Question

How does a practitioner start a Telehealth Video Consultation and how can they capture bulk billing consent for these appointments? 

Solution

Once you have set up Telehealth Video consultations for your appointment types, you can start a telehealth video consult with your patients either from the appointment book or from the Practitioner Sidebar if you have an active account. 

Please view the instructions below for how to start the consult and how to capture consent if the appointment type is applicable for bulk billing. 

• Start a session in your appointment book
• Start a session using the Practitioner Sidebar 

Start a session in your appointment book

1. Once a HotDoc booked appointment is confirmed, the unique room URL for that appointment will be written back to the appointment in the book. If the appointment is a reception booked Telehealth appointment, we will also automatically create a link and write this back to the appointment details (this may take up to 5 minutes to generate):
   
   

   Best Practice

   Medical Director (Pracsoft)

   Zedmed

   
   
   • For Best Practice Only: If the practice is using the Appointment Type with the ID 29 in Best Practice and the appointment is for today, they will be able to right-click on the appointment and select Start Video:
     
     
     
2.  When the practitioner is ready to start the consult, they can copy and paste the url into an internet browser such as Google Chrome: 
   
   
   
   
3. The virtual consult room will load from the URL, you can add your name and press 'Join' when you're ready to start the consult:
   • Note: A HotDoc Video Consult can have up to 4 participants if you wish to invite family members or other practitioners into the consult.
     
     
     
     

     If you are still unable to see yourself in the video window after allowing the microphone and camera options, you may need to unblock video and audio in your browser settings. If you are unsure about how to do this please click on the relevant browser for instructions: Chrome - Safari - Firefox - Edge

     
     
4. When the session is concluding, if bulk billing is applicable you can notify the patient during the session to provide their consent for bulk billing. Select the item code, then select Send to Patient. 
   
   
   
   
   
5. The patient will then receive the following message during the consult and will select "I agree" 
   
   

   Note: This is the patient view/what the patient will receive during the video consult.

6. You will see this updated below as "Awaiting patient response", then "Consent obtained and recorded to patient file" once they have agreed. You can then select "End Call" when you're ready to end the consult. 
   
   
   
   
7. The consent is then recorded as a PDF and saved to your practice management software. 
   • For Best Practice: This is recorded in the patient file, within the Correspondence In as "Bulk billing consent - dd/mm/yyyy hh:mm"
     
     
     
     
   • For Medical Director (Pracsoft): This is recorded in the patient file, within the Documents tab with the subject as "Bulk billing consent - dd/mm/yyyy hh:mm"
     
     
     
     
   • For Zedmed: The PDF will download to the Results inbox, go to Clinical then Results Inbox with the Result Description saved as "Bulk billing consent - dd/mm/yyyy hh:mm"

Start a session using the Practitioner Sidebar 

1. Open the HotDoc Sidebar and log in using your Practitioner Sidebar email address and password then press Log In
   
   
   
   
2. Under the Calendar tab, click the video icon (join) next to the patients appointment:
   
   
   
   
3. Click Join Video Consultation
   
   
   
   
4. You will be directed to an internet browser to start the session. Enter your name and allow your camera/microphone settings:
   
   
   
   
5. If the patient is in the waiting room, they will be notified that they can join the call and can enter the video consult. Otherwise they will be sent an SMS notifying them that you have joined the session and can join via the link in the SMS. 
   
   
   
6. When the session is concluding, if bulk billing is applicable you can notify the patient during the session to provide their consent for bulk billing. Select the item code, then select Send to Patient. 
   
   
   
   
7. During the session, the patient will then receive the following message during the consult and will select "I agree". If the patient leaves the session before this, they won't see this notification. 
   
   
   
   
8. You will see this updated below as "Awaiting patient response", then "Consent obtained and recorded to patient file" once they have agreed. You can then select "End Call" when you're ready to end the consult. 
   
   
   
   
9. The consent is then recorded as a PDF and saved to your practice management software. 
   • For Best Practice: This is recorded in the patient file, within the Correspondence In as "Bulk billing consent - dd/mm/yyyy hh:mm"
     
     
     
   • For Medical Director (Pracsoft): This is recorded in the patient file, within the Documents tab with the subject as "Bulk billing consent - dd/mm/yyyy hh:mm"
     
     
     
   • For Zedmed: The PDF will download to the Results inbox, go to Clinical then Results Inbox with the Result Description saved as "Bulk billing consent - dd/mm/yyyy hh:mm"