Referring a patient

Call (804) HCA-CARE (804-422-2273)

Palliative care consultation services require a physician's referral. At HCA Virginia, we recommend that physicians consider the following criteria for referring an individual to palliative care:

• Uncontrolled pain or symptoms such as nausea, vomiting, shortness of breath, delirium, depression or anxiety
• Uncontrolled psychosocial or spiritual issues
• Multiple hospital admissions or ER visits in one month for the same diagnosis
• Prolonged length of intensive care or hospital stay without evidence of progress
• Patient or family requests information regarding palliative care, advanced directives, living wills or hospice care
• Holistic assessment that considers the patient’s overall situation and future decision-making

Our palliative care team can also assist with patient discharge planning for continuing services and advanced care planning.

Call (804) HCA-XFER (804-422-9337) 24 hours a day

Pediatric hospitalist services

The pediatric hospitalist services at HCA Virginia are designed to provide excellent service to patients, families and referring physicians. Our pediatric hospitalists work closely to coordinate care and status updates with the referring physician’s office. At a minimum, referring physicians will be called within 24 hours of admission and at discharge. More frequent calls will be made if there are significant clinical changes, or if the referring physician requests it. A copy of the discharge summary is faxed to the referring physician at the time of discharge.

Note: Participation in the pediatric hospitalist program is entirely optional. Community physicians may admit patients to their own services. The hospitalist program is available to those physicians who choose to use it for geographic reasons, vacation or other circumstances. The decision to admit to the pediatric hospitalist program does not impact a physician's attending status at HCA Virginia hospitals.

Hospital admissions or transfers

Call our One Call Transfer Center at (804) HCA-XFER (804-422-9337), 24 hours a day.

Referrals to the ER

Because some patients may need evaluation and treatment prior to admission to the hospital, the referring physician may refer a patient to the ER. Use the One Call Transfer Center at (804) HCA-XFER (804-422-9337), detailed above, for these admissions.

If a patient requires admission to the hospital, the pediatric hospitalist will be notified. It is helpful if the referring physician advises emergency physicians that if the patient is admitted, the patient will be using the pediatric hospitalist service.

Transfers to another hospital

Patients requiring a higher level of care will be transferred to the Pediatric Intensive Care Unit at Chippenham Hospital.

Call our One Call Transfer Center at (804) HCA-XFER (804-422-9337), 24 hours a day.

Our team will:

• Obtain and document necessary patient information
• Locate designated accepting physician and hospital
• Connect sending and accepting physicians by a recorded physician-to-physician call
• Confirm bed availability, obtain hospital approval and notify receiving departments
• Assist in securing appropriate transportation
• Track transfer from time of call until patient arrives at destination
• Provide immediate feedback to all physicians and facilities involved

All calls are recorded and documented to ensure accurate service.

Learn more about patient referrals for Dominion Hospital Mental Health and Wellness

HCA Virginia is committed to providing our patients with safe, high quality healthcare. Refer patients with confidence – learn more about our quality measures and view our latest quality of care scores as reported by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services.

HCA Virginia offers hospitalist services at all of our hospitals. Our goal is to provide quality care and customer service to our patients, families and referring physicians. Learn more about our hospitalist services.