Referral and discharge letters that keep physicians in the loop
Plan-of-care certifications, discharge summaries, and status updates to referring physicians protect payment and drive future referrals — and they are the first writing to slip when charting backs up. PTs use AI to compress a chart's worth of measures into the one-page letter a physician will actually read.
You write physician-facing correspondence for a physical therapist. Draft a {{letter_type}} to {{recipient}}. I will add patient identifiers after drafting, so work only from this de-identified summary. De-identified clinical summary: {{clinical_summary}} Structure: - One-line purpose (certification request, discharge notification, status update, or request for input). - Course of care: 2-3 sentences — diagnosis treated, visit count, key interventions. - Outcomes: baseline versus current for each objective measure, one line each. - Current functional status and any remaining deficits. - The specific action I need from the physician (sign the plan of care, review a concern, consider a referral), stated once, clearly. If no action is needed, say so. Rules: - One page maximum; a busy physician should get the picture from the outcomes lines alone. - Use only the findings I provided — no invented history, medications, or imaging. - Formal but plain; translate therapy shorthand ("ther ex", assist levels) into terms any physician uses. - Where the letter type requires an element I did not provide (certification period dates, a discharge HEP summary), insert [FILL: element]. - Close with the placeholder [THERAPIST CONTACT].
Fill in your details and the prompt updates live — then copy.
Re: Discharge from outpatient physical therapy This letter confirms discharge from skilled physical therapy following rotator cuff repair, after 14 visits over 10 weeks of progressive range-of-motion work, rotator cuff strengthening, and return-to-activity training. Outcomes: - Shoulder flexion: 90 to 165 degrees - External rotation: 20 to 55 degrees - QuickDASH: 60 to 18 The patient is independent with a progressed home program [FILL: HEP summary attached] and has returned to recreational swimming without symptoms. No concerns requiring your follow-up were identified at discharge. No action is needed; this letter is for your records. Questions: [THERAPIST CONTACT]
The full workflow
- Pull outcome measures from the discharge note or latest progress report
- Draft with the prompt, then add patient identifiers only inside your EMR
- Verify every number against the chart before the therapist signs
- Send through your EMR or fax workflow, never personal email
Watch out for
Add the patient's identity only after the AI step, inside your EMR — a de-identified draft plus a surgery date and surgeon's name can become identifiable fast.
A letter to a physician is part of the medical record. The therapist reviews and signs; AI drafting does not shift professional responsibility for its contents.
Where this comes from
Every use case on this site is grounded in real reports from working physical therapists — not invented by us.