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‘Medical referrals solely relies on referring physician, patient docs’
Delays in medical referrals cannot be blamed on the Medical Referral Services Office under the Department of Public Health, according to MRS director Ronald Sablan.
Misconception that referral cases sit at the MRS office is not true and, according to Sablan, every case that is submitted to the MRS office is entertained.
“The only time a case for a medically referred patient sits is either documents are not submitted by their referring physicians,” he said.
Under the MRS algorithm, the referral process for patients includes a referring physician. The referring physician identifies a patient with medical condition requiring medical care and treatment outside the CNMI due to currently unavailable medical specialist and/or equipment.
The referring physician completes the referral package, attaching a referral letter with the patient’s medical history and condition and forwards it to the MRS office. MRS then inputs and records the information into their data system and prepares it for the MRS medical referral committee for review.
Once that information is in, the MRS referral committee makes its decision and forward the case back to MRS for final input before approved cases are assigned to the office’s coordinators. Those cases that are deferred or denied are returned to the referring physician for recommended actions.
“Our MRS referral committee is formed of doctors that are specialized in the process and they understand that patients under medical referral [if referred] should have all required information before the review process starts. If it is denied, it will be referred back to the referring physician,” Sablan said.
“So it is strictly done by a medical team, whether they approve it or disapprove it. If it is denied, the referring physician has to show up for appeal,” he added.
Sablan said another reason for delay is if the patient does not have travel documents, which they must first secure before they can be referred off island.
