A neutral, capability-level look at what Aidin is built for, where ReferralPoint takes a different approach, and how to decide which one fits the problem you are actually solving.
Specialist scored from claims and the patient's plan validated before the referral is sent.
Requirement checked and the request submitted by payer API instead of by portal.
Outreach and booking owned through confirmed attendance, not left to the patient to call.
Consult note retrieved, then keepage and leakage reported by specialty, payer, and provider.
Counted from the same ten-row capability list used across this cluster, scored only on what each product publicly markets. 4 rows overlap — the rest is where the two products stop doing the same job.
The discharge and post-acute placement workflow.
Decides where the referral goes, then finishes it — authorization, appointment, consult note.
Aidin is built for hospital discharge planning and post-acute placement — matching patients to SNF, home health, and rehab providers while documenting patient choice. If your constraint is ambulatory specialist referrals instead of post-acute transitions, the alternative you want steers referrals using claims-based specialist scoring, validates the patient's health plan inside the EHR order, automates prior authorization through payer APIs, and schedules the patient to confirmed attendance. That is ReferralPoint's scope.
Aidin positions itself around post-acute care transitions and discharge planning — helping hospital case managers place patients with post-acute providers faster while supporting documented patient choice.
The discharge and post-acute placement workflow. Case managers send structured requests to post-acute providers, see real-time availability and responsiveness, and work from quality data and a reputation and badge system when presenting patient choice lists.
What Aidin publicly markets:
Most referral evaluations go wrong because outbound and inbound are treated as one workflow. They are two, with different owners and different failure points. Here is where each product acts in each direction.
Outbound is the referral your PCP or clinic sends out. Every dollar of leakage and every week of delay is created here, at seven specific steps — and the destination is locked in at step two, inside the EHR order.
On outbound, Aidin is built for the hospital sending placement requests to post-acute providers: broadcast the request, compare responses and availability, and document patient choice. It is a post-acute placement flow rather than an ambulatory specialist order, so EHR-order steerage, claims-based specialist scoring, plan validation, and patient scheduling are outside its scope.
On outbound, Aidin is built for the hospital sending placement requests to post-acute providers: broadcast the request, compare responses and availability, and document patient choice. It is a post-acute placement flow rather than an ambulatory specialist order, so EHR-order steerage, claims-based specialist scoring, plan validation, and patient scheduling are outside its scope.
ReferralPoint acts before the referral leaves: the specialist is scored from claims inside the EHR order, the patient's plan is validated, authorization is filed by payer API, and the appointment is booked and confirmed — then the consult note is retrieved and keepage is reported.
A PCP or clinic decides a patient needs a specialist, inside the EHR order.
The recommendation appears inside the EHR referral order, before the referral exists.
Which specialist the patient is sent to — the single decision that sets keepage.
Stays with your staff — not part of the published scope.
Contracted specialists scored from claims on cost, quality, access, and network status.
Whether that specialist is in-network for this patient's specific plan, not just the system.
Stays with your staff — not part of the published scope.
Plan-level network validation at the point of order, so the choice is right the first time.
Requirement checked and the request filed before the patient is expecting an appointment.
Prior authorization submitted and tracked through payer APIs as part of the referral.
Outreach, booking, reminders — the step where most outbound referrals quietly die.
Stays with your staff — not part of the published scope.
An AI coordinator contacts the patient, books the visit, and confirms attendance.
The handoff itself: electronic where possible, fax where the partner requires it.
Sent to the specialist you already contract with — no directory membership required.
No shared directory to join — this step uses your existing partners.
Consult note back on the chart, then leakage reported where leaders can act on it.
Consult note retrieved, keepage and leakage reported by specialty, payer, and referring provider.
Inbound is the referral other practices send to you. The economics reverse: the goal is capturing new-patient volume, seating it quickly, and answering the sender so they keep sending.
On inbound, Aidin serves the post-acute provider receiving referral requests from hospitals — reviewing the packet, signalling availability, and responding digitally instead of by fax. Ambulatory fax intake for a specialty practice, coverage validation, and patient outreach to appointment are a different workflow.
On inbound, Aidin serves the post-acute provider receiving referral requests from hospitals — reviewing the packet, signalling availability, and responding digitally instead of by fax. Ambulatory fax intake for a specialty practice, coverage validation, and patient outreach to appointment are a different workflow.
On the receiving side, ReferralPoint captures fax and portal referrals into one queue, routes them on scored access and sub-specialty fit, checks coverage before booking, clears authorization, reaches the patient to seat the visit, and returns status and the consult note to the sender.
Fax, portal, direct message, or phone — usually all four at once.
The inbound fax is read by AI/OCR and the patient, plan, referring provider, and reason are extracted automatically — nobody reads the fax and re-types it into fields.
Matching the referral to the correct service line, sub-specialty, and location.
The patient chart and referral order are created in the EHR automatically, then routed on scored access and sub-specialty fit — the referral is visible in the EHR without anyone creating the chart by hand.
Whether your practice is in-network for that patient's plan, checked up front.
Stays with your staff — not part of the published scope.
Plan-level validation on intake, so avoidable write-offs and reschedules are caught early.
Someone still has to secure authorization before the appointment is safe to keep.
Authorization requested and tracked by payer API on the receiving side too.
