Tether automates the specialist referral process for primary care practices by generating referrals directly from the patient chart, routing them with insurance verification, and tracking each stage until the consult note returns to the chart. The platform integrates with existing EHRs such as athenahealth and ModMed, eliminating fax‑based handoffs and reducing staff coordination time while ensuring referral loops close automatically.
Funding
Funding not disclosed
Founders
Product
Problem
Primary care practices often lose track of specialist referrals because they rely on fax, phone calls, and manual follow‑up, resulting in many referrals never receiving a consult note back in the patient’s chart. This lack of closure creates inefficiencies, increases staff workload, and leaves patients uncertain about their care pathway.
Solution
Tether automates the full specialist referral lifecycle within existing electronic health record (EHR) systems. It extracts relevant patient data from the chart to draft a complete referral, verifies insurance eligibility, and routes the referral to the appropriate specialist without fax or manual searching. Each step—sending, acknowledgment, scheduling, and consult note receipt—is tracked in real time, and the returned consult note is automatically attached to the patient’s record, closing the loop without staff intervention. The platform also provides a live “Ask Tether” assistant that surfaces stuck referrals, suggests actions, and can execute follow‑ups automatically, learning the network’s patterns over time to improve routing efficiency.
Target Audience
Primary customers are primary care physicians and practice administrators in outpatient clinics that manage specialist referrals, as well as health systems seeking to improve referral completion rates and reduce staff coordination time.
Features
- Automated referral drafting that pulls diagnosis, labs, medications, and history directly from the EHR chart
- Real‑time insurance verification against specialist‑accepted plans
- Intelligent routing to the most appropriate specialist, with alternate suggestions when a provider is unavailable
- End‑to‑end tracking of referral status (sent, acknowledged, scheduled, completed) with automatic updates in the EHR
- Automatic attachment of the specialist’s consult note back into the patient’s chart to close the loop
- “Ask Tether” conversational interface that identifies stuck referrals, provides actionable recommendations, and can execute follow‑up actions
- Seamless integration with athenahealth, ModMed, and generic fax/shared‑inbox workflows, requiring no replacement of existing systems