

You can also create new availability blocks specifically for appointment requests. To do this:

1. Navigate to your Availability schedule
2. Click anywhere on the calendar to create a new availability block
3. Specify the days, times, and location(s) you’d like to make available for in-network referrals
4. Under In-network referrals, check the box for the referral partner(s)
5. Click Save

You can also manage availability by navigating to Marketing > In-Network Referrals and selecting Manage availability.

After selecting Manage availability, you have the following options:

• To update an existing availability block, click Edit
• To delete an existing availability block, click the trash can icon
• To open an existing availability block to in-network appointment requests, check the box under Allow requests from [REFERRAL PARTNER]
• To create a new availability block, click Add new availability

Managing in-network referral appointment requests

Members and/or care coordinators can request appointments through a participating referral partner’s provider directory.

When you receive an appointment request, you can review this in your account:

1. Click Requests in the left navigation menu
2. Select the three horizontal dots next to the request to View client profile and View on calendar
3. Click the prescreener icon next to the client’s name to view their health plan information

You can Accept or Decline the appointment request, or Send intake documents to the client. For more information on how to do this, see Managing appointment requests.

Turning in-network referral requests on or off

You can turn off in-network appointment requests from a referral partner at any time. When you turn off in-network appointment requests for a referral partner, your availability will no longer appear in their member portal. To do this:

1. Navigate to Marketing > In-Network Referrals
2. Under Open for requests, toggle the referral source(s) Off

You can toggle Open for requests back On for a partner at any time to continue receiving in-network referrals from them.

Tip: If you’d prefer to update your availability for a health plan without turning off all referrals from them, see Managing in-network referral availability.

Partner-specific guides

Other steps and setup requirements may be required depending on the referral partner you’re enrolled with. To learn more, see the following partner-specific guides:

• Optum/UHC 
• ComPsych
• Lucet 
• Uprise Health

FAQs

• What information is shared with referral partners?

What information is shared with referral partners?

When in-network client referrals are activated for your account, your availability for new clients will be shared with the participating referral partner and displayed in their provider directory. The availability information shared with referral partners is the same as what's publicly shown to prospective clients on your Client Portal, Professional Website, appointment request widget, or Therapy Finder profile.

To learn how you can opt out of sharing your availability with a referral partner, see Turning in-network referral requests on or off.