To GPs:
- Help identify the most appropriate specialist for a patient’s needs with the shortest wait time.
- Make better informed referrals by providing information about specific areas of practice, areas of special interest, or specific cases specialists will not accept (ie. WCB, paediatric patients).
- Provides a single access point to locate specialist/clinic contact details, patient instructions, and referral forms, reducing time consuming phone calls for office staff.
- Provides access to patient resources that can be shared while in the exam room and even emailed to patients, some of which can be used to prevent inappropriate referrals.
To specialists:
- Decreases the incidence of inappropriate referrals by clearly outlining areas of practice and cases that will not be accepted, allowing for more efficient use of time.
- Specialists have full use of Pathways and can use it to refer to another specialist, health authority program, or GPs in the community.
- Saves office staff significant time answering calls about schedule, contact information, referral forms, etc.
- Provides a host of resources searchable by specialty, including calculators, algorithms, decision aids, and risk tables.
- Offers an opportunity for new specialists to quickly build a patient panel, or communicate changes, such as a new location or languages spoken on site.
To the health system:
- Offers the potential to optimize wait times throughout the system, reducing the burden on specialists with extremely long wait lists, and helping identify specialists with shorter wait times (ie. recently certified or new to the community).
- Reduces inappropriate referrals and the need for re-referrals, driving down costs to the health care system.
- Can be used as an attachment mechanism for patients without an existing family physician (by specialists looking to refer to community GPs).