Frequently Asked Questions
1. What exactly is a referral management solution and how does it work?
A referral management solution is a suite of software tools that digitizes and automates the process of sending, receiving, and tracking patient referrals between healthcare providers. Cabot’s platform captures referrals at the point of care, validates demographic and clinical data, and automatically routes the request to the most appropriate specialist or diagnostic centre. Real-time status updates, built-in messaging, and analytics dashboards give stakeholders full visibility from submission to appointment completion.
2. How long does implementation take and what factors influence the timeline?
For most mid-sized clinics, a standard deployment—including integrations with one to two EMRs—takes between 12 and 16 weeks. Large hospital networks with multiple legacy systems may require 20 to 24 weeks. Key factors that affect timelines include: number of integration points, availability of technical resources on the client side, data-migration complexity, and change-management requirements. Our agile methodology allows critical features to go live early while less-urgent modules are completed in parallel.
3. How do you ensure compliance with PHIPA, PIPEDA, and provincial privacy regulations?
Compliance is built into the core of our platform. All data is stored in Canadian data centres that hold SOC 2 Type II and ISO 27001 certifications. We employ end-to-end TLS 1.3 encryption, AES-256 data-at-rest encryption, multifactor authentication, and comprehensive audit logging. Cabot’s compliance team conducts quarterly internal audits and annual third-party assessments. We also incorporate privacy-by-design principles, ensuring that only the minimum necessary data is shared at each step of the referral workflow.
4. Which EMRs and hospital systems can you integrate with, and what standards do you use?
Cabot supports any EMR, EHR, or HIS that exposes FHIR, HL7 v2, REST, or SOAP interfaces. Out-of-the-box connectors are available for Telus PS Suite, OSCAR, Epic, Meditech, Accuro, and Cerner. For custom or legacy systems, our integration engineers build adapters that normalize data to the FHIR standard, ensuring semantic interoperability. We also interface with provincial Health Information Exchanges (e.g., Ontario Health’s Digital Health Drug Repository) to pull diagnostic data where applicable.
5. Can patients access the system, and what benefits do they receive?
Yes. An optional patient portal—fully responsive for mobile—allows patients to track the status of their referral, confirm or reschedule appointments, upload documents, and receive automated reminders. This transparency reduces no-show rates, frees up call-centre resources, and empowers patients to take an active role in their care journey. Accessibility features such as WCAG-compliant design and support for both English and French are standard.
6. What kind of training and change-management support do you provide?
Successful adoption hinges on comprehensive change management. Cabot delivers role-based training that includes live workshops, e-learning modules, quick-reference guides, and recorded video tutorials. Super-users receive deeper technical training so they can champion the system internally. Post-go-live, our customer success team holds weekly check-ins for the first month to monitor KPIs and address any workflow adjustments.
7. How is data security handled, including hosting and encryption?
All data is hosted in Canadian regions of AWS or Microsoft Azure with automated failover across multiple availability zones. We employ network segmentation, intrusion detection systems, and continuous vulnerability scanning. In transit, data is protected by TLS 1.3 with forward secrecy; at rest, we use AES-256 encryption with customer-managed keys. Role-based access control (RBAC) allows administrators to define granular permissions down to the field level.
8. What is the pricing model and expected return on investment (ROI)?
Our pricing is subscription-based, scaling by the number of users, interfaces, and participating sites. A typical community clinic with 50 users pays a predictable monthly fee that includes licenses, updates, and support. Most clients see ROI within 9 to 12 months, driven by reduced administrative labor, faster specialist appointments, and improved patient satisfaction scores that positively influence funding metrics.
9. What post-go-live support and future upgrades are included?
Cabot provides 24/7 bilingual help-desk services, proactive system monitoring, and quarterly feature releases at no additional cost. Clients receive a dedicated account manager and access to our online knowledge base. We also host semi-annual roadmap sessions where clients can influence upcoming enhancements, ensuring the platform evolves alongside your organization’s needs.
