The process of medical referral consists of sending a patient from one practitioner to another for health care services. medical referral service requests the transfer of care from one clinician (such as a doctor or nurse) to another.

Medical referral service is needed in order to identify the most suitable specialist for referral of complex medical problems. In many cases the specific specialist will be found abroad, which would demand the transferal of patient to the care of specific medical specialist.

Some companies, such as iMER , coordinate between the patients and various specialists abroad and take responsibility on coordinating treatment and logistics of travel arrangements. These companies are privately founded global health services; they own database of specialists of particular diseases, and address the patients to them, matching between the patients and experts of various diseases around the world.

medical referral service is an important part of health system worldwide. Providing the patient an opportunity to discuss his/her condition with a specialist of a particular disease, referral service contributes to improve the functioning of health services worldwide.