How AI is Fixing the Referral Black Hole

In this episode, host Sandy Vance chats with Dr. William Morris the Chief Medical Officer at Tennr and practicing hospitalist. Together, they unpack one of healthcare's most persistent and costly problems: the referral process. From patients navigating confusing next steps to providers sending orders into a black hole, Dr. Morris brings both clinical and technical expertise to a conversation about how AI-powered automation is finally making referral management smarter, faster, and more patient-centered. If your organization is losing patients to leakage, battling two-month wait lists, or drowning in faxes and phone calls, this episode is for you.In this episode, they talk about:Referral breakdowns hurt patients, sending providers, and operators equallyLong wait lists signal demand but hide dangerous access and safety gapsTennr handles referrals across every channel, including fax, phone, portal, and EHRAI manages unstructured documents and payer criteria so staff can focus on patientsDigitizing a broken process just makes “broken” more expensiveDynamic triage, not just faster processing, is the real solution to access problemsSecret shopping your own referral process is the fastest way to find what is brokenA Little About William:Dr. William H. Morris is the Chief Medical Officer of Tennr, the leading AI-powered healthcareautomation platform that specializes in processing medical referrals, patient flow, and priorauthorizations. Before joining Tennr, he was the Chief Medical Information Officer of GoogleCloud Healthcare and Life Sciences. Before his work at Alphabet Inc., Dr. Morris served as the Chief Innovation Officer of Cleveland Clinic Innovations and as the Associate Chief Information Officer for the Cleveland Clinic, where he had oversight of the design, development, and deployment of all clinical IT systems and health IT innovations. Dr. Morris also served on the Cleveland Clinic's Board. Dr. Morris is board-certified in Internal Medicine and continues to practice. He earned his medical degree from Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine, and completed training in Internal Medicine at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Harvard Medical School. He also holds an MBA from Case Western Reserve University Weatherhead School of Management.