Referral-to-intake pathway rebuilt across a nine-location group; the leak between a qualified referral and a completed first appointment is the condition treated.

Presenting condition in this engagement type: a behavioral health group that receives referrals well and converts them badly. Referral relationships are the strongest channel in the category — industry benchmarks show referral leads qualifying at roughly 50% and converting to admission at roughly 54%, more than double what paid channels manage — yet the handoff from referral to scheduled, attended intake is where groups bleed. The literature cited in the STAR-SI research puts no-show rates in mental health settings at 33%, and 15–50% of clients who do attend never return for a second appointment. A referral earned and then dropped costs twice: the client and the referrer's confidence.

The operation rebuilds the pathway end to end: referral capture standardized across all nine locations, speed-to-first-contact made a measured discipline instead of a hope, intake scheduling collapsed to one system, and reminder plus re-engagement sequences built to the published no-show evidence. Acquisition-cost benchmarks frame the stakes — around $280 per acquired psychiatry patient and $380 per paid addiction-treatment lead — so the cheapest client the group will ever get is the referral already standing at the door.

What gets measured: qualified-to-admit conversion by channel, intake no-show rate, second-appointment attrition, and blended acquisition cost per started episode of care. Targets shown are published industry baselines adjusted by ADMEN's standard structural-lift factors, with conversion capped at the best-channel benchmark rather than extrapolated past it. Compiled client data remains sealed by policy.