< Billing codes

Billing code

K734A — Physician To Physician Telephone Consultation - Referring Physician (physician On Duty In An Emergency Department Or A Hospital Urgent Care Clinic)

ED phone consult, referring

Bill K734 when, on duty in an ED or urgent care clinic, you ask another physician's opinion by phone, with 10+ minutes' discussion.

Watch for: Not payable if the call arranges a transfer, consultation or test; one K730 or K734 per patient per day.

Code

K734A

Description

Physician To Physician Telephone Consultation - Referring Physician (physician On Duty In An Emergency Department Or A Hospital Urgent Care Clinic)

FHO+ basket

Not in the FHO+ base rate basket (Schedule 2 or 2B).

Effective date

Apr 1, 2026

Termination date

No end date

Explanation

Updated October 26, 2026

Telephone consultation, referring physician on duty in an emergency department or hospital urgent care clinic. At least 10 minutes of discussion.

What it covers

K734 is the referring physician's physician-to-physician telephone consultation when you are on duty in an emergency department or a hospital urgent care clinic. You ask another physician by phone for an opinion on a complex, serious or obscure case and intend to continue the patient's care (A42, A43).

It includes sending the relevant data to the consultant and everything else you do to get the advice (A42).

Billing rules

• Use K734, not K730, whenever you're on duty in an ED or hospital urgent care clinic (A43).
• Payable only if the consultant gives an opinion or recommendations (A42).
• Maximum one K730 or K734 per patient per day (A43).
• Needs at least 10 minutes of patient-related discussion, and both physicians must be physically in Ontario; time can be totalled across calls with the same physicians about the same patient that day (A43, A44).
• Not payable to either physician if the call is to arrange a transfer of care, or to arrange a consultation, visit, K-prefix time-based service, procedure or test; if it is mainly to discuss results; or if the consultant sees the patient the same or next day (A43).
• The chart must hold the patient's name and health number, start and stop times, both physicians' names, the reason, and the consultant's opinion and recommendations (A44).
• Not payable if you're paid other than fee-for-service for the call, for example under an alternate funding plan (A43, A44).
• FHO: K734 isn't on the Schedule 2 in-basket list, which names K730 to K733 (Agreement p.79).

Often billed with

• A visit the same day to the same patient, which is payable in addition (A42).
• The consultant bills K735, which needs your provider number on the claim (A42, A44).

Related codes: K735, K730, K736, K738

Source: Schedule of Benefits (July 1, 2026), Consultations and Visits, Family Practice & Practice in General (00), Physician/Nurse Practitioner to Physician Telephone Consultation, pages A42 to A44

APEX checks every paid claim against the Schedule of Benefits and flags codes billed below what the visit qualified for. See how APEX works · Pricing