The e-Referrals module provides agencies with the capability to make electronic referrals between agencies. For the agency making the referral, documents can be attached to the referral; for the receiving agency, documents can be downloaded and saved for accepted incoming e-Referrals. It is the responsibility of the agencies involved to ensure that protocols are established and met when making referrals between agencies.

An E-Referral is a client referral that one DATIS participating agency makes to another DATIS participating agency within the Catalyst application.  Once referred, the referral is received immediately by the  DATIS participating agency.

Outgoing e-Referrals

Outgoing e-Referrals are referrals made for a client to another agency.

  1. Navigate to the Outgoing Referral List screen by selecting the Referrals button at the bottom of the Client Information screen for clients not yet admitted to the agency or from the Admission Information screen for admitted clients.

  2. Select a participating agency from the Agencies drop down list.  Note that the Add E-Referral button is greyed out until an agency is selected.




    Only agencies that accept e-Referrals are selectable in the list.  Agencies who have opted out of the module will be greyed out, and non-selectable.

  3. Click Add e-Referral.
  4. Complete the fields in the Referral Information screen.  



    The fields with red asterisks are mandatory.
    Refer To - select the agency the client is being referred to.
    Referred By - the name of the case worker making the referral. See Adding to/Deleting from an Agency's Maintained Catalyst Selection List to maintain the list.
    Refer to Provincial Service Category - select the PSC that is most appropriate for the referral.
    Referred On - enter the date the referral is made.
    Contact - the name of the contact person at the referring agency that can be contacted by the receiving agency regarding this e-Referral.
    Telephone - the telephone number of the contact person at the referring agency.
    Demographic - This field pre-populated with 'Y'. It indicates that the information for the client (per the business rules) will be shared with the receiving agency.
    Approved by Client - Approval from the client must be obtained to transmit the referral.
  5. Click Save. The referral will immediately appear on the list of Incoming Referral on the Catalyst home page of the receiving agency.
  6. If an attachment is required, it may be added to the form after saving.  Click the Attachments button below the Approved by Client field.

Outgoing Referral Status

There are three statuses for outgoing referrals:

AcceptedThe receiving agency accepts the referral.
DeclinedThe receiving agency declines the referral.
ViewedThe receiving agency has ‘viewed’ the client referral in their Catalyst database (the referral was clicked on by a Catalyst user at the receiving agency). The receiving agency has not recorded a status of Accepted or Declined; the Viewed status is automatically generated by Catalyst.

The status of an agency's e-Referrals is displayed on the the Catalyst Home page.




Item #1 from the above screen shot indicates how many e-Referrals has been made by the agency.  In this example it is 5. Clicking this link will display a list of the referrals and their respective statuses.

Item #2 from the Catalyst home screen shot above indicates the number of e-Referrals and provides feedback on those referrals - Accepted or Declined.  The paper clip beside a client's name indicates that there is a document attached.


Click the checkbox in the Acknowledge column and the Acknowledge button at the bottom of the screen to indicate that the referral status has been seen.  The client will then be removed from this list.  To see the details of a client, click the hyperlinked client name.

Updating an already sent e-Referral

Up until the receiving agency either accepts or declines the e-Referral, it can be updated. In other words even if an e-referral has been viewed, information on the referral can be changed and the change will appear in the already transmitted referral by the receiving agency.

Recalling an already sent e-Referral

In order to recall an already transmitted e-Referral, the referral must deleted from the particular client’s Outgoing Referral Information.  Accepted or declined referrals cannot be recalled.

Identifying e-Referrals from the Outgoing Referral List Screen

The Outgoing Referral List screen displays both e-Referrals and non-e-Referral referrals. All electronic referrals will be represented by 'Y' in the E-Referral? column.

Identifying e-Referrals from the Outgoing Referral Information Screen

In a client's Outgoing Referral Information Screen an electronic referral is represented with a 'Yes' answer to the Demographic field.

Deleting an e-Referral

Accepted or Declined e-Referrals cannot be deleted. Only Viewed e-Referrals can be deleted.

Incoming e-Referrals

Incoming e-Referrals are referrals received for a client from another agency.