Reaching the patient fast is what converts an inbound referral into a kept visit.
Stays with your staff — not part of the published scope.
Automated outreach with confirmation and reminders, so new-patient volume is not lost.
Status back to the sender and the consult note returned — the reason they send again.
Status and consult note returned to the referring provider automatically.
Whether the queue is staffed, and what your inbound volume by source is worth.
Stays with your staff — not part of the published scope.
Managed referral coordinators available, with inbound volume and conversion reporting.
Each row reflects what the vendor publicly markets on its own website as of the date on this page. A dash means the capability is not part of that product's published scope — not that the product is deficient. Verify current scope with each vendor.
| Capability | Aidin | ReferralPoint |
|---|---|---|
| 1 · Referral arrivesAidin 2/4 · ReferralPoint 3/4 | ||
| Shared provider-to-provider network | ||
| Inbound referral + fax intake automation | ||
| AI/OCR reads the fax and extracts the data — no manual re-keying | ||
| Patient chart and referral created in the EHR automatically | ||
| 2 · The destination is decidedAidin 1/3 · ReferralPoint 3/3 | ||
| Embedded in the EHR referral order | ||
| Claims-based specialist scoring | ||
| Plan-level network validation at point of order | ||
| 3 · The path is clearedAidin 1/2 · ReferralPoint 2/2 | ||
| Prior authorization by payer API | ||
| Patient outreach and scheduling to attendance | ||
| 4 · The loop closes and gets measuredAidin 1/3 · ReferralPoint 3/3 | ||
| Closed-loop consult-note retrieval | ||
| Keepage and leakage analytics | ||
| Optional managed referral staffing | ||
The same referral, walked stage by stage. Both products appear in some lanes; the divergence is concentrated in the stage where the destination is decided and the stage where the path is cleared.
Inbound faxes read by AI/OCR, the patient chart created in the EHR, and the referral routed to the right queue.
Which specialist, and whether that specialist is in the patient's specific plan.
Authorization obtained and the patient actually seated in a confirmed appointment.
Consult note back on the chart, keepage and leakage reported, desk capacity covered.
The practical difference is where the decision happens. Tools built around connectivity and intake make the referral move faster once it exists. ReferralPoint changes which specialist the referral goes to, whether that specialist is in the patient's plan, and whether the authorization and appointment are already handled when it leaves the office — see how it works.
Aidin's center of gravity is the post-acute transition after an inpatient stay; ReferralPoint's is the ambulatory specialist referral originated by a PCP or clinic.
ReferralPoint scores specialists from claims data across cost, quality, access, and network status, then validates the patient's plan before the referral is routed.
ReferralPoint automates prior authorization through payer APIs as part of the referral itself.
ReferralPoint reports keepage and leakage by specialty, payer, and referring provider for network-integrity and value-based-care programs.
Both products touch the referral. What differs is the moment they act on it. Aidin's column reflects what it publicly markets; verify current scope with the vendor.
Choose Aidin if you are:
Choose ReferralPoint if you need to:
These are not mutually exclusive in every organization. Some groups keep a connectivity network for practices that only send by fax and run ReferralPoint for the steerage, authorization, and scheduling layer.
Buying committees stall when they compare products built for different jobs. Name the constraint first, then only score products built for it.
Fax volume and no visibility once a referral leaves the office
Tracked electronic handoffs and shared status are what these products are built around.
Inbound referrals piling up at the front desk
Capture, digitize, and route are throughput problems, not direction problems.
Referrals leaving your contracted network
Keepage only moves when the specialist chosen at the point of order changes and the patient's plan is validated there.
Authorization turnaround and portal labor
Requirement checked and the request submitted through payer APIs as part of the referral itself.
Patients never getting to the specialist appointment
Outreach, booking, and confirmed attendance are owned rather than reported.
A referral desk short-handed relative to volume
Software plus trained coordinators, so the workflow runs without hiring linearly with volume.
Our referral management options comparison walks the same framework across EHR queues, dedicated platforms, and outsourced staffing.
Weights belong to your buying committee; the criteria below are the ones that decide whether referral volume converts.
| Criterion | Weight | Aidin | ReferralPoint |
|---|---|---|---|
| Closed-loop outcome capture | 25% | 6/10 | 9/10 |
| In-network steering at order entry | 20% | 4/10 | 9/10 |
| Prior authorization automation | 20% | 4/10 | 9/10 |
| Bidirectional EHR write-back | 15% | 6/10 | 9/10 |
| Leakage reporting by payor and specialty | 10% | 5/10 | 9/10 |
| Time to first measurable result | 10% | 7/10 | 8/10 |
This single artefact separates a platform that manages referrals from software that lists them.
Aidin's outbound flow is a hospital sending placement requests to post-acute providers, comparing responses and availability, and documenting patient choice. ReferralPoint's outbound flow is the ambulatory specialist order: the specialist is scored from claims inside the EHR order, the patient's plan is validated, prior authorization is submitted by payer API, and the appointment is booked and confirmed.
The full comparison hub and evaluation framework.
ReadWhat referral management is, and what a complete program covers.
ReadHow to size leakage from claims before you evaluate vendors.
ReadThe capability checklist to score any platform against.
ReadWe will baseline your referral leakage and show exactly where scored steerage, plan validation, and automated authorization change the number.