Upcoming Changes to Seattle Children’s Provider-to-Provider Line

The Seattle Children’s Provider-to-Provider Line was created in 2004 to provide a single phone number for community providers to reach a Seattle Children’s specialist for educational information to ensure high-quality care for pediatric patients in the region. Over time, the use of the line has changed and has served as a popular way for community providers to consult our specialists regarding the treatment of their patients. The line was never intended to provide consultative services and is no longer sustainable from an access, risk management and provider workload perspective.

As a result, Seattle Children’s has made the difficult decision to discontinue the line. The approach to discontinuing the line will be phased over the remainder of this year to ensure community providers and Seattle Children’s specialists have time to transition to using the most appropriate resources to support patient management and the referral process, which will be outlined in a special edition of Provider News later this month.  

Endocrinology will pilot discontinuation of the line by no longer taking non-urgent calls beginning April 5, after going live with eConsults on March 27. We anticipate the line will be discontinued completely this fall. Additional details will be shared in a special edition of Provider News later this month.  

How can you prepare for the transition? 

• Continue reading Provider News and make sure others in your clinic are subscribed – it will be the main communication vehicle for updates about the changes and additional resources, such as eConsults.
• Ensure you and providers in your clinic have access to EpicCare Link to ensure you can access all available resources for questions and consultation. Visit our Healthcare Professionals page on EpicCare Link and eConsults to learn more about obtaining access, logging in, or accessing technical support if you’re unsure of your account status.