Tools to improve referrals from primary care to specialty care.

Referrals from primary to specialty care are a critical first step in coordination of specialty care, but shortcomings in the appropriateness, clarity, or completeness of referrals are common. We examined (1) whether 3 tools to coordinate specialty care are associated with better referral characteristics and (2) whether greater perceived helpfulness of these tools is associated with better referral characteristics among specialists who use all 3...