HotDoc Telehealth Video Consultations allows a practitioner to easily see and attend to patients via video call. HotDoc Telehealth Video will:

• Automatically send the patient a link to their video consult, saving your team time doing manual admin work
• Integrate with your existing HotDoc Online Bookings setup
• Provide a friendly and easy to use video platform so the practitioner and patient experience is seamless

Please review the video and guide below to learn more about how to setup and activate Telehealth Video consultations.

1. What is HotDoc Telehealth Video?

HotDoc Telehealth Video is a feature within the HotDoc platform which allows you to facilitate video consultations with your patients. The feature allows a patient to book a video consultation online and for a virtual meeting room link to be sent for both the patient and the doctor to meet.

HotDoc Telehealth video is an automatic, all in one solution which takes the heavy lifting away from having to manually send links out with your reception team. It is embedded into your HotDoc Online Bookings to create a seamless patient journey.

HotDoc Telehealth Video can be enabled via the Telehealth settings in your Appointment Types:

Once enabled:

• HotDoc booked appointments will automatically send a URL link in the patient's confirmation email for the virtual consult room after the appointment has been confirmed.
• Telehealth type reception booked appointments will send a confirmation email to the patient with the URL link for their virtual consult room.

The email will include the confirmation details of their booking as well as:

• Instructions on how to take part in a video consult
  
• Minimum requirements needed to be able to take part in a video consult
  
  

All your practitioners will need is:

• A computer with a web camera or their own mobile device
• Some basic tech requirements such as an up to date internet browser and a stable internet connection.

For further technical and privacy information about HotDoc Telehealth Video, please see HotDoc Telehealth Video Privacy and Security

2. The Patient Journey  

 
We understand that using a virtual consult room may be a different experience for your practitioners and patients.

Reviewing the patient journey with your team will allow you to be in control as you will always know what to expect. A strong sense of the patient journey will also enable you to educate your staff and patients, as well as preempt any concerns or questions.  

3. How to turn on Telehealth Video

HotDoc Telehealth Video is activated per appointment type in the HotDoc Dashboard.

1. Log into to your HotDoc Dashboard and navigate to Bookings > Appointment Types > Edit for the appointment you wish to activate:
   
   
   
   
2. Scroll down to the Telehealth Settings section and select the checkbox next to Enable Telehealth Video and save your changes:
   
   
   
   
3. By default, this will switch the feature on for all of your practitioners who use this appointment type. If you wish to turn this feature on/off for a practitioner, head to Bookings > Practitioner Setup and select Edit on the specific practitioner:
   
   
   
   
4. Scroll down to Online Bookings settings and select/deselect the Accepts Video Appointments option:
   
   
   
   
5. Lastly, click the green Save button to save your change.

4. How does the Practitioner start the consult?

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):
   
   
   
   
2. The practitioner will then copy and paste the URL into an internet browser such as Google Chrome:
   
   
   
   
3. The virtual consult room will load from the URL and you can start your consult if the patient has already joined:
   
   
   
   You may need to check your browser settings and unblock video and audio if you are still unable to see yourself in the video window after allowing the microphone and camera options. If you are unsure about how to do this please click on the relevant browser for instructions:
   
   Chrome
   Safari
   Firefox
   Edge
   
   

5. Tips for your Telehealth Video consult

Telehealth Video Consults may be a new experience for your patients. Alongside passing on this guide to the rest of your staff, we also have a few extra tips and recommendations.

To start each consultation on the best foot, we suggest creating an opening statement incorporating the points below:

1. Ask if your patient is well enough to speak with you for the next 10 or so minutes, as they'll be doing most of the talking
   
   
2. Remind the patient that not all medical issues can be solved with Telehealth. Know what your next steps would be if you need to refer a patient for an in-person appointment.
   
   
3. Written notes are the best documentation of your Telehealth Consults. Recording a health appointment, in-person or via Telehealth, is strongly advised against by the RACGP. We recommend that you have a line in your introduction to remind your patient of this.

Below are some helpful links to the RACGP guidelines for Telehealth Video consults. We recommend that you familiarise yourself with the information in these links before starting to conduct Video consults:

• Telehealth video consultations guide
• Implementation guidelines for video consultations in general practice 
• Templates and factsheets

Please also take some time to familiarise yourself with our privacy policy should you, or the patient have any queries.