To submit a request for a Remote Second Opinion (RSO), it is a legal requirement that you provide a valid phone number and email address and/or fax number for your treating physician.

Kaiser Permanente does not automatically provide this information. If you do not already know your treating physician’s contact information, please follow the steps in the document linked here: Kaiser Patient Instructions

For those who do not live within convenient traveling distance of San Francisco, or for those who would like a remote consultation from the convenience of your home, we recommend an online second opinion, which allows you to remotely access medical experts at UCSF Health.

Please note, UCSF Health does not provide online second opinions in the following states or countries: New Mexico, Maine, Tennessee, Arkansas, Cuba, Iran, North Korea, Russia, Syria, Ukraine

If you see that your state or country is not supported while you complete the sign-up process and you would like to pursue in-person care at UCSF Health you can reach out in the following ways:

• Adult Cases:
  • Call: 888-689-8273
  • Visit: UCSF Health
• Pediatric Cases:
  • Call: 877-822-4453
  • Visit: UCSF Benioff Children’s Hospitals

The UCSF Health remote second opinion program includes specialists with expertise across a wide range of medical specialties.

Currently, UCSF Health does not support remote second opinions in the following specialty areas:

• Breast Cancer
• Gynecologic Oncology

UCSF Health cannot guarantee that a specialist will be available for every condition. If there is not an appropriate specialist available to provide a remote second opinion for your condition, you will be refunded in full.

Please note, UCSF Health is not able to provide online second opinions for patients who are currently hospitalized or in the ICU.

A UCSF Health online second opinion costs $900. This cost includes the services of your dedicated care coordination team, who will provide guidance for you through every step of the process and can help collect your medical records.

The opinion is provided as a written report that is delivered to both the patient and their treating physician. The UCSF specialist will provide you and your treating physician with a detailed written second opinion. Video or phone calls are not supported.

1. Submit Your Request: Tell us about your condition, what you would like to ask the specialist, and other information about your medical history.
2. Preparing Your Case: You will complete an intake call with a Summus clinician who will ask questions about your request and determine the information that the specialist will need to complete the opinion. The Summus team will help gather medical records and medical history, collaboratively develop questions for the specialist, and select a UCSF Health specialist with expertise in your condition.
3. Completing the Opinion: The UCSF Health specialist will review the information and develop a comprehensive written report to deliver to you and your treating physician.

We do our best to deliver your online second opinion as quickly as possible. However, the time required may vary depending on how quickly we are able to collect and assemble your medical records. Once that process is complete, written opinions are available within 7-10 days, on average.

UCSF Health has partnered with Summus to offer online second opinions from UCSF Health providers in many medical specialties and subspecialties.

A dedicated team of Summus Partners and Summus Clinicians will guide you through the second opinion process, help collect medical records relevant to your diagnosis, select the right UCSF Health physician to review your case, and help answer any questions you may have along the way.

A specialist at UCSF Health—individually selected because of expertise related to your case—will review your medical records, images and history and provide a written second opinion.

The Summus platform has an option for you to upload your medical records. If you already have all your medical records on hand and upload them to the platform; this will decrease the time it takes for your written opinion to be delivered.

If you need support gathering your medical records, when you create your case, you can provide the names and locations of physicians who you have seen previously. The Summus team will then collect your records and assemble them for the UCSF Health expert physician to review.

After carefully reviewing your second opinion request and medical records, the experienced team of Summus Partners and Clinicians will determine which UCSF Health physician specialist is most appropriate to handle your online second opinion case.

While you may request a specific physician, the Summus and UCSF Health teams cannot guarantee that your requested specialist will be assigned to your case.

Currently, most health plans do not cover online second opinions, so you will be responsible for the cost. You may use a major credit card, or a Health Savings Account (HSA) or Flexible Spending Account (FSA).

UCSF Health will not file a claim with your insurance carrier, nor can we provide a procedure (CPT©) code for this service, because one does not exist for this type of service.

In rare cases, the UCSF Health expert physician reviewing your case will suggest additional review of your pathology materials. If this occurs, your personal care coordinator will contact you regarding the additional fees for this service.

If you want to cancel the online second opinion process, please contact your Summus Partner. Opinions can be refunded prior to the intake call with the Summus team. However, if we have completed the intake call and begun working on your request, we will not be able to refund payment for the online second opinion.

If for some reason, such as issues with specialist availability, we are unable to fulfill your request for an online second opinion, we will refund the cost of the opinion in full.

If you would prefer an in-person appointment at UCSF Health rather than an online second opinion, please call 888-689-8273.

Appointments can also be requested online: visit the UCSF Medical Center site to arrange a visit for an adult or the UCSF Benioff’s Children’s Hospital site to arrange a visit for a child.