Beyond the MD: What APPs Really Want from Liaisons

Estimated read: 5 minutes

If you are focusing your outreach efforts on the physicians, you are missing the mark. Nurse practitioners (NPs), physician assistants (PAs), and care managers make many of the referral decisions today, and when you tailor outreach to what these professionals actually value, referrals naturally follow.

What NP/PA/Care Manager Personas Crave

NPs and PAs care most about clarity and speed. They want referral criteria spelled out simply, instant scheduling options, and a consult-on-demand with specialists. In one failed liaison program noted by Healthcare Success, lack of personalization and unclear value caused practices to stall - 99 times out of 100, cordial visits alone didn't move the needle. In contrast, oncology clinics that deployed part-time (1099) liaisons with market-specific strategies saw referral volume rise by around 40% within a year across multiple regions.

Care managers look beyond clinical criteria. They need community-resource support, ride coordination, and tools to prevent readmissions. For clinic admins, operational tools matter most: templates, referral status visibility, and reducing no-shows.

Proven Tools That Drive Referrals

A successful liaison story comes from Henry Ford Health's structural-heart outreach program. Here outreach RNs used a centralized tracking platform to spot referrers whose case volume dropped and proactively re-engaged them, restoring referral flow and trust quickly. That kind of responsiveness aligns precisely with what APP teams value.

Here's how to structure your outreach for maximum impact:

Direct scheduling links that display next-available appointment slots by service line.
One-page prep checklists showing required labs, imaging, and contraindications - eliminating administrative friction.
Referral pathway cards that say, "If X, refer to Y," with expected turnaround times.
Micro-education sessions (under 20 minutes, case-based), followed by a PDF recap.
Rapid consult channel - phone or secure text line - to reach specialists instantly.

Tracking What Matters

Results must be measurable. Use:

Monthly APP touchpoints per clinic
Percentage of referrals that include complete intake information on first touch
Specialist callback turnaround time
APP satisfaction scores to refine outreach continually

Systems like the Henry Ford platform track performance by individual referrer, letting outreach staff tailor engagement - and mend relationships fast when referrals drop.

Pitfalls That Sink Liaison Programs

Assuming physicians are the only decision-makers is a recipe for wasted effort. Another frequent mistake: unstructured follow-up. As Healthcare Success warns, "Don't follow up and don't manage" is almost guaranteed to derail your liaison efforts. And long, lecture-style lunch-and-learns promptly lose APP interest - brevity and relevance matter.

Real-World Wins and Lessons

At Sutter Health in Northern California, physician liaisons helped integrate formerly independent hospitals and align referral channels by actively soliciting feedback from community-based clinicians. This built trust and operational cohesion across a sprawling system.

Conversely, liaison tactics that ignore the perspectives of support staff and APPs - focusing only on physicians - consistently fall flat. The key is engaged listening, intelligent prep, and delivering tangible operational value on the front lines of care.

Ready to take the next step? Discover gives you access to thousands of APP and clinic accounts you can search, filter, and reach out to. Use it to map your market, spot gaps, and prioritize the relationships that matter most.