Building a Nationwide Referral Base for a Specialized Eating Disorder Program

The Context

Penn Medicine Princeton Center for Eating Disorders is a specialized program treating patients who often come from well beyond its home region. For a program like this, growth depends on a national web of referring clinicians and health systems who know the program, trust it, and think of it at the right moment for the right patient.

Sustaining census meant keeping those relationships strong across the country and continually opening new ones, while making sure the internal team could carry that relationship-building forward consistently.

The Approach

As Clinical Outreach Coordinator, I managed provider relationships across the region and the country, and built new ones through targeted, strategic outreach. I focused on the referral sources most aligned with the program's specialized care, positioned its clinical strengths clearly, and stayed close to referring clinicians so the program remained top of mind when a patient needed it.

I also helped plan and execute a clinical symposium for the program, creating a high-value touchpoint that brought referring providers together, elevated the program's visibility, and deepened the relationships behind the referral pipeline.

Alongside the outreach, I coached internal staff on relationship-building and engagement, giving the team a shared, repeatable approach. That kept referral development consistent and, with it, census steady rather than seasonal.

The Results

The outreach and partnership strategy strengthened the program's referral engine and its team:

• Census held at 85 to 100% of bed capacity consistently across two years, supported by a steady, well-managed referral pipeline.
• Numerous provider partnerships were built regionally and nationally, improving referral continuity and program visibility.
• A clinical symposium was planned and executed, strengthening provider relationships and raising the program's profile.
• The internal team grew stronger, coached on relationship-building and outreach they could carry forward.

Why It Worked

Referral growth for a specialized program is about relationships and consistency. The work that moved the numbers was disciplined outreach to the right providers, clear positioning of the program's clinical strengths, and a team equipped to keep those relationships alive. That approach, scaled to national and higher-acuity markets, is the work I now bring to organizations through Casey Shamy Consulting.