Curbside consult
A fast, collegial question — specialist to specialist.
- Format
- Informal conversation, often by phone or message
- Documentation
- No official note is generated
- Standing
- Advice from an outside specialist, not a credentialed consultant at your facility
- Billing
- Not separately billable
- Best for
- Quick guidance that helps you confirm or refine your own plan
eConsult
A formal written opinion that lives in the chart.
- Format
- Structured, asynchronous review of the case
- Documentation
- Written specialist report attached to the record
- Standing
- A formal consultation with the specialist named in the chart
- Billing
- Billable under CPT 99451 + 99452 [1][3]
- Best for
- Cases where the answer changes the plan, or replaces a referral
When to use a curbside
Curbsides are best for quick guidance on something you mostly already know — a sanity check, a dosing question, a "would you work this up further?" They're fast and collegial, and they keep you moving. Because no formal note is created and the specialist isn't credentialed at your facility, the plan and the documentation stay yours [2].
When to use an eConsult
Use an eConsult when the answer changes the plan, when you want the specialist's reasoning preserved in the record, or when you'd otherwise refer the patient out. The encounter is documented, attributable, and reimbursable under CPT 99451 (specialist) and 99452 (treating provider) [1].
References
- 1.American Medical Association. CPT Professional 2024 — Interprofessional Telephone/Internet/Electronic Health Record Consultations (99446–99452). AMA, 2023. https://www.ama-assn.org/practice-management/cpt
- 2.Cohen MS. The risk of the curbside consultation: peril of informal consultations. J Am Coll Surg. 2016;223(2):395–399.
- 3.American Academy of Family Physicians. Interprofessional consultation codes (99446–99452): FPM coding guidance. AAFP, 2022. https://www.aafp.org/pubs/fpm/issues.html
This article is for general educational purposes only and is not medical, legal, billing, or coding advice. Reimbursement rules and amounts vary by payer, state, and year — confirm with a qualified billing professional and your payer's current policy before acting on anything here.
See how Beam approaches this in practice
Beam runs same-day specialist consults documented in the chart. The fit depends on your setting and payer mix — happy to walk through it.