When a healthcare professional has a question about how best to treat a patient, they often ask a trusted colleague with expertise in the relevant specialty. While this informal practice —commonly known as a “curbside consultation”— has long been a staple of clinical culture, it is increasingly inadequate in today’s complex care environment. With the implementation of hospitalists, many clinicians no longer round as they used to do. One impact of this is that phone tag and texts, the latter frequently conducted using technology that fails to meet HIPAA-compliance standards, have replaced hallway curbside consultations. With the acceptance of AMA CPT® codes for interprofessional consultations, aka e-Consults, as billable services, healthcare professionals have an opportunity to document and capture charges for what are essentially curbside consults. What clinicians lack is a universally accessible way to perform this valuable work in a HIPAA-secure environment that allows them to simultaneously capture charges for their time and expertise.
According to AMN Healthcare’s 2025 survey, average wait times for specialist appointments are 37 days for OB/GYN, 39 days for cardiology, 63 days for neurology, and 68 days for rheumatology. What happens during these months-long waiting periods? Patients’ conditions often worsen and their angst increases. What if the referring provider could have asked the specialist a question about the patient before implementing the referral? About 50% of the time, patients get the care they need more within hours or days and avoid an unnecessary referral. For patients that still need a referral despite an e-Consult, their diagnostic evaluations are able to be completed before their specialty appointment, saving valuable time and reducing the overall cost of care. All of this improves patient outcomes and increases patient and provider satisfaction.
Here are just a few examples of the value of e-Consults:
- In New York City’s safety-net hospitals, e-Consult implementation led to an 8.2-day reduction in wait times and a 15.8% increase in appointment scheduling efficiency (Gaye et al., 2021). In Ontario’s Champlain BASE e-Consult system, 40% of cases were resolved without an in-person visit, allowing patients to receive timely care and specialists to focus on more complex cases (Liddy et al., 2019).
- e-Consults enable referring clinicians to receive specialist input within hours or days. In the Champlain BASE system, the median response time was under 24 hours. This rapid turnaround allows for faster diagnosis, earlier treatment, and better patient outcomes. In fact, 70–80% of e-Consults improve clinical decision-making, according to a systematic review by Keely et al. (2020).
- e-Consults restore structured collaboration. Over 90% of primary care clinicians report learning something new from e-Consults, which enhances their ability to manage similar cases in the future (Liddy et al., 2019). This knowledge-sharing strengthens interprofessional relationships and improves care continuity.
- By resolving non-urgent cases electronically, e-Consults reduce unnecessary referrals and emergency visits. The U.S. Veterans Health Administration reported a 25% reduction in specialty referrals after implementing e-Consults (Vimalananda et al., 2015). This not only lowers healthcare costs but also reduces administrative burden and improves clinician satisfaction.
Welcome to the DocSide, a HIPAA-compliant, mobile and web-based platform that enables secure, documented, and reimbursable e-Consults across all care settings. It allows referring clinicians to initiate e-Consults and submit them to specialists, who review the cases and provide written recommendations.
DocSide is fully functional without the need for costly and time-consuming integrations, but has the architecture to integrate with any EHR. This makes it ideal for all healthcare organizations from small, rural clinics to large health systems. The platform collects and shares the specific data needed for clinical review and billing without complex onboarding.
DocSide connects healthcare professionals, ensuring patients can access care as close to home as possible. If a referral is needed after an e-Consult, the platform helps ensure continuity of care with local specialists.
DocSide is offering a free trial through the end of 2025, including 10 free e-Consults*. This is a great opportunity to experience the platform’s ease of use and clinical value firsthand.
The shift from informal curbside consults to structured e-Consults is not just a technological upgrade—it’s a clinical imperative. With proven benefits in access, efficiency, education, and safety, e-Consults represent the future of collaborative care. DocSide is leading this transformation, empowering clinicians to deliver better care, faster, and with fewer barriers.
*Terms & conditions apply.
References:
1. Liddy C, Moroz I, Afkham A, Keely E. Insights from the Champlain BASE e-Consult Service: A Canadian Model for Improving Access to Specialist Care. Healthcare Quarterly. 2019;22(1):20-25.
2. Gaye M, Mehrotra A, Byrnes-Enoch H, et al. Association of e-Consult Implementation With Access to Specialist Care in a Large Urban Safety-Net System. JAMA Health Forum. 2021;2(5):e210456.
3. Keely E, Liddy C, Afkham A, et al. Improving Access to Specialist Care for Underserved Populations: The Champlain BASE e-Consult Service. J Am Board Fam Med. 2020;33(4):558-565.
4. Vimalananda VG, Gupte G, Seraj SM, et al. Electronic consultations (e-consults) to improve access to specialty care: a systematic review and narrative synthesis. J Telemed Telecare. 2015;21(6):323-330.
6. DocSide – Leveraging e-Consults to Transform Access. https://docsideapp.com/leveraging-e-consults-to-transform-access-to-specialist-care-the-docside-opportunity/
