What a physician liaison does
A physician liaison, also called a practice representative, referral coordinator or physician relations manager, represents your practice to the offices that refer to you. The job is to visit referring offices in person, build relationships with physicians and staff, explain what your practice treats and how to refer, solve access problems, communicate back after referrals and track every contact and every referral to its source.
A good liaison visits 10 to 15 offices a day, keeps a rotation across 40 to 60 referring practices, knows every office manager by name, and can tell you on Friday which sources are growing and which have gone quiet.
Why in house liaison programs fail
Most specialty practices that hire a liaison get a year of activity and no clear result. The usual reasons: no referral map, so the liaison visits whoever is convenient. No reporting, so nobody knows what happened. No manager, because the physician is in clinic. No access plan, so referred patients cannot get in and referring offices stop trying. And turnover. When the liaison leaves, the relationships go with them and the practice starts over.
None of this is the liaison's fault. It is the absence of a program around them.
What outsourced physician liaison services include
A referral specialist assigned to your practice who builds the referral map, sets the visit plan and reviews results with you.
A local rep in your market who makes the visits. Local means they know the area, can be in an office within the hour when a relationship needs attention and are recognized when they walk in.
Referral tools for your practice: referral guides, criteria sheets and the contact process referring offices need.
Weekly reporting on every office visited, who was seen, what was discussed, which sources are referring and what happens next.
Exclusivity. One practice per specialty per market. The relationships our rep builds in your market are built for you alone.
Continuity. If a rep changes, the map, the history and the relationships stay with the program and the practice.
Physician liaison cost: hiring versus outsourcing
An in house liaison typically costs a salary plus benefits, mileage, materials and the physician's management time, with no guarantee of results and the full cost of turnover. Outsourced physician liaison services are usually priced as a monthly program and include the planning, reporting and management the in house role lacks. The better question is cost per new referral source, which is where a managed program wins. See our programs for the options, from fully turn key to coaching for your existing liaison.
Specialties we serve
Orthopedic surgery, neurosurgery, cardiology, orthodontics, endodontics, periodontics, oral surgery, ophthalmology, infusion therapy, plastic surgery, vascular surgery and IR, home health and hospice, spine and pain management, fertility, bariatrics, physical therapy, chiropractic, behavioral health, oncology, ENT, dermatology and more. Find your specialty.
If you have a liaison today and want them to work better, our coaching program gives them the plan and reporting. If you do not, the turn key program puts a rep in your market. Either way it starts with a free evaluation: pick a time.