Three EAPs, three ways of doing everything
Your practice takes referrals from several employee assistance programme providers. One sends referrals by secure email with a PDF form. Another uses a portal you have to log into to accept a case. A third phones, then emails a reference number that has to appear on everything.
Each wants something back: confirmation that first contact was made, attendance after each session, a closing form, an invoice in their format. The deadlines differ. Some forms go to the provider, some are kept on file.
The associate seeing the client does the session. The admin around it falls to whoever notices it first, which is often nobody.
The root of the mess
There is no single list of open EAP cases. Each referral lives in the inbox or portal it arrived through, and the paperwork status lives in someone's memory.
- Referrals arrive through different channels depending on the provider.
- Session allowances vary by provider and sometimes by employer contract.
- Forms are due at different points, with provider-specific templates.
- Associates may not know which provider a client came through.
The cost of losing track
| Missed step | What follows |
|---|---|
| First contact not confirmed | The provider chases, or reallocates the referral |
| Attendance not reported | Invoices delayed or rejected |
| Closing form late | Payment held until paperwork is complete |
| Allowance exceeded | Sessions delivered that the provider will not fund |
| Reputation with providers | Fewer referrals sent to your practice over time |
EAP providers work to service standards with the employers who buy from them, so a practice that is slow with paperwork becomes a problem they have to manage. Nobody tells you that referrals have slowed because of late closing forms. They just slow.
Inside the practice, the cost is duplicated effort. Two people both chase the same form, or neither does, because each assumed the other had it.
One intake for every EAP referral
- Every referral lands in one queue. Emails from provider addresses are parsed for the reference, allowance and deadline; portal referrals are logged in one short form; phone referrals the same.
- Each case gets a provider-specific checklist: first contact, sessions, forms due and invoice format, based on each provider's rules as you describe them to us.
- Allocation to an associate, with the provider and allowance shown on their booking so they know the limits before the first session.
- Attendance flows from your booking system to the case, counting against the allowance.
- Reminders before each form is due, sent to whoever owns that step: the associate for session paperwork, admin for invoices.
- Invoices prepared per provider, with the reference numbers they require, and matched when paid.
The case record holds admin details only. Anything clinical the provider asks for is completed by the therapist in the provider's own forms.
What the week looks like after
The practice manager opens one list and sees every open EAP case: provider, associate, sessions used, next form due. Nothing depends on remembering which inbox a referral came into.
Providers receive what they asked for on time, which is exactly what makes them keep sending referrals.
Is this happening in your practice?
- You take referrals from more than one EAP provider.
- Referral details are scattered across inboxes and portals.
- EAP forms or invoices have gone in late.
- Associates are unsure of session allowances for EAP clients.
- Nobody has a single list of open EAP cases.