Refer a Patient

How to Refer a Patient

If you are unsure about whether to refer your patient, please call our Clinical Intake Nurses at 206-987-2080, option 4.

Appointment availability

Updated November 2023.

We are accepting new referrals for patients less than 18 years of age (ages 0 to 17). We are happy to accept referrals for all types of sleep concerns and conditions. The wait time for new patients to our Sleep Clinic is typically 3-4 months, but varies by patient urgency upon review, and provider availability. To improve access for our patients, we are continuously reviewing referrals and aligning our capacity to meet our patients’ needs.

Referral requirements

Please submit a referral that is complete. This helps us schedule your patient’s appointment in a timely manner and ensure their first visit is smooth and productive.

Please include:

• Service/specialty clinic requested
• Reason for referral: what is the clinical question for the specialist?
• If the referral is urgent (see within 4 weeks) or routine (next available)
• ICD-10 diagnosis – required
• Visit type:
  • New patient consult, transfer of care, second opinion, or return visit/ongoing care
• ALL relevant clinical documents
  • Clinic notes
  • Medication history
  • Growth charts/curves 
  • Lab reports
  • Imaging and diagnostic reports (Images can be uploaded to PowerShare)
  • Previous specialty evaluations
• Patient’s full name, DOB, sex, address, guardian contact information and insurance
• Referring provider’s name, phone, fax and the referral coordinator’s email address so that we may contact you if additional information is needed
• Preferred clinic location
• If an interpreter is needed
• Any known barriers to performing a successful telehealth (video) visit with the family

Submit a referral

New Appointment Request Form (PDF) (DOC)

Step-by-step guide to submitting a referral

New Patient Referral FAQ

Please call our Clinical Intake Nurses if you need assistance: 206-987-2080, option 4.

Provider-to-provider communication

• For urgent clinical questions, defined as a clinical question that requires immediate attention due to its potential impact on patient health or safety but is not life-threatening, call our Provider-to-Provider line at 206-987-7777 or 877-985-4637 (toll free) to speak to our on-call sleep medicine physician.
• If you are directing or transporting a patient to the Emergency Department or Urgent Care, please call Mission Control at 206-987-8899 or 866-987-8899 (toll free).
• For non-urgent clinical questions, please see information below on submitting an eConsult. Providers outside the state of Washington do not have access to eConsults and may call the Provider-to-Provider line and indicate they have a non-urgent clinical question for our on-call cardiology provider.
• For co-management questions related to an existing problem for a shared patient, please send an InBasket message via EpicCare Link.
• If you would like to have one of our Plastic Surgery team members provide in-person or virtual education with your clinic, please contact our Physician Relations team to coordinate.

Meet the Sleep Medicine team.

See our locations.

eConsult Information

An eConsult is a non-urgent consultation request initiated by a community provider to a Seattle Children’s specialist, submitted using EpicCare Link. It allows community providers to receive timely, efficient care guidance on lower-complexity and data-oriented clinical questions that may not require an in-person evaluation.

Our Sleep Medicine program offers eConsults for the following conditions:

• Excessive Daytime Sleepiness
• Insomnia
• Snoring/Concerns for Sleep Apnea
• Unspecified Clinical Question

For more information on eConsults, including helpful resources and instructions on obtaining access to EpicCare Link, please visit our EpicCare Link and eConsults page.

What Your Patients Can Expect

• Once we receive your referral, your patient will be in our queue to review and schedule. Many services have a long wait for appointments. New patients can expect to be seen within about 1 to 2 months.
• Families may call 206-987-5072 to ask to be added to a waitlist in case there is a cancellation.
• We review openings and the patient referral queue daily.
• As openings become available, we call families to schedule based on provider availability and the patient’s condition and acuity.