Consultations: our approach
We authorise both in-person and remote consultations. Please offer a remote consultation if you feel this is clinically appropriate for your specialism and for the patient in question.
New guidelines for remote consulting
Please follow these evidence-based clinical guidelines compiled for AXA Health by Brian McKinstry, MD FRCPE FRCGP, Emeritus Professor of Primary Care eHealth at the University of Edinburgh.
General provisions
In-person consultations
We authorise in-person consultation where this is clinically appropriate, and provisions for this remain unchanged. You will find the codes for in-person consultation at Chapters 1.4 and 1.5 of our Schedule of Procedures and Fees.
If this phase of the illness COVID-19 means you can't carry out in-person consultations at your normal facility, please note that we’ll authorise in-person consultations at a suitable alternative facility, even if out of network.
Remote consultations
Consult by telephone or video, keeping full clinical notes as you would for a normal consultation. Please seek your patient’s consent to either telephone or video consulting, and their permission for any recording you wish to make. Under the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) providers are responsible for data they collect via audio or video recording.
Ensure there are no additional steps in the patient path. Please note that the portion of the consulting fee normally paid to the hospital or facility where you consult is a commercial arrangement between provider and facility.
Records and billing for remote consultations
Specialists: email your patient with the summary letter and all test results and copy these to the patient’s GP, with appropriate patient consent for email. Post may be used as a back-up option.
Specialists: bill us at your agreed rate for consultation using these new codes, which you will find on our Schedule of Procedures and Fees, Chapter 1.4:
20355 – Initial Outpatient Consultation – Remote
20365 – Follow-up Outpatient Consultation – Remote
Practitioners: bill us at your agreed rate for consultation, using your standard code.
Audit matters
The remote consultation replaces an in-person consultation.
The remote consultation should not be carried out in addition to an in-person consultation, unless a follow-up, in-person consultation is clinically appropriate.