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Handoff

How Handoff works

Handoff helps you find a clinician with room for your client, fast, among people you and your colleagues already trust. This guide takes about five minutes to read.

Quick answers

  • I just joined. What do I do first? Add the colleagues you already refer to (Network → Add a colleague), finish your profile, then send your first referral. The checklist on the Referrals page tracks it, and Take the tour in your account menu replays the one-minute intro.
  • How do I find someone for a client? Referrals → Search. Describe what the client needs, without names, pick who fits and send.
  • Someone I refer to isn't on Handoff. Add them as a private contact. You can still ask them, and they answer from an email with no account.
  • Where do I answer questions sent to me? Referrals → Incoming, or the bell. Answer even when you're full.
  • How do I send my client their options? Referrals → Sent. Once someone says yes, press Share with your client and send the link.
  • How do I say I'm full, or taking clients again? Edit profile → Practice → availability. Update it whenever it changes.
  • How do I stop some emails? Account menu → Email notifications.
  • Something's confusing or broken. Account menu → Send feedback. Chase reads every one.

1. Getting in

Handoff is invite-only. When you apply, an admin reviews your application, usually within a few business days. Once you're approved, you'll get an email to set your password and sign in. The first time you sign in, you'll be asked to agree to our Terms and Privacy Policy.

2. Set up your profile

Your profile is how other clinicians find you. The more complete it is, the better your matches. The essentials:

  • What you treat: specialties, populations, and approaches
  • How clients pay: insurance you accept, your private-pay rates, and whether you offer a sliding scale (and its minimum)
  • Where and how you see clients: in person, telehealth, or both
  • Your availability: whether you're accepting new clients right now

Other members can see your rates in referral search, so they can tell whether you fit a client's budget. Your rates are never shown on your public profile.

Keep your availability current. It's the single most useful thing on your profile. If you're full, say so. It saves your colleagues time, and they'll trust your profile more.

3. Your network

There are two kinds of people you can refer to:

  • Members: clinicians on Handoff. You'll see who's trusted by people in your own network.
  • Private contacts: clinicians you know who aren't on Handoff yet. Add them as private contacts and you can still ask them about availability. They'll get a simple email and can answer in one tap, with no account needed.

The more of your real referral network you add, the more useful Handoff gets.

4. Making a referral

Everything happens on the Referrals page, which has three tabs: Search, Incoming, and Sent.

Describe what your client needs. On the Search tab, type a quick description like "teen anxiety, BCBS, in person" and Handoff fills in the filters for you. You can also set the filters yourself. Only the basics are required. Urgency is optional.

Add a budget if your client is paying privately. Enter the most your client can pay per session. In each group, clinicians within budget appear first, then those who haven't listed a rate, then those above budget, each tagged with how far over they are. If you pick someone above budget, Handoff gives you a heads-up before you send.

Review your matches. Results are grouped so the people you trust most come first:

  1. Your network: clinicians you're connected with
  2. Trusted by your network: clinicians your colleagues trust
  3. Broader matches: other members who fit

Each card shows availability, how well they fit, and who in your network trusts them. When you've entered a budget, it also shows their rate.

Choose who to ask.

  • Pick one member to send a referral directly.
  • Pick several people, or include private contacts, to send an availability check: a quick "do you have room for someone like this?"

You can send up to 15 availability checks and 30 direct referrals a day. If you need more, email support@handoffnetwork.com.

5. What the other clinician sees

They get a short email describing the client in general terms. Members also get a notification in Handoff.

  • Availability checks can be answered in one tap from the email: Yes — I'm available and interested, Not a fit for me, or I'm full right now.
  • Direct referrals are answered in Handoff on the Incoming tab: I can take this, I'm full / not a fit, or Dismiss.

6. Tracking your referrals

The Sent tab shows every referral and availability check you've sent and updates live as people respond. The Incoming tab shows requests sent to you. Respond quickly, even if you're full, so your colleagues can move on.

7. Handing off and closing the referral

When someone has room, contact them directly, outside Handoff, to share your client's details and make the connection through your own secure channels.

Once your client is settled, close the referral. On the Sent tab, press Close referral and choose what happened:

  • Your client found someone through Handoff: pick who. They'll be told they were selected. Everyone else you asked is told the spot is released, without being told who was chosen.
  • Your client found someone elsewhere, is no longer looking, or something else: everyone you asked is told the referral is closed and no longer needs a spot.

Handoff always asks you to confirm before anyone is notified. If plans change, you can change the placement or mark a closed referral as placed from the same card. Handoff only notifies the people affected by the change.

8. The one rule: no client-identifying information

Never enter a client's name, contact details, date of birth, exact address, or record numbers anywhere in Handoff, including notes. Referrals use general criteria only, such as presenting concern, insurance type, level of care, and budget, chosen from set lists. You share client details clinician to clinician, outside the platform. This keeps your clients' information private and keeps Handoff simple.

9. Emails and notifications

You control optional emails in your Email settings, and every optional email has an unsubscribe link. You'll still receive messages needed to run your account, like sign-in links and referral notifications.

10. Help and feedback

We're in early access, and your feedback shapes what we build next.