Refer Your Patient







Thank you for interest in the UCSF Headache Center. We appreciate your referral.
To contact us, please call (415) 353-8393.

We wish to make the patient visit informative and the experience rewarding. The following guidelines are established so that we can best help with the headache condition and optimize the patient experience.

All patients must be referred by a primary care or treating physician. Our goal is to create a working partnership with the referring physician. We are unable to assume primary medical care for the patients we see in consultation.

The types of patients we do not see:

  • Patients who do not have a primary care or treating physician
  • General neurologic issues other than headache
  • Headache issues on an emergency basis
Although we would like to, we may not be able to accommodate every referral. We attempt to process all referrals within two weeks of a complete referral. Your patience is appreciated.

To facilitate the referral, we require the following information:

Demographics

  1. The patients full name
  2. The contact information for the patient
  3. The insurance information (and authorization if pertinent)
  4. Copy of insurance card (Back and Front)
  5. The name, address and telephone number of the referring physician
  6. The name, address and telephone numbers of the other physicians involved in the patient’s care (if available)

Medical information

  1. Reason for consult
  2. Progress notes that pertains the diagnosis of migraines/headaches
  3. Past medical history
  4. Past surgical history
  5. Medication allergies
  6. Imaging reports, lab results and ECG/EKG reports
  7. Consult letters of other consultants
  8. Medication list
  9. Current medications
  10. Past headache medications
  11. The highest dose of the medication used.
  12. When the medication was started and approximately how long it was used.
  13. If the medication helped the headache.
  14. Any side effects from the medication.

Health Insurance

Please be aware that many insurance plans will require an official insurance referral from a primary care physician before a patient can schedule a visit with an outside specialist at UCSF.