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Ambulatory Services

Referring Patients to Children's Specialty Clinics

We believe that referring community providers and Children's providers are partners in the care of patients. We encourage families to coordinate with their primary care pediatrician or family physician when coming to Children's specialists.

Children's Ambulatory Services encompass more than 30 different specialties, with additional subspecialty clinics offered at the hospital and the regional locations.

Children's new state-of-the-art Ambulatory Care Building was designed to improve the care and service we provide to you and your patients and families.

When you refer patients to Children's please give families one of the "When Your Child is Referred to Children's" sheets which guides families through our appointment making process.

They are available in the following languages:

Requesting Specialty Services at Children's

You may either phone or fax in a request for a new specialty appointment.

Phoning in a New Referral/Consult Request

  • (206) 987-2080
  • (866) 987-2080 (toll free)

Your call will be answered by a clinical intake nurse who will collect brief demographic and clinical information. The nurse may request that you fax additional clinical data to optimally prepare for the appointment.

For some conditions, our clinics may require a more detailed triage to ensure referral to the most appropriate provider.

Please refer to the Consult and Referral Guidelines for information about tests and treatments that are recommended prior to referring patients to Children's in order to make your patient's visit most meaningful.

Faxing in a New Referral

  • (206) 985-3121
  • (866) 985-3121 (toll free)

The New Appointment Request Form (PDF 44KB) (Word version, DOC 63KB) is used for new referrals to Children's specialty clinics.

It is completed by the referring physician, and helps ensure that we have the information we need to best schedule appointments and coordinate care. Please include all requested information in order to expedite the request.

Please include relevant clinical information with the NARF to ensure appropriate scheduling and for coordinating care between you and Children's providers. 

You will receive a fax confirming that your NARF has been received.  Once an appointment is scheduled, you will receive a letter with the date and time for which the appointment has been scheduled.

A consulting nurse will review the referral form, and will contact you with any questions or to request additional clinical data to optimally prepare for the appointment.

If your office has its own referral form, it may be used in place of the NARF if it contains the same information. However, we believe that appointments will be scheduled more quickly and more conveniently for your office, your patients and for Children's if the NARF is used.

This fax number is a dedicated line and only goes to the referral staff.

Additional NARFs may be downloaded from this link or duplicated in your office. If you would like us to fax you a blank copy, please call our Clinical Intake Office at (206) 987-2080.

Electronic Request – we currently do not offer the ability to request services electronically however we expect to do so in early 2009.

Consult or Referral?

To meet requirements of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Service (CMS), please specify whether your request for specialty care is for a consult or a referral (transfer of care).

According to CMS, a consult has three components: a question with a request for a response, a face-to-face evaluation, and the actual response to the requesting provider.

A referral indicates that you would like to transfer all or part of your patient’s care to a Children’s provider.

New Appointment Request Form (NARF) includes both options; please select the one that applies to your request. The correct designation allows Children’s to appropriately bill for services and avoid fines for billing inappropriately.

By the CMS definition, a referral, also known as a transfer of care, only applies to a small number of our new patient visits, such as when a patient moves into our area and is referred to a clinic for care of a chronic health issue.

What Patients and Families Can Expect

Once we receive the completed request, the family may call the clinic directly to schedule the appointment. Generally this can occur within one business day after the referral has been sent or called in from your office.

To reach the clinic scheduler, the family may call Children's at (206) 987-2000 or toll free (866) 987-2000, and ask for the specific specialty clinic's appointment line.  The information sheet "When Your Child is Referred to Children's" has more specific appointment phone numbers.
If the family hasn't called after 2 weeks, you will be notified that your patient has not been scheduled.

Urgent Referrals

If you have a request that needs more immediate attention, please call the Clinical Intake Nurse at (206) 987-2080 or toll-free at (866) 987-2080.

Referrals to Multiple Clinics

If your patient needs appointments with multiple clinics, they can be listed on the same NARF. Be sure to include the relevant clinical information for each specialty clinic.

Insurance Authorization Forms

Some health plans, including Molina and Group Health, still require advance authorization.

Insurance authorization is a separate process that requires the use of the individual health plan's authorization form.

Those forms should be faxed to Children's Insurance Processing Department at (206) 985-3297.

No Shows and Late Arrival Policy

If a patient is more than 20 minutes late to an appointment, clinic staff may ask to reschedule the appointment in order to honor commitments to other families.

After 3 clinic no-shows, patients will be returned to the care of their PCP.

This will be enforced at the discretion of the Children's specialist who will communicate with the PCP prior to notifying the patient's family.

Repeat last-minute cancellations (notice of less than 24 hours) may qualify as no-shows.

Consult and Referral Guidelines

Consult and Referral Guidelines are created to assist referring physicians in the evaluation and management of pediatric patients.

Developed by Children's specialists, in partnership with community physicians, these guidelines provide you with useful information in working up your patients, and contribute to making the appointment itself most meaningful by having the right clinical information available.

Listed below are the specialties that currently have guidelines. Updates, as well as additional specialties and diagnoses, are added regularly.

You can also request a copy of the initial Consult and Referral Guidelines by calling the Children's Resource Line at (206) 987-2500 or via our Health Care Provider Materials Request Form (PDF 25KB).

Medical Disclaimer

Medicine is an ever-changing science. As new research and clinical experience broaden our knowledge, changes in treatment and drug therapy are required. The authors have checked with sources believed to be reliable in their efforts to provide information that is complete and generally in accord with the standards accepted at the time of publication.

However, in view of the possibility of human error or changes in medical sciences, neither the authors nor CHCS nor any other party who has been involved in the preparation or publication of this work warrants that the information contained herein is in every respect accurate or complete, and they are not responsible for any errors or omissions or for the results obtained from the use of such information.

Regional Clinics

In order to bring pediatric specialty care closer to home for patients and families in the greater Puget Sound region, Children's has established specialty clinics in Bellevue, Everett, Federal Way, Olympia and Tri-Cities.

Refer patients to the regional clinics using the same phone and fax numbers as above. To phone in a referral, call (206) 987-2080, and 1 (866) 987-2000, ext 72080 (toll free), or fax the New Appointment Referral Form to (206) 985-3121.

In addition, our specialists provide care in outreach services and via telemedicine throughout the Pacific Northwest.

Odessa Brown Community Clinic (OBCC) provides primary care for newborn and children to age 21.

After Hours Clinics

When your child needs urgent care, we're here. Appointments at the After Hours clinics, in Bellevue and Seattle, are arranged by your child's primary care doctor, or by Children's consulting nurses.

Learn more about the services offered at the After Hours Clinic.