Referrals

The Boca Grande Health Clinic is the first stop for many residents and workers seeking care, from routine checkups to serious conditions such as cancer, heart disease, and complex infections. Each year, we manage thousands of visits, and in 2025 alone, the Clinic referred about 1,500 patients to specialists.

Referrals are an important part of your care, and they often come at a time when you’re already feeling the stress of a medical issue. We address some of the most frequently asked patient questions and explain what happens behind the scenes.

From the moment your doctor says, “I’d like you to see a specialist,” the referral remains part of your primary care. Our job is to coordinate the many moving parts of medicine so you don’t have to manage them on your own.

You do, together with your Clinic doctor. When a referral is needed, our physicians and nurses routinely ask where you would like to go. Many patients prefer to stay as close to the island as possible; some choose Englewood or Venice, and others prefer Tampa or elsewhere. We work with you to match your preferences with your medical needs, insurance, and how quickly you need to be seen.

Over many years, our physicians have built relationships with specialists and hospitals they know and trust. As new doctors join the Clinic, they bring their own trusted referrals, and in some cases, even visit specialists in person to get to know how they practice and communicate.

Today, we maintain a large list of specialists and hospital programs in our region, and we regularly refer to providers in each specialty. That “panel” is based on several things: our physicians’ experience with the quality of care and communication, how quickly a practice can see our patients, the services and expertise the specialist or hospital offers, and patient preferences and experiences.

There is no single “required” provider, hospital, or health system. The Clinic has referral relationships with a number of providers and health systems, including Sarasota Memorial Health Care System, Tampa General Hospital, Moffitt Cancer Center, specialists provided by the Healthnetwork Foundation and specialists in cities where patients have established physician relationships.

Sarasota Memorial’s Venice campus and growing regional presence are important resources for our patients. Tampa General’s Health Ambassador Program is also valuable when you need advanced services there or when appointment wait times are very long for other specialists. In many cases, the ambassador team at Tampa General can help secure an appointment within several weeks. Our goal is always the right care, in the right place, with the right provider as quickly as possible.

Emergencies work differently than routine referrals. In an emergency, patients are transported by ambulance or, when needed, by air. While patients may have a say in where they receive care, for time-sensitive situations, such as trauma, stroke, or cardiac events, EMS destination protocols are designed to get patients to the right hospital as quickly as possible. Once a patient is stabilized, a transfer to another hospital can be arranged if appropriate.

Once you and your Clinic physician agree that a referral is needed and where you’d like to go, your doctor enters the order and hands it off to our referral coordinator, long-time Clinic employee Laquanda Dixon.

From there, Laquanda pulls together a detailed packet for the specialist’s office with your medical background, relevant records, imaging, labs, and the reason for the visit. She sends that information to the specialist and then gets to work on the logistics, making calls, checking electronic messages, and following up so your referral is received, reviewed, and moving toward an appointment. Over the course of a typical season, she makes thousands of calls on behalf of our patients.

Every referral is logged and tracked, not just sent and forgotten. Laquanda records each one on a shared referral log so we can see whether it was scheduled, completed, cancelled, or delayed.

When she’s able to reach you after your visit, she also asks about your experience with the specialist and records your feedback. Over time, this gives us a clear picture of which specialists our patients are most satisfied with, how long different practices take to schedule, and where referrals may be stalling.

We review this information regularly and share it with the Clinic’s Quality Committee so we can fine-tune our referral partners and processes. In short, your referrals and your feedback directly shape how we refer patients in the future.

MyChart can help keep your medical information connected across organizations that use it. When you have a Clinic MyChart account and have linked your account to other participating organizations, notes and reports from referral or emergency care visits can be viewed in your Clinic MyChart. You and your Clinic physician can review recommendations and results, and your Clinic care team can see the plan and coordinate any follow-up tests or visits. Keeping everyone on the same page helps avoid duplicated tests and missed follow-ups.

Ask your Clinic doctor what they want the specialist to address, answer or return calls promptly, accept offered appointments when you can, and let both the specialist and the Clinic know as soon as possible if you need to reschedule. Finally, please share your experience after the visit. Your feedback directly shapes our future referral choices.