e-Consult a Pediatric Specialist
What is an e-Consult?
An e-Consult is a secure, online, non-urgent asynchronous consultation that allows a primary care provider to submit patient information and clinical questions to a pediatric specialist at Manning Family Children’s without first having to refer the patient for a specialty visit.
Since the e-Consult takes place within Epic, communication between providers is secure and documented in the patient's chart. Both the referring provider and the specialist may be able to bill for their contributions, including preparing the e-Consult and providing the specialist recommendation.
e-Consult is not intended to be used by the patient, the patient’s legal guardian, or family members. If you are a parent/guardian or family member and would like your child's condition reviewed by a pediatric specialist, please discuss this with your child's primary care provider.
Why e-Consult?
Pediatric specialists at Manning Family Children's offer the e-Consult program to:
- Increase access to care and educational materials
- Reduce wait times for specialty appointments
- Reduce unnecessary referrals and costs by resolving cases that don't require in-person visits
- Address the shortage of pediatric specialty health care professionals outside of the New Orleans area
- Reduce barriers to care caused by distance and limitation on transportation
- Reduce the likelihood that a patient would otherwise delay or forego care
- Increase opportunity for physicians to collaborate with pediatric specialists that they may not otherwise have access to
- Help control health care costs while enabling health care professionals to provide quality, up-do-date services to their patients
Who can submit an e-Consult?
e-Consults are available for PCP’s and other clinicians seeking a specialist consult. For internal LCMC providers, simply search in Epic for your desired service line. For our external partners, a Health Link account is required. To sign up or log in, visit the Health Link web page here.
Providers can expect an answer in up to five business days. All patient information, documentation, and correspondences are securely stored and transmitted within our EMR and can be referenced at any time
Which departments offer e-Consults?
Currently e-Consults are being offered to select Manning Family Children's providers for the following services:
- Pediatric Outpatient Behavior Health (Autism Center, Psychiatry, Psychology)
- Pediatric Dermatology
- Pediatric Neurosurgery (available to Manning Family Children's providers and external providers)
- Pediatric NICU Graduate Clinic
- Pediatric Rheumatology
The e-Consult process:
For Manning Family Children's providers or external providers using LCMC Health Link (Epic Care Link) -
Step 1: The primary care provider or referring specialist will suggest an e-Consult to the patient, explaining the process and obtaining verbal consent from the patient.
Step 2: Once patient consents, PCP will use the Smartphrase ECONSULTREQUEST [156159] and document the questions in the patient’s note. At this point the PCP can also add code 99452 to the encounter if all billing criteria are met.
Step 3: Once the note is ready to be routed to the specialist, PCP will send the e-Consult order. Search for E-Consult and choose the correct specialty.
Step 4: Once the order is signed, the order and note will be routed to the specialist’s pool.
Step 5: Once the e-Consult has been addressed by the specialist, the specialist’s recommendation will be routed back to the PCP and show up in the PCP’s In-Basket.
If you have further questions, please call the Dedicated Provider Referral Department at 504.894.6778 or email CHNOconcierge@lcmchealth.org.