The telehealth conversation almost always centers on the patient visit, and for good reason. But a meaningful amount of clinical communication happens between providers, not just between provider and patient. A primary care provider wants a quick opinion from a specialist before deciding on a referral. A behavioral health provider wants to loop in a psychiatrist on a shared case. These curbside conversations have traditionally happened over the phone, through unsecured messages, or not at all if scheduling a “real” consult felt like too much friction. SecureVideo works just as well for this kind of conversation as it does for a scheduled patient appointment.
Why This Use Case Gets Overlooked
Most practices set up their telehealth platform with a single use case in mind: the patient visit. Provider-to-provider communication ends up happening through whatever’s convenient, a personal phone call, a text, an email, even when that communication involves the same protected health information a patient visit would. The tools already in place for a patient session, from encrypted video to Clinical Chat, apply just as well to a conversation between two providers discussing a shared patient.
How a Curbside Consult Works in Practice
A provider can schedule a quick session with a colleague the same way they’d schedule a patient visit, or use Clinical Chat for a faster, asynchronous exchange if a full video conversation isn’t necessary. For a more involved case discussion, advanced session tools like screen sharing and annotation let a specialist walk a referring provider through imaging, lab results, or a treatment plan directly, rather than describing it over the phone. Because the conversation happens inside the same HIPAA-compliant environment as a patient visit, there’s no need to sanitize the discussion or avoid specifics the way an unsecured channel might require.
Where This Shows Up Most
Specialist consultation is the clearest example. A primary care provider unsure whether a patient needs a dermatology referral can get a quick opinion from a dermatologist reviewing a photo or description, potentially avoiding an unnecessary referral or catching something that needs faster attention than a standard appointment slot would allow. Behavioral health settings use this similarly, looping in a psychiatrist for a medication question without requiring the psychiatrist to see the patient directly for what amounts to a quick clinical question.
Practices covered under our medical practices and who we serve pages that operate with a mix of generalists and specialists on the same organizational account are especially well positioned for this, since the infrastructure for secure provider-to-provider communication is already part of their existing setup.
Documentation Still Matters
A curbside consult conducted over SecureVideo can be documented the same way a phone consult would be, through session notes or a summary added to the patient’s record. The informality of the conversation doesn’t mean it should disappear from the chart, particularly if it influences a clinical decision.
A Feature That’s Already There
Practices don’t need to purchase anything additional or request a special configuration to use SecureVideo this way. The same account already supports it. The main shift needed is recognizing that a platform built for patient visits works equally well for the clinical conversations happening around those visits.
Contact SecureVideo today to learn how your team can use the platform for both patient care and clinical collaboration, or get started with a free trial to try a provider-to-provider session yourself.