If I am the primary care physician, what is my liability if I refer a patient to another physician?

Whether you are the referring or the consulting physician, you will be held responsible for the care of a patient who is under your treatment.

To safeguard your patient’s health and to minimize your risk of liability, take the following steps to communicate with other physicians treating the patient: · Develop a plan for coordinating total patient care. · Agree on who has primary responsibility for total patient care, adjusting primary responsibility as the patient’s condition dictates. · Agree on who has primary responsibility for providing the patient and family with information. · Keep the patient fully advised of all these decisions.