It's 4:40 on a Friday. There's a sticky note on your monitor that says "call Dr. ___ about client's meds," and it's been there since Tuesday. You called Monday and left a voicemail. Their office called back Wednesday while you were in session. Now it's Friday, the note is still there, and your client is asking whether the psychiatrist ever got the message.
That back-and-forth has a cost nobody bills for. The calls never land at the same time, the referral sits there, and somehow you've become the bottleneck in your own client's care.
Last week we took the dread out of progress reviews and discharge notes. Today, the other quiet time-sink: the letters and notes that move a client between you and the people who prescribe, refer, or treat alongside you.
Today's one idea: use AI to draft your referral letters and prescriber coordination notes — the professional letter you rebuild from scratch every time — so you start from a clean draft instead of a blank page. And so a written note replaces half the phone tag.
First, the rule that keeps this safe
Same rule as always, and it's the whole reason this works: Never put client names, records, or identifying details into an AI tool. Ever. The AI writes the scaffold — the professional language and the structure. The specifics get added back later, inside your own system.
The redaction reflex
Good news on the referral letter: the de-identification tax is low. A referral letter is mostly frame — the greeting, the reason for referral, what you're asking for, how to reach you. That frame is the same whether the client is named Jordan or nobody at all.
The prescriber update runs a little higher, since it carries recent clinical detail. Keep it light the way you would a progress note: work from a short de-identified summary you jot yourself — a line or two — not the raw chart. Either way, you strip it to the clinical essentials, no identity attached:
Before: "Referring Jordan Mills, DOB 4/12/91, for a psychiatric evaluation of worsening panic attacks; on my Tuesday caseload."
After: "an adult client, referred for a psychiatric medication evaluation for increasing panic symptoms over the past two months."
An age band if it's clinically relevant, the reason, the ask. Nothing that points to a person.
The workflow
Step 1 — Jot the clinical bones. Three or four de-identified lines: who it's going to (role, not name — "a psychiatrist"), the reason, what you're asking for, and any relevant context. No identifiers.
Step 2 — Pick your letter and paste the prompt.
For a new referral:
You are helping a licensed therapist draft a professional referral letter to another provider. Keep it concise, warm, and clinically appropriate. Use only the de-identified details below.
- Referring to: [role of provider, e.g., psychiatrist / PCP / dietitian]
- Reason for referral: [e.g., psychiatric medication evaluation for increasing panic symptoms]
- Relevant clinical context (de-identified): [e.g., adult client, ~4 months of weekly therapy, symptoms interfering with work]
- What I'm asking for: [e.g., evaluation and, if appropriate, medication management]
- How to reach me / next steps: [e.g., I'll coordinate scheduling; best reached by secure fax]
Write a one-page letter I can put on my letterhead. Use only the details I provided. Do not invent history, symptoms, diagnoses, or quotes.For an update to a prescriber already on the case:
You are helping a licensed therapist write a brief coordination note to a prescriber already treating a shared client. Professional, collegial, to the point. Use only the de-identified details below.
- Sending to: [role, e.g., the prescribing psychiatrist]
- Purpose: [e.g., share a therapy update / flag a change since the last visit]
- What's changed or worth noting (de-identified): [e.g., adult client reporting improved sleep but new morning anxiety since a dose change]
- My clinical observation: [...]
- What would help me: [e.g., your read on whether the timing warrants a check-in]
Write 3 to 6 sentences. Use only the details I provided. Do not invent history, symptoms, or quotes.Step 3 — Finish it like the clinician you are. The draft gives you the words, not the judgment. Read it as the professional you are, adjust the clinical framing, and only then add the identifying details — the client's name, date of birth, the provider's real name, your fax number — inside your EHR, your letterhead template, or your secure fax cover. The name goes on last, in your system, never in the tool.
The letter did the part you dreaded. The phone tag it replaces is the part that was quietly making you the bottleneck.
Here's the quiet win. A clean written note lands whether or not the other office picks up. The client stops waiting on a game of voicemail. And you stop being the reason the referral is still sitting there on Friday afternoon.
Try it this week
Pick the one referral or update that's been living on a sticky note. Draft it with the workflow above, finish it in your system, and send it as a note instead of a call. See if it moves in a day instead of a week.
Then hit reply and tell me which professional relationship gives you the most phone tag — psychiatrists, PCPs, schools, case managers. I'm mapping the roadmap from your answers.
Talk soon,
Shaun
P.S. Know a therapist who plays voicemail tag with prescribers all week? Forward this. It's free, and it might hand them back a couple of afternoons.
A quick but important note: this newsletter is for general educational and informational purposes only. It shares time-saving ideas, not advice. The views here are the author's own and don't represent any employer, school district, or agency. Nothing here is legal, clinical, compliance, or supervisory advice, and AI can be wrong. Always follow your licensing board's rules and your employer's and state's policies (especially on AI use), along with your HIPAA and FERPA obligations, and check with the right person before acting on anything significant. You are the professional: review and finalize everything yourself. And never put client names or protected health information into any AI tool.