A clearer school referral workflow.
Every handoff has a next step.

1. Receive and track the school referral

The journey starts when a school identifies a student for referral to the provider. Bring the referral into a consistent operational process and make its next action clear to the coordination team.

Question to answer: Has the referral been received, and what must happen before the provider can move it forward?

Agree on a common starting event before measuring time-to-service. A referral sent by a school and a referral accepted by a provider are different events; choose the one that matches the question your program wants to answer.

2. Collect parent consent and intake

Use digital consent and intake forms to gather the required information from families. Automated reminders and missing-information flags support follow-up when a step is incomplete.

Question to answer: What is still needed from the family or referring school?

Your provider organization determines required paperwork, consent language and the conditions for moving forward. A digital collection process supports that work; it does not replace your program’s consent policies.

3. Coordinate assignment or a place on the waitlist

When the required operational steps are complete, coordinate the next action using assignment, waitlist and capacity views across schools. Keep waiting referrals visible for follow-up.

Question to answer: Is the referral ready for assignment, or does the team need to manage a waiting period?

Clinical prioritization and eligibility decisions remain with the provider. SchoolSpan helps the team coordinate around those decisions rather than making them.

4. Keep authorized school staff informed

Give school staff an appropriate view of progress, within the roles and information-sharing boundaries established for the program. Examples may include referral received, consent pending or first appointment scheduled.

Question to answer: What does this authorized school contact need to know to coordinate their next step?

Full clinical records stay in the EHR. Confirm which operational fields are appropriate for each role before opening school access.

5. Review progress across schools and districts

Use program reporting to review service delivery, delays and capacity across the schools you serve. Look at where referrals wait and which operational steps need attention.

Question to answer: Where is coordination slowing down, and what should the team do next?

Distinguish first appointment scheduled from first appointment attended. Consistent definitions make reports more useful for school conversations and program reviews.

Plan the workflow before rollout

Map how referrals arrive today, which forms your organization requires and how clinicians are assigned across school coverage. Then define school permissions, reporting needs and the handoff into your existing EHR.

A focused pilot should have a clear school scope, a coordinator responsible for review and a baseline for the outcomes you want to assess. The aim is to test whether the workflow fits daily operations, not simply whether a form can be submitted.