How to Manage Referral Types in ElderSuite

📝 Overview

Manage Referral Types is the master list of how clients come to your adult day care center—physician, newspaper ad, another client, and other sources you track. ElderSuite offers those names in the Referral Type dropdown on each client's Admission Info tab.

Open it from Client Center → Related Activities → Manage Referral Types. Referral types are maintained only from the Client Center.

ElderSuite serves adult day care centers nationwide. For broader documentation context, see adult day care documentation software. After the list is current, staff can keep assigning sources while they add a client and complete admission paperwork.

⚙ How It Works

1. Open Manage Referral Types

Open Client Center from the ElderSuite main menu. Under Related Activities, click Manage Referral Types.

ElderSuite shows a brief waiting indicator, then opens Manage Referral Types inside the main window. If the window is already open, ElderSuite brings it forward instead of opening a second copy.

2. Use the Read-Only List

Manage Referral Types is a read-only list sorted by name. Nothing is typed on this list. Every change is made in the Referral Type window, which opens from the toolbar.

The built-in choice None, which every new client record starts with, never appears on this list and cannot be edited here.

To find a referral type in a long list, click the list so it has focus and start typing the name—the highlight jumps to the match.

3. View: Active Hides Inactive Referral Types

The View: dropdown on the toolbar starts on Active, so referral types marked Inactive are hidden until you switch it to All.

If a referral type seems missing from the list, check View: first. Set View: to All when you are checking whether a source is already on file before you add it.

4. Click Add New

To add a referral type that is not on file, click Add New on the toolbar.

The Referral Type window opens in add mode with the Referral Type Name field empty and Inactive unchecked.

5. Enter the Referral Type Name

Type the name exactly as you want staff to see it on client records, up to 50 characters. That wording is what appears in the Referral Type dropdown on Client Information.

Referral Type Name is the only detail a referral type needs.

6. Click Save & Close

Check the name, then click Save & Close.

The window closes and the new referral type is merged into the list. It is ready to pick on client records right away, including on a Client Information window that is already open.

7. Edit an Existing Referral Type

To correct a referral type, highlight the row and click Edit. Double-clicking the row does the same thing.

Fix a misspelled name here rather than adding a second referral type, so client records that already use it stay pointed at the right one.

8. Retire a Referral Type by Checking Inactive

When a referral type is no longer used, open the record and check Inactive, then click Save & Close.

A referral type that is already recorded on a client record cannot simply be removed. Marking Inactive drops it out of the choices offered on client records, while every existing record that references it stays intact.

9. View: All Shows Inactive Referral Types Too

To see inactive referral types again, set View: to All. A narrow marker column on the left appears and shows which referral types are inactive. Open one and clear Inactive if that source comes back into use.

✅ Important Limitations

Manage Referral Types is a read-only list. Names and Inactive are changed only in the Referral Type window.

View: defaults to Active, so inactive referral types are hidden until you choose All.

None never appears on this list under either view.

Referral Type Name is required. If the name is blank or only spaces, Save & Close does not save, does not close the window, and shows no message. Names stop at 50 characters.

There is no Delete button on the Manage Referral Types toolbar. That is by design. The toolbar shows Add New, Edit, and View: only.

⚠ Prefer Inactive, Not Delete

When a referral type is no longer used, check Inactive and click Save & Close.

A referral type that is already on a client record should stay on file as Inactive. That keeps history intact and drops the referral type from active selection lists.

💡 Need More Help?

For step-by-step assistance, click Ask Eddie from within ElderSuite.