Become a Reference Partner
Key Takeaways
- A reference partner refers patients for specialist foot care and keeps them as their own.
- Every referral returns a written assessment and treatment plan to the referring doctor.
- There is no fee sharing of any kind, which keeps the arrangement clinically clean.
- Urgent cases get a same day pathway rather than an appointment queue.
What Is a Reference Partner?
A reference partner is a doctor, clinic or hospital that sends diabetic foot and chronic wound patients to EDFC for specialist assessment or treatment, then continues managing that patient afterwards. The patient does not move practice. They come for the part that needs specialist input and go back to you.
Most of our referrals come from physicians, diabetologists, general surgeons and family doctors who see feet regularly but do not run a dedicated foot service.
Why Refer Rather Than Manage It Yourself?
Because timing decides outcomes in this field. An ulcer with exposed bone, spreading infection or absent pulses needs specialist input within days, not weeks. Practices without offloading, vascular access or theatre capacity often lose that window while doing everything else correctly.
- Same day pathway for infection, gangrene and threatened limbs
- Vascular assessment and revascularisation arranged without a second referral
- Offloading, casting and prescribed footwear under one roof
- Surgical capability where salvage needs it
What Do You Get Back?
A written assessment, the treatment plan and the reasoning behind it, sent to you rather than handed only to the patient. Where the plan changes, you are told. When treatment finishes, the patient returns to you with clear instructions on what to monitor.
Partners also get direct clinical access for a quick opinion, which often resolves the question without the patient travelling at all.
Is There Any Commission or Fee Sharing?
No, and this matters. EDFC does not pay referral fees, commissions or any share of treatment charges, in either direction. Fee splitting is prohibited under professional conduct rules in India, and a referral pathway built on it would not survive scrutiny.
The arrangement is clinical. You get a specialist pathway and a report, your patient gets timely treatment, and the patient returns to you.
How Do You Join and What Does It Cost?
There is no joining fee and no minimum referral volume. Contact the clinic, tell us where you practise and what you see most, and we set up the referral route, share the urgent contact number and agree how you would like reports sent.
Doctors wanting to build their own foot service instead should look at starting EDFC services at your centre or the franchise route.
Have a concern about your feet?
Send us a photo on WhatsApp or book a consultation with Dr. Ashutosh Shah.