When providers refer a patient for ketamine therapy, they are not trying to create a second care plan. They are trying to add a targeted intervention that supports the work already in motion, with clear guardrails and clear communication.
At Vitalitas Denver, our job after a referral is to make the handoff clean, keep communication tight, and protect continuity so the patient experiences one coherent plan, not a reset button on their whole clinical story.
What We Mean By “Continuity Of Care”
Continuity, for us, means three things:
- We complement the care patients are already receiving.
- We screen carefully and treat in a safety-first setting.
- We communicate in a way that makes follow-up easier for providers and clearer for the patient.
The Referral Pathway In Four Steps
We use a simple sequence so providers and the patient know what is happening next:
- Refer
- Evaluate
- Treat
- Report
This structure is designed to reduce provider friction and keep expectations aligned from the start.
Step 1: Refer
Referral should be easy. If you know the patient is a reasonable candidate, you can send them to us and we will take it from there.
If you are on the fence, we offer a short provider-to-provider consult so you can get a fast read on fit before the patient invests time and hope in the process. This is especially useful when the clinical picture is complex, risk needs a closer look, or the patient is approaching “last resort” mode.
Step 2: Evaluate
Our evaluation step is about appropriateness and safety, not just diagnosis.
We are looking at things that impact outcomes and risk, including:
- What has already been tried and what the response has been
- Current medications and potential interactions
- Psychiatric and medical risk factors that affect candidacy
- Whether ketamine fits the current moment in the patient’s overall plan
- Whether expectations are realistic and clinically grounded
This is also where we do the expectation-setting that protects continuity. If ketamine is treated like a standalone answer, patients can misinterpret short-term relief or get discouraged too quickly if the response is partial. We aim to frame ketamine accurately: as one component of a larger plan.
Step 3: Treat
If the patient is appropriate, treatment is delivered in-clinic with ongoing monitoring.
From a continuity standpoint, this matters because it standardizes the treatment environment and reduces ambiguity about what “medically supervised” means. It also helps keep the patient steady and supported during each visit, which improves follow-through.
Step 4: Report
This is where continuity becomes real.
After treatment, we communicate in a way that supports decision-making, not guesswork. Our reporting is meant to be useful to the referring clinician and understandable to the patient, so everyone stays oriented to the same plan.
A strong post-referral update answers:
- What course of care was completed (and what is planned next, if anything)
- What we observed clinically during the course
- How the patient responded (symptoms, function, tolerance)
- What follow-up should look like, and what we are watching for over time
- Whether maintenance treatments are recommended and why
How This Reduces Provider Friction
The most common sources of friction in referral-based care are predictable: unclear fit, unclear monitoring, unclear updates, and unclear ownership of follow-up.
We try to solve for those directly by keeping the process structured and the communication straightforward. The goal is for providers to know they can refer with confidence because they know what the patient will experience and what their team will receive from us.
What Helps Us Support Continuity More Easily
For providers and patients looking to make the process smoother, these inputs are helpful when available:
- Brief clinical summary (indication, severity, prior steps tried)
- Medication list and key comorbidities
- Any measures providers are already tracking in their setting
- Context that affects safety, monitoring, or coordination needs
If you do not have all of this, do not let that stop you from pursuing referral. The evaluation step exists to gather what is needed and to make a conservative decision.
When A Patient Is Not A Fit
Continuity also means clarity when the answer is “not right now.”
If we determine ketamine is not appropriate, we aim to make that recommendation clear: the patient receives a clear explanation, expectations are reset responsibly, and neither provider or patient are left guessing about what happened.
A referral should not create extra work for referring providers or uncertainty for the patient. The Vitalitas model is built to support the plan you are already managing, with safety-first delivery and reporting that helps patients and providers make good plans.
If you have a patient in mind and want a fast read on fit, the provider-to-provider consult option is often the simplest place to start.
