Second Opinions for Pediatric Heart Care
If your child has been diagnosed with a heart condition or you're facing a treatment decision, a second opinion from a specialist at the UCSF Pediatric Heart Center can offer valuable information, explain your options and give you confidence in what happens next.
There are two ways to seek a second opinion in pediatric cardiology at UCSF Benioff Children's Hospitals:
- Request a second opinion from our heart team. Call us or use our online tool to schedule a callback from a patient navigator. The intake conversations are free of charge. If you end up seeing a UCSF provider, that gets billed to your insurance like a standard specialist visit. Learn more >
- Get a written opinion from our heart team for a flat fee. You can submit your medical records and receive a written second opinion from a UCSF pediatric heart expert for $900. This may be a helpful option if your insurance wouldn't cover a visit with a UCSF specialist. Learn more >
Second opinions for medical professionals
If you are a physician seeking a second opinion from a UCSF Benioff Children's Hospitals heart specialist, please visit our Request a Consultation page.
Talk with our heart team
Schedule a call with a Pediatric Heart Center patient navigator. The navigator learns about your child's condition, helps gather the records our specialists need and connects your family with the right UCSF pediatric heart expert.
You can also call our main line at 877-822-4453 between 8 a.m. and 6 p.m. Pacific time, Monday to Friday. For urgent cases after-hours, call 415-353-2008.
Intake conversations are free. If you end up seeing a UCSF provider, that gets billed to your insurance like a standard specialist visit.
What to have ready
You do not need any of this to get in touch. Having it on hand helps the navigator get your child's case to the right specialist faster.
- Your child's heart diagnosis, if they have one
- The name and phone number of the cardiologist or pediatrician caring for your child now
- Recent test results, such as an echocardiogram, cardiac MRI, CT scan or cardiac catheterization report
- The questions you most want answered
- Your insurance information
Written second opinion from a UCSF expert
UCSF Benioff Children's Hospitals partners with Summus to provide written second opinions. A Summus team helps collect the medical records relevant to your child's diagnosis and a UCSF specialist reviews them and responds in writing.
Once the records are assembled, the written opinion is usually delivered in seven to 10 days. A written second opinion costs $900 and is paid for out of pocket.
Written second opinions cannot be provided for patients who are currently hospitalized.
If this is an emergency
If your child may be having a medical emergency, call your local emergency service number (911 in the United States) or go to the nearest emergency room.
The UCSF Pediatric Heart Center treats patients from before birth throughout childhood and into early adulthood, caring for the full range of heart conditions from the most common to the most serious and complex. U.S. News & World Report consistently ranks the program among the nation's best for pediatric cardiology and heart surgery, and best in Northern California. The program has some of the best cardiac surgical outcomes in the nation.
Learn more about the UCSF Pediatric Heart Center, including its services, special programs and outcomes.