Communication Between Providers
To promote collaboration and to support care for your patients, the Physician’s Manual includes several tariffs to compensate you for communications with physicians and other health care providers.
At-a-Glance Guide to Communication Tariffs
| Type | Requirements | Initiating MD | Responding MD |
|---|---|---|---|
| eConsult | Must be conducted on a recognized provincial eConsultation platform (Store & Forward or BASE). | $28.15 (8628) | $61.20/15 min (8627) |
| Phone/Video | For physician to physician and for calls from other designated providers. This includes: GP to GP, GP to Specialist, Specialist to Specialist, NP/PA/CA to physician, and some other specified providers. | $25.50 (8356) | $51 (8355) |
| Email/Fax | Only applicable to physicians responding to email/fax. This includes email/fax from another physician, NP, and some other specified providers. | N/A | $25.50 (8001) |
| Phone/Email/Fax-Other Providers | From other health providers such as home care, nurses, mental health workers, pharmacists, etc. | N/A | $16.58 (8000 or 8005) |
| TigerConnect (secure messaging) | N/A | Part of on-call premium |
Common Tariff Requirements
All communication tariffs are about seeking advice about and/or providing guidance or direction about patient care.
All tariffs have further notes and restrictions. Please refer to our billing guide (see below) and the Physician’s Manual. General requirements include:
- Documenting the name of the other physician or provider involved in the communication.
- Maximums on the number of claims per patient, per physician, per day or week.
- No claim can be made until the physician responds to the communication.
- No claim can be made when conducted by a physician proxy (e.g. nurse, clerk) participates instead of the physician.
- May not be claimed for arranging for lab or diagnostic testing or informing the referring provider of the results.
Documentation Advice
As with any medical service, effective documentation is important. Generally, the below elements should be included.
- Patient name and PHIN.
- Practitioner name and billing number.
- Include the discussed information or ensure that you could recall a record of the claim using your billing software.
- For tariff 8001, include the time of day.
Please note that as the consultant physician you are not required to establish a new chart for the patient discussed.
Practical Guidance and Advice
When communicating, consider the best platform or communication tools to allow for efficient and effective sharing of information, and what remuneration it may qualify for. For example:
- If contacted on Cortext/TigerConnect (secure messaging), consider whether or not the nature of the communication is simple enough to text back and resolve quickly? If so, use Cortext/TigerConnect but note that no remuneration claim is available. However, if the situation is more complicated, consider escalating to email or phone to improve the exchange of information to support patient care.
- If you were contacted by fax or email, consider if a phone or video call would be more effective to support a dialogue about the patient. If so, consider escalating to a phone/video communication.
Take the time to explain the process for non-physician providers, especially new groups such as optometrists and audiologists that may be unfamiliar with the tariff requirements. Explain why obtaining the name of the provider to support the claim enables better support for inquiries to be returned in a timely manner.
Q&A
What happens if the mode of communication is mixed (e.g. email sent but response is by phone)?
Generally, try to use the responding mode of communication as this will offer remuneration that best supports and reflects the interaction. The email, or even a secure message, could be considered planning a phone call. This means both the initiating and responding physician should claim a phone call.
What happens if one of the physicians doesn’t bill for the communication?Continue to submit your billing. As long as the documentation is appropriate, you should not be rejected on this basis.
Can I bill when residents contact me for advice?
It depends, if you are the supervising physician, then no, this would be included in your duties. This would also be the case if the resident physician is initiating a call on behalf of their supervising physician. However, if the resident carries out a procedure and is seeking further advice from a non-supervising physician, this would be allowable.
Cortext/Tiger Connect
On Tuesday, Sept. 24, 2024, secure physician messaging will officially move from the Cortext app to TigerConnect. This change, led by Digital Shared Services, is happening because the software company behind Cortext is discontinuing that app.
You will be able to download and login to TigerConnect starting Sept. 17. We encourage you to mark your calendars and set aside time during that week to get set up in TigerConnect. Detailed instructions to follow. Access to Cortext will be officially discontinued by the Vendor September 30th.
Training:
Self-directed learning guides will be available soon to help you get started using TigerConnect for clinical secure messaging. All support materials will be posted to the MBTelehealth website — https://mbtelehealth.ca/tigerc…
For general questions, contact the Virtual Care team at MBTH_Info@sharedhealthmb.ca
Resources
- eConsultation Communication Between Providers
- Phone & Video Communications Between Physicians Communication Between Providers
- Email/Fax/Phone Communication from Physicians or Nurse Practitioners Communication Between Providers
- Communication with Health Care Providers Communication Between Providers