Physician referrals

How to get physicians to refer patients to your clinical trial

By TrialNotice · Updated
Community physician in a white coat reading a one page clinical trial referral letter at his office desk
Short answerTo get physicians to refer patients to your clinical trial, put specific study information in front of the local physicians who already treat your study population, make the referral a single simple step, and follow up after every referral. Tufts CSDD research shows most physicians are willing to refer. The barrier is missing information and time, not reluctance.

Are physicians actually willing to refer patients to clinical trials?

Yes. In a Tufts CSDD survey of physicians and nurses, 90% of physicians said they feel somewhat or very comfortable discussing clinical trial information with their patients (Applied Clinical Trials). Yet the same research found physicians refer a median of five patients into clinical trials per year, less than 0.2% of their annual patient volume (Getz, Applied Clinical Trials).

90%
of physicians are comfortable discussing trials with patients
<0.2%
of their patients are actually referred into trials
9%
of physicians say fear of losing patients stops them

That gap is the opportunity. Physicians are not the obstacle. They are an untapped referral source that most sites never reach in a structured way.

Why don't more physician referrals happen?

Physicians and nurses name the inability to access information and insufficient information and time as the key reasons they do not refer. Only 9% of physicians say fear of losing the patient influences the decision (Tufts CSDD via Applied Clinical Trials). Put simply, most physicians do not know which studies are enrolling near them, what the criteria are, or how to refer.

The sites themselves add to the problem. Nearly 30% of physicians reported never receiving initial or follow up contact from site staff after making a referral (Tufts CSDD). A physician who refers once and hears nothing rarely refers again.

Which physicians should a research site contact first?

Start with the specialists who diagnose and manage your study population, located within realistic driving distance of your site. A Connecticut neurology research site that built its network over several years found community clinicians became its top source of new patient referrals, and it advises prioritizing specialty physicians because they see the target population more often (Applied Clinical Trials case study).

Setting matters too. Tufts found physicians in clinical practice are 2.7 times more likely to refer patients into clinical trials than physicians in hospital based settings (Tufts CSDD). For most studies, community practices near the site are the first list to build.

What information should you send referring physicians?

Send what removes the information barrier in one read. A strong physician packet includes:

  • The condition and study in one sentence, in clinical language the physician uses every day.
  • The key inclusion and exclusion criteria that decide most eligibility, not the full protocol.
  • The site location and why it is practical for their patients to reach.
  • The exact referral steps, with a direct contact name, phone, and email for the coordinator.
  • What happens after referral, and a commitment to report back on every patient.

For a line by line breakdown, see what to include in a clinical trial referral letter to physicians.

How do you follow up so physicians keep referring?

Treat every referral as the start of a relationship. Acknowledge it quickly, tell the physician whether the patient screened, and share study results when they are available. Follow up the initial letter by email and LinkedIn so the study stays in front of physicians who were interested but busy. Patients want this connection as well: 95% of respondents in CISCRP's 2017 study said it is important for their regular doctor to be aware of studies (CISCRP).

How do you know which outreach is working?

Track engagement at the physician level. A unique QR code on each physician's letter shows who scanned and when, so coordinators can prioritize follow up with the physicians who showed interest instead of calling an entire list. Over one study, that data also shows which specialties and practices respond, which makes the next study faster to launch.

Get your study in front of the right local physicians

TrialNotice builds a physician referral pipeline around one active study. We identify relevant local physicians within driving distance of your site, send study aligned direct mail, follow up by email and LinkedIn, track engagement with recipient level QR codes, and route warm responses into your site team's workflow.

Talk to TrialNotice

Sources

  1. Applied Clinical Trials, "Tufts CSDD Study Explores Low Recruitment Rates"
  2. Ken Getz, Applied Clinical Trials, "Rebooting the Statistic That 5% of Eligible Patients Participate in Clinical Trials"
  3. Getz K. et al., "Examining and Enabling the Role of Health Care Providers as Patient Engagement Facilitators in Clinical Trials," PubMed
  4. Applied Clinical Trials, "Building a Physician Referral Network: A Case Study"
  5. CISCRP, Highlights from the 2017 Perceptions and Insights Study

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