Table 2.

While Tailored Referrals Were the Goal, Generic Referrals Were Less Labor Intensive for Care Teams to Implement

	Tailored referrals Incorporated patient’s specific needs.	Pre-existing lists were modified or prioritized.	Generic referrals Information was limited by need and/or location.
Staff	Pair patients with specific CBOs.	Prioritize pre-existing lists	Give patients pre-existing lists
	“She might put a note in the computer. ‘Referral made to Salvation Army. Spoke to whoever there. Supposed to meet patient at 2:00 PM.’ […] She usually will either call later today or first thing in the morning and just say, ‘Hey, just following up with you. Were you able to connect with Erin at 2:00?’” – Practice	“It’s actually not tailored specifically, but the screeners are really good and have gone to most of the community partners who are helping us with the food piece” – AHC	“Typically, what happens is if they recognize a need then you can actually print that screen with all of the information on it. They’ll print that out for the patient and give it to the patient.” – Practice
Patients	Guided and coached by staff in selecting and contacting CBOs.	Guided in selecting CBOs but expected to address needs on their own.	Expected to independently select CBOs from a generic list.
	“The navigator helps them to, not just gives them a bunch of resources, but gives them the resources and follows up with them and makes the first contact and closes the loop.” – System	“Then I call the patient and give them the information, tell them that I’ve given them the contact information as well. And that I encourage them to call. And if there’s any problem to contact me.” – Practice	“It’s essentially connecting them and giving them the information and then it’s up to the patient to contact those organizations and move the steps forward.” – Practice
Technology	Platforms used to select CBOS and to communicate with CBOs and patients.	Referral platforms are used to generate referral lists with limited tailoring.	Referrals were not autogenerated or customized.
	“They can print the program page right there and give them the information printed, email it to them, or we also have promotional cards so that patients can search the system on their own. It’s a public website, […] anyone in the community can go on and just find the help that they need on their own.” – Health system	“We prioritized [CBOs] one to five. One would be, should always show up. Two would be, should show up if there’s space in the ... We set a limit to the number of pages that could show up for a community resource summary. – AHC	“We use a paper-based method, and again, that’s because logistically that is a much quicker and simpler way for our staff to do it.” – Health system

Notes: CBOs community-based organizations, AHC accountable health communities