Perspectives of Champlain BASE Specialist Physicians: Their Motivation, Experiences and Recommendations for Providing eConsultations to Primary Care Providers.

Electronic consultation can improve access to specialist care. However, specialists have been identified as less likely to adopt electronic solutions in clinical settings. We conducted an online survey to explore the perspectives of specialists who use the Champlain BASE eConsult service in Eastern Ontario, Canada. Specialists were asked their opinions on experience with the service, their current consult/referral practices, recommendations for change and expansion of the service, and compensation models. We tabulated descriptive statistics from the multiple choice and Likert scale responses and performed a content analysis with an emergent code strategy for open-text responses. Specialists (n=34, 77% response rate) agreed that the Champlain BASE eConsult service is a feasible way to improve access to specialist care (94%), improves communication between specialists and primary care providers (PCPs) (94%), has educational value for PCPs (91%), and is user friendly (82%). A majority of specialists (88%) felt the service should be expanded provincially and 67% felt it should allow specialist-to-specialist consultation. 88% of specialists agreed that the current compensation process is best. This study provides an in-depth look at the perspective of the specialist physicians who use the Champlain BASE eConsult service. Specialists stated specific recommendations for change that will allow us to ensure the service remains sustainable.