Product Feature

Direct Messaging and Direct 360x Interoperability without the integration burden

A standards-based alternative to costly point-to-point EHR integrations — connect faster, cut implementation costs, and securely exchange referrals across any EHR.

ReferralMD, a leading provider of referral management, care coordination, and healthcare network solutions, supports Direct Secure Messaging and Direct 360X — giving healthcare organizations a faster, cost-effective alternative to traditional EHR integrations for exchanging referrals and clinical information.

For years, healthcare organizations have relied on custom API and HL7 integrations to connect providers and EHR systems. While powerful, these integrations often require significant implementation effort, months of vendor coordination, ongoing maintenance, and substantial financial investment — every new EHR connection becoming its own project requiring development resources, testing, certification, and long-term support.

Reducing the cost of interoperability

ReferralMD supports hundreds of healthcare organizations using a wide variety of EHRs. Rather than building and maintaining custom integrations for every implementation, organizations can leverage Direct standards to communicate securely with any participating provider.

Faster implementation than traditional API, HL7, or FHIR interfaces

Lower implementation and maintenance costs

Reduced dependence on custom interface development

Simplified connectivity across different EHR vendors

Secure, encrypted exchange of protected health information (PHI)

Standards-based interoperability designed for nationwide scalability

By reducing implementation complexity, healthcare organizations can onboard providers more quickly, expand referral networks, and improve care coordination without lengthy integration projects.

What’s the difference between direct messaging and Direct 360x?

Direct Secure Messaging

A national standard for encrypted, point-to-point exchange of protected health information between trusted healthcare organizations — purpose-built for referrals, clinical summaries, lab results, imaging reports, discharge summaries, and more.

  • Securely send and receive referrals and clinical documents
  • Reduce reliance on fax-based workflows
  • Exchange structured clinical information with Direct-enabled EHRs
  • Improve security through encrypted communications
  • Connect with organizations regardless of EHR vendor

Direct 360X

An evolution of healthcare interoperability for referrals and care coordination. While Direct Messaging exchanges documents, Direct 360X adds standardized business workflows that let health IT systems manage the referral process end-to-end.

  • Electronic referral requests
  • Referral acknowledgments
  • Referral acceptance or decline
  • Appointment scheduling notifications
  • Consultation reports
  • Referral completion and status updates

Developed through collaboration between DirectTrust, HL7, and industry leaders, Direct 360X enables systems to exchange structured referral events that are automatically processed by both organizations — dramatically reducing manual phone calls, faxing, and administrative follow-up.

Proud Member of DirectTrust

ReferralMD is a member of DirectTrust, the nonprofit alliance that develops and governs the trust framework for secure health information exchange across the United States — keeping ReferralMD aligned with the latest interoperability standards.

“Healthcare organizations have spent years investing in expensive, custom integrations that can take months to deploy and require continuous maintenance. Direct Messaging and Direct 360X represent a smarter approach to interoperability. By embracing national standards, providers can connect faster, reduce implementation costs, and securely exchange referral information without the burden of building custom interfaces. Our goal is to make interoperability simpler, more affordable, and accessible to every healthcare organization.”

Rick Hammer, Chief Product Officer, ReferralMD

Ready to simplify your interoperability strategy?

See how ReferralMD’s Direct Messaging and Direct 360X support can help your organization connect faster, cut integration costs, and streamline referral workflows across any EHR.

About ReferralMD

ReferralMD is a provider of AI-powered healthcare workflow automation and referral management solutions. Its secure, HIPAA-compliant cloud platform helps hospitals, health systems, physician networks, and specialty practices reduce patient leakage, improve provider and patient communication, automate referral and intake workflows, streamline scheduling, automate fax processing, and gain real-time operational insights through advanced analytics. Learn more at referralmd.com.