⚠️ Important: This is currently a beta feature, available to a few CHR beta users in order to test and provide feedback. It will be available to more users once the beta period is complete.
When a provider completes an encounter, the AI automatically suggests a referral letter if it detects relevant content in the History, Examination, and/or Assessment and Plan sections. For more information, refer to Using the referral letter AI agent.
By default, the AI generates these suggestions based on encounter content. However, you can configure default and specialty-specific templates and recipients to standardize referral workflows by medical specialty. Once configured, your specified template and recipient is automatically applied, eliminating manual provider selection and ensuring consistency. This happens at the time of letter generation, not when the encounter is created.
Steps
From the main menu, click Settings > AI-Powered Features > AI features.
Under Patient chart, click the down arrow beside Referral letter to expand that section.
Scroll down to the AI referral letter suggestions for all encounters section.
📌Note: Templates configured here take priority over the header and footer settings in General configurations.
Select a Default Template from the list. If a specialty in the encounter doesn't match any configured override, this default template is used. If no default is selected and no specialty override is selected, then the referral letter will be completely written by AI.
In the Specialty Overrides section, click Add to configure templates and recipients for each medical specialty. When the specialty in the encounter matches a configured override, the AI applies those settings to the letter.
To configure a specialty override, complete the following fields:
Specialty: Select a medical specialty from the list (required).
Template: Select a referral letter template for this specialty. Leave blank if you only want to configure a recipient.
Recipient: Search your clinic's external Contacts and select the recipient for this specialty. You can also click New contact to create one. Leave blank if you only want to configure a template.
📌 Note: If a contact has multiple locations or roles, each appears as a separate option in the list.
To save the speciality configuration, click the checkmark icon. The table sorts alphabetically by specialty by default.
📌 Note: The Add specialty button is disabled until you save the current row.
💡Tip: Click the X icon to cancel without saving.
To sort by a column, click the column header. An arrow indicates the active sort order.
To edit an existing specialty configuration, hover over the row and click the pencil icon.
To remove a specialty configuration, hover over the row and click the trash can icon.
Once you’ve configured all specialty overrides and your default template, click Save.
The AI will automatically pre-populate the Template and Recipient fields in referral letter suggestions based on the specialty identified in the encounter.
Updated June 3, 2026