New Consult Intake
A surgical consult without the imaging, pathology and prior operative note becomes a second appointment. Collect the packet before the patient arrives.
The patient is not coming to be investigated. They are coming so a surgeon can decide whether to operate, by what approach, and how soon. Without the images in front of them, that decision moves to a second visit, and every date downstream of it moves with it.
A recurrent hernia, a previous cholecystectomy, an abdomen that has been opened before: the prior operative note is often the single document that determines how the next case is planned and how long it needs to be booked for. It is also the document most likely to still be sitting at another hospital.
Told to bring their scan, patients bring a summary letter, a phone photograph, or nothing. Being specific on the phone, in the language they speak, and confirming what they actually have, is what turns an instruction into a packet that is present in the room.
Records departments have hold queues, closing times and their own forms. Chasing one consult's documents can mean four calls over five days, and it is the first thing a busy front desk stops doing. Running it automatically keeps it happening on the days it needs to happen.
Packet defined by your surgeons
What is required for each consult type is your clinical decision, not the system's
Outbound chasing that persists
Records departments called repeatedly within your call windows until the item arrives
Incomplete packets flagged early
Your staff decide whether to proceed, reschedule or see the patient anyway
It makes the calls your process requires, identifies the practice, states what is needed and captures the response. A patient-signed release is still required exactly as it is today, and the system chases that signature rather than working around it.
No. It never reads, describes, interprets or summarises a study. It records that a study exists, where it was performed, when, and whether the images and report have been obtained. Every clinical reading belongs to your surgeons.
The consult is flagged against the rule your practice sets, with what is missing listed. Whether to see the patient anyway, reschedule, or convert the visit is your decision. The system does not cancel a surgical consult on its own.
As structured intake attached to the appointment rather than a free-text message. Delivery is available through API or FHIR for supported systems, available through secure workflow automation elsewhere, and custom integration is available where no direct interface exists.
Yes, at the same call: plan and policy details, whether the plan requires a referral on file, and the referring office. Collecting it alongside the records request avoids a second call to the same patient two days later.
Referrals
ER and Primary Care Referral Intake
How the consult got booked, and what the referring clinician said it was for.
Pre-Op
Pre-Op Clearance Coordination
The same chasing discipline after the consult, once a date is on the book.
Related
Outside Records Collection for New Eye Patients
The same records problem in a specialty where the prior study is equally decisive.
Pillar guide
AI Receptionist for General Surgery Practices
How a general and robotic surgery practice handles consult, pre-op and post-op call volume end to end.
See how MedReception AI handles after-hours calls, scheduling, intake, and patient communication for medical practices like yours.
