The following article explains how to create and manage Telehealth appointments including: 

• Creating new Telehealth appointments and adjust the eligibility 
• Enable Telehealth only at your practice
• Adjust individual practitioner Telehealth settings 
• View how these appointments appear in your appointment book and to a patient 
  

How to create a Telehealth appointment type

1. To create a new Telehealth consult, go to Bookings > Appointment Types > + New Appointment Types:
   
   
   
   
2. Enter the appointment type name (Eg. Telehealth Phone Consult) and select the checkbox next to 'Enable for online bookings'.
   (We recommend adding if it is a  phone or video consult, or bulk billed or privately billed)
   
   
   
   
3. In the Telehealth Settings:
   
   
   • Check the box next to 'This is a Telehealth Appointment'
     
     
   • If would like to screen patients for Medicare eligibility:
     
     • check the box next to 'Screen patients for Medicare eligibility'
     • or uncheck the box if you would like patients to book without any screening
       
       
   • If you would like to allow patients without Medicare to book and accept the full fee:
     
     • check the box next to 'Allow patients without Medicare to book full fee'

1. • For Telehealth Video appointments: 
     • check the box next to 'Enable Telehealth Video'
     • Do not check this for phone consults:
       (See Getting Started with Telehealth Video Consultations for more information)
       
       
       
       
2. Under Templates for practitioners, complete your appointment preferences and duration settings:
   
   
   
   
3. Link your HotDoc Telehealth appointment type to the corresponding Telehealth appointment type in your practice management software if it exists:
   
   
   
   
4. Make the appointment types available online for your practitioners by checking the boxes next to their preferences (if they accept existing and new patients): 
   
   
   
   
5. Add any other settings, and select the green Save button when you're finished.
   
   
   

Click to enlarge

Telehealth only practice 

(Relevant if your clinic does not take in person appointments and has a Telehealth only permanent location). 

1. To create a new Telehealth consult, go to Bookings > Appointment Types > + New Appointment Types:
   
   
   
   

How to turn on Telehealth only appointments at your practice

Telehealth Only mode is recommended if your practice is looking to offer only Telehealth consults for the foreseeable  future, or would like to automatically screen for patients who will definitely need an "in person" consult.

1. In your HotDoc Dashboard, go to Bookings > COVID-19 Mode:
   
   
   
   
2. Scroll to Telehealth Only Mode, and check the box next to Enable Telehealth Only Mode, then click the green Save button:
   
   

Please note:

• Telehealth only mode will remove Patient Screening if you have enabled this in the "COVID-19 Mode" settings.
  
  
• We recommend create a new appointment type for Telehealth consults using the instructions in this article. It is not recommended to enable the Telehealth setting for your existing appointment types. 
  
  
• When setup like this with Telehealth Only Mode on, the patient will only see the option to book your Telehealth appointment types:
  
  
  
  
• An alert will also be automatically placed at the top of your booking page to alert patients to the Telehealth change:
  
  

How to set up a practitioner to perform only Telehealth consults

If you only require specific practitioners to perform Telehealth only consults, you can adjust this in the individual practitioner appointment type settings:

1. In the HotDoc Dashboard, select Bookings > Practitioner Setup and click Edit on the practitioner you want to adjust to accept Telehealth consults only:
   
   
   
2. Scroll down to Appointment Types for your Practitioner, disable all appointment types but Telehealth and select Edit next to the Telehealth consult type:
   
   
   
   
3. You can then edit the Telehealth consult type to be available to All Patients (which will allow the patient to book a Telehealth consult without any screening), or to screen for Medicare Rebate Eligibility:
   
   
4. Lastly, select the green Save button to save your changes:
   
   

What does the Patient see?

Telehealth mode can work alongside Patient Screening to effectively screen your patients for Telehealth eligibility. If you do not have patient screening enabled, patients will be able to book an appointment like below:

1. If the patient selects Book Telehealth Phone Consult, we will then be asked to choose a time and date depending on practitioner availability:
   
   
2. After choosing a time, they will be asked to verify their contact number and email address. If the pre-populated information is not correct, they can update it in these fields:
   
   
   
   
   
   
3. After confirming their details, they will be asked to verify their appointment information one last time:
   
   
4. After selecting Yes, book now, if the patient is successful in making the booking, they will see the following in their Appointments section:
   
   

How will the booking appear in the Appointment Book?

If a patient makes a Telehealth consult, they will be entered into your Appointment book with their name and phone number details similar to the screenshot below:

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If your Telehealth appointment type has been properly linked, you will also see this come through visually into your appointment book.

We may also write back any additional information about the patient's answers to the screening questions:

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Example of how we write back patient details to the Appointment Book

Will the patient receive a SMS Reminder?

If your practice uses HotDoc Reminders, we will send a differently worded reminder message which specifies that the appointment is a Telephone or Telehealth consult.

This wording will send HotDoc appointment types enabled as Telehealth and for any appointment types in your practice management software that contain the following words or phrases in their label: 

• Telehealth
• Telephone
• Phone call
• Phone consult
• Teleconference
• Tele health
• Video
• Phone - consult 

The screenshots below show the SMS message that sends for Telephone and Telehealth (video) consult messages.

When the patient clicks on the link in the SMS, the Telehealth message will be reiterated on the page that opens. For HotDoc Telehealth video appointments, the video consult link will also be shown on this page.