Building a referral-to-appointment engine with LeadSquared

Growth exposed gaps in referral intake, follow-up, and visibility

Clearway Pain Solutions is a leading integrative pain management organization dedicated to improving patients’ quality of life through coordinated and compassionate pain management care. Clearway and their partner companies (Relievus Pain Management, Eastern Neuro, and The Center for Pain) serve patients across 10 states. But as they expanded across markets and their patient base grew, Clearway’s referral volumes quickly overwhelmed staff. 

At the time, Clearway’s team received their patient referrals manually through fax, e-fax, and email, and tracked them using shared Outlook inboxes and spreadsheets. This high-touch, burdensome process left them open to manual errors as tasks moved across systems, impeded clear data visibility, and had a significant impact on their ability to follow-up. Conversion rates of referrals to appointments plateaued at about 70%.

Realizing they had a lot of room to improve their communication, data visibility, and efficiency, Clearway Pain Solutions partnered with LeadSquared, an athenahealth Marketplace partner, to build a centralized, connected, referral management system.

Creating an integrated and efficient referral management system

Clearway determined that the scale of their challenges would take two systems to solve. They would need the EHR, RCM, and clinical scheduling capabilities of athenaOne, combined with LeadSquared’s HIPAA-compliant referral CRM from athenaOne’s Marketplace. This dual-system approach enabled Clearway to create unified workflows, reduce manual work for their staff, and enhance both practice productivity and patient engagement.

Through this integration, Clearway’s staff was finally able to manage their entire referral process through a single platform. Leadsquared ran insurance checks, booked appointments, and synced data directly with athenaOne. This reduced scheduling delays and helped deliver a smoother, more consistent experience for patients and providers.

With automation now available, staff built automated templates and workflows that kept referral sources informed on patient status. Enhanced dashboards and reporting tools provided real-time insights into performance metrics, including contact attempts, conversions, and appointment outcomes.

Throughout the process, LeadSquared’s team worked with Clearway to customize features and support their goals with a focus on driving continuous improvement and value. “It’s been more of a partnership than a product,” says Jeannine Spanga, VP of Patient Experience. “If we can dream it, the LeadSquared team can build it.”

Results that improved efficiency, visibility, and outcomes

The dual-system approach that Clearway implemented with LeadSquared and athenaOne has delivered the results that they were looking for. Referral to appointment conversion has increased from 70% to 82%. Patient outreach has expanded from three contact attempts per patient to five, which has helped ensure that 100% of patients are contacted within 24 business hours. Clearway has even seen their relationship with referral partners strengthen as automated communication workflows allow them to keep their partners updated throughout the process.

By managing key steps like insurance checks and appointment bookings in a single platform that syncs their data with athenaOne, Clearway has been able to streamline operations, reduce scheduling delays, and make data-driven decisions without having to rely on spreadsheets.

Our ultimate goal is to get patients the care they need, and now we’re able to reach more patients, engage with them more efficiently, and keep our referral sources constantly updated. It’s truly been a game changer.
 

-    Jeannine Spanga, VP of Patient Experience
      Clearway Pain Solutions

Find solutions to the CRM challenges you’re facing

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