  1. Item #3 from the Catalyst home screen shot above indicates that the agency has received an e-Referral. Clicking on this link will display the Incoming e-Referrals List.




  2. Clicking the client's name will display the details of the incoming referral.



  3. The referral can be Accepted or Declined.
    1. Declining the e-Referral can be done by clicking the Decline button and indicating why the referral has been declined. 
      There are three options from the selection list:
      1-Does not meet agency criteria:  Based on the information sent, the client does not meet the agency criteria for admission.
      2-Long Wait List:  The agency wait list is too long and it is not feasible to add additional referrals (relevant to agencies using the Wait List module.)
      3-Service Not Available:  The agency does not offer the service that is being requested.
      Once the appropriate option has been selected, click the Decline button and this status will be transmitted immediately to the referring agency.
    2. Accepting the e-Referral can be done by clicking the Accept button.  Once Accept is selected, a message to acknowledge that the Catalyst user is authorized at the agency to admit the client or put them on a wait list (the Wait List module is only available to those agencies who have requested access).
  4. Catalyst will perform a search to determine if the client already exists.
    1. If the client is a new client, the client record will be automatically created and the user will be directed to the Client Information screen.
    2. If one or more matches are found (based on the existing client search criteria in Catalyst), a list of possible matches will be displayed.  Close attention should be paid to Client Search Result List to ensure duplicate records are not created.

    3. If the search returns a match, select the correct client by clicking on the radio button that corresponds to the client and then on the <Select Client> button at the bottom of the page. You will be taken to the client information screen for the selected client and you can proceed with inputting the client information.  In situation where the client is selected from the Client Search Result List, the demographic information will NOT be copied to this client's record from the referring agency (with the exception of the Referral Agency information).
    4. If the search does not return a match, click the <Add Client> to be directed to the Client Information screen.  The demographic information from the referring agency will automatically be populated. 
  5. The referring agency name and 'Referred On' date will be displayed in the Referral Information section of the Client Information Screen.


Creating and Managing e-Referral Attachments

Outgoing e-Referrals - Creating and attaching a document

  1. In the Outgoing Referral Information screen, enter the referral details for the client and click Save.  The screen will return to the Outgoing Referral List screen
  2. Click the Referral Number to return to the Outgoing Referral Information screen.



  3. In the Type of Data to Transmit section and click the Attachments link to open the e-Referral Attachments screen.



  4. On the e-Referrals Attachment screen click on Upload Attachment to show the Browse button.



  5. Clicking Browse will allow the user to browse files to be uploaded.  Once the file is located, click Open in the dialogue box, then click the Upload button in the Attachment screen.
    The one file format that is not supported is a .xlsx file.
  6. Once the upload is complete, click Save.
    1. After saving, the user has the option of attaching additional documents, removing the attached document, or exiting the window.

Outgoing e-Referrals: Feedback Detailed Information Screen

  1. Clicking the link 'You have feedback (accepted/declined) from X outgoing e-Referrals', item #2 from the Catalyst home screen shot above will display the 'Outgoing e-Referral Feedback List'.




  2. A paperclip after the client's name indicates an attachment is present.  Clicking on the client's name will display to the detailed feedback information.


  3. Clicking on the 'Attachments' hyperlink will display the attachment window, where the documents can be uploaded, downloaded (attach document to e-Referral), or delete documents.

Business Rules:

  • Declined e-Referrals with attachments - the attachments can be viewed or removed; it is not possible to add new attachments.
  • Accepted (Approved) e-Referrals with attachments - the attachments can be viewed and new attachments can be uploaded as necessary for client care.
  • No Status or Viewed e-Referrals - files can be uploaded or removed.

Incoming e-Referrals with Attachments

  1. On the Incoming e-Referrals List, referrals with documents attached will be displayed with a paper clip beside the client's name.

  2. Click on the client name to access the Incoming E-Referral Information screen.  Once the screen opens, you will notice the link “This referral has attachments. Click to see list.  Attachments can be opened from Client Information, only after acceptance.



  3. Per the blue text, click to see the attachments.  Attachments are viewable only after the referral has been Accepted. The e-Referral Attachments box will appear and list the attachments.
    Attachments can also be viewed from the Referral Information on the Client Information screen.




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