Additional Details on Provider Line Changes Effective January 6, 2025

As shared in previous communications, Seattle Children’s has made the difficult decision to make changes to the Provider-to-Provider Line (206-987-7777) to address issues with access, risk management and provider workload as use of the line has evolved over time. As we make changes to the line, our goal is to provide a streamlined experience for community providers seeking support and our internal teams who provide that support.

Please see below for details on how various needs will be addressed as of January 6, 2025.

Urgent Clinical Questions 

The line will remain available to any provider who has an urgent clinical question that requires immediate attention due to its potential impact on patient health or safety. If you are concerned your patient is having a life-threatening emergency, please call 911. If you are directing or transporting a patient to the Emergency Department or Urgent Care, continue to call Mission Control at 206-987-8899 or 866-987-8899 (toll free).

Non-Urgent Clinical Questions 

Community providers within the state of Washington will no longer be able to utilize the line to have non-urgent clinical questions answered. The specialties that account for more than 80% of the non-urgent callback requests have gone live with eConsults, and in most cases an eConsult should be an ideal resource to address non-urgent clinical questions.  

eConsults have gone live for Adolescent Medicine, Biochemical Genetics, Cardiology, Clinical Genetics, Craniofacial, Dermatology, Endocrinology, Gastroenterology, Gynecology, Hematology, Infectious Diseases, Interventional Radiology, Nephrology, Neurodevelopmental Medicine, Neurology, Oncology, Orthopedics, Otolaryngology, Pulmonology, Rehabilitation Medicine, Rheumatology, Sleep Medicine and Urology. For more information on the specialties that have gone live with eConsults and their available orders, please review this resource.

If you have a non-urgent clinical question for a specialty that has not gone live with eConsults, you should contact their clinic directly and choose the option for their nurse line. Please note that this option is reserved only for specialties that have not gone live with eConsults. Contact information for each clinic can be found on SeattleChildrens.org.  

Seattle Children’s also provide 60+ algorithms and clinical care resources for providers to help support you in the primary care setting and outline when your patient needs to be referred, when an eConsult may be appropriate, and when an urgent call to the line is warranted. (Note, several algorithms are in the process of being updated prior to the January 6 changes.) 

Community providers outside of Washington will still be able to request a non-urgent callback as they are not yet able to utilize eConsults. There will be a clear option for you to select when you call the line.  

Scheduling and Referral Questions  

Questions related to scheduling or referral status should be directed to clinical intake (206-987-2080, option 4) or the specialty’s scheduling team (see individual webpages for contact information). If a provider-to-provider discussion is required to triage urgency, the scheduling team will instruct you to call the line and select the option for an urgent clinical question.  

Escalations and Issue Resolution 

Seattle Children’s has a dedicated team of Liaisons to support our community providers and their teams throughout Washington, Alaska, Montana and Idaho. If you need assistance to escalate concerns or resolve issues that are not able to be addressed by the above options, please reach out to your dedicated Liaison. You can also reach out to Physician.Relations@seattlechildrens.org at any time and a member of the Physician Relations team will get right back to you!  

We recognize that these changes may present challenges to the providers we work with in the communities we serve together. We are continuing to explore additional opportunities to streamline this process for you and appreciate your patience and partnership.