Handling Curbside Consultations

Handling Curbside Consultations

A risk management tip for medical professionals from American Physicians

Physicians often seek insight about a patient from another doctor who has not seen the patient or reviewed the medical record. When you are the doctor being asked for one of these ‘curbside consultations’ you need to be careful not to cross into territory that could imply you have a physician-patient relationship with the patient in question. Following are steps you can take to help prevent this from happening:

• Never give specific treatment advice.
• Keep curbside consults brief and simple. For complex cases, a formal consultation should be obtained.
• Recommend a formal consultation when a curbside consultation is repeated on the same patient.
• Ask your colleague not to document the conversation or include your name in the medical record. If the discussion needs to be recorded, there may be a need for a formal consultation.
• Do not provide curbside consultations by e-mail. Doing so could imply that you had greater involvement in the patient’s care than intended and distribution of the information cannot be restricted.

Information obtained from: Journal of Healthcare Risk Management, Vol. 28, No. 1 pp. 27-29

Tungate Professional Insurance Services is proud to represent American Physicians Assurance Corporation. This tip is used with permission from American Physicians.