Independent guide to referrals, records, and follow-up
Referrals, records, and follow-up are easier when you know what to ask
Plain guides for patients and caregivers moving between specialists, test results, and care teams.
Pick the part of the handoff that is stuck
Get a referral moving and keep track of it
See how referrals and prior authorizations work, build a referral packet and question, and follow the referral until the specialist’s report comes back.
Get your records where they need to go
Learn how to request, check, correct, organize, and share records, images, results, and summaries so they travel between care settings.
Walk into the visit prepared
Find help with in-person and telehealth visits: questions to ask, support people, language and accessibility needs, and turning notes into a follow-up plan.
Know who is on your care team and what changes
Understand team roles and contacts, handle handoffs after hospital stays or between providers, and seek and compare second opinions.
Referrals, records, visits, and second opinions: what’s inside
The guides cover care navigation, specialist-visit preparation, records handoffs, second opinions, telehealth choices, and care-team coordination. They are written for patients, family caregivers, and people coordinating referrals, specialist visits, records, second opinions, or telehealth.
What you won’t find here: care, booking, or referrals
We do not publish medical care, appointment booking, provider referrals, insurance representation, case management, provider rankings, and individualized treatment advice.
Our promise to you on sources, dates, and fixes
You will always see where a substantive guide got its information. You will see what is guidance and what rests on uncertain evidence. You will find a review date on every one, and a way to tell us when something is wrong. And you will never find affiliate links, rankings, vendor calls to action, or paid referrals on our foundation pages.
How we research · Editorial policy · Corrections · Independence notice
New guides on referrals, records, and transitions
- A Specialist Referral Packet: Notes, Tests, Images, Medicines, and Contact Details
- Records Did Not Arrive: A Date-and-Confirmation Log for Care Coordination
- Preparing for a Second Opinion: The Question, the Record, and the Decision Deadline
- Care Team Contact Maps: Who Handles Refills, Results, Scheduling, and Urgent Questions
- Referral and Prior Authorization Are Different: A Two-Column Tracking Sheet
- Hospital Discharge Follow-Up: Medicines, Pending Tests, Appointments, and Warning Instructions
- A Support Person at a Medical Visit: Roles, Privacy, and Note-Taking
- Moving From Pediatric to Adult Specialty Care: A Transition-Questions Map
- Referral and Prior Authorization: Two Different Care-Navigation Steps
- Sharing Medical Images With a Specialist: The Image File and Report Are Different
- Preparing a Specialist-Scope Question Before Your First Visit
- A Personal Care Timeline: How to Organize Events When More Than One Team Is Involved