Telehealth FAQ

Telehealth allows practitioners to run a remote consultation by opening a Telehealth display option from the Current Encounter menu.

Telehealth User Guide

What are the advantages of Zedmed's Telehealth?

Provides an integrated workflow for managing Telehealth appointments:

• Displays a banner on the patient's record if they are waiting in the Telehealth session.
• Automatically sends the patient an SMS with the link for the Telehealth session.
• Automatically attends the patient to the Waiting Room when they join the Telehealth session.
• Identifies Telehealth bookings in the Appointment Book and the Waiting Room.
• Provides options to open the video link in a browser on a second monitor.

How can my practice get Telehealth or a quote?

The following form is used to register for Zedmed Telehealth. Our Sales team will provide a quote and answer any questions. Once the quote is accepted, Customer Success will schedule a time to set up Telehealth.

Telehealth Expression of Interest form

What are the requirements?

• Zedmed v38.6.2 or later.
• A Telehealth subscription.
• A reliable internet connection with sufficient bandwidth for the number of practitioners using Telehealth.
  • NBN 100/40mps is the minimum for a 3-user site.
  • Sites with more than 3 users should have ISP business plans.
  • For 10+ users, we recommend GB plans.
• A camera and a microphone (or headset).
• (Optional) a second monitor if the practitioner wants Zedmed and the video call to be full-size on separate screens.

What are the costs?

• The monthly Telehealth subscription (per user). Request a quote.
• Each Telehealth appointment has an SMS cost to send the confirmation and the reminder messages.
• A camera and microphone, if the device does not already have them.  

What are the time considerations?

• The patient reminder SMS with the Telehealth link can be sent up to 12 hours before the appointment.
  We recommended sending the reminder 30 - 15  minutes before the appointment.
• The link in the SMS will be usable for 24 hours after the SMS is sent.
• The patient cannot join the Telehealth session until 30 minutes before the appointment.

  

Will my new camera and microphone work with Telehealth?

If your camera and microphone are compatible with the practitioner's computer or device, they will function with Telehealth.

The first time Telehealth is used on a new device or browser, you will be prompted to allow access to the camera and the microphone. Select Allow for this message. The request originates from the web browser used to facilitate the connection. You will only need to select Allow the first time you use that browser or device.

The quality of the audio and video will depend on the type of camera, microphone and connection used by both the doctor and the patient.

 We recommend conducting a test consultation with Telehealth before using it for a patient consultation.

What if the practitioner or patient disconnects?

If there is a disconnection, the patient and/or practitioner can select Re-Join to resume the Telehealth consultation.

The patient can reopen the SMS with the link to reopen Telehealth and select Join if required.

What if the doctor joins and the patient is not there?

The default workflow ensures the patient joins the Telehealth session before the practitioner. The patient is Admitted to the Waiting Room when they tap join on their phone, which starts their video connection. When the practitioner Attends the patient from the Waiting Room, the Current Encounter starts and displays the menu the practitioner uses to join Telehealth themself. 

If the practitioner opens the patient record manually, a red banner will notify the practitioner that the patient has joined, but reception will not see an attend time for this consultation.

What if we reschedule the appointment, or the practitioner is early or late?

If the practitioner is late: The link in the SMS sent to the patient remains active for 24 hours and can be selected multiple times. Moving the appointment to a later time will generate another reminder SMS with a Telehealth link. 

If the practitioner is early: If you move the appointment to an earlier slot in the Appointment Grid, and an SMS was not sent for the original appointment time, an SMS will be sent based on the new (earlier) appointment time.

How will we know if a patient has been waiting and no one has seen them?

The Waiting Room displays the Appt Type name, the Attd Time (which the patient taps Join) and Admit time (when the practitioner Admits the patient and starts the encounter).

Scenario: The Appt time is 8:15, the Attd Time is 8:05, and it is now 8:30 pm with no Admit time - this tells reception the patient had an 8:15 appointment, joined 10 minutes before the appointment, and has now been waiting for the practitioner for 25 minutes - or 15 minutes since the appointment was due to start. 

Office staff can call or SMS patients if they are waiting for a long time or need to be advised of a change.

Note: the practitioner must Admit the patient from the Waiting Room to start the encounter so the Admit time is recorded in the Waiting Room. If the patient is not Admitted, reception will not know if the patient is still waiting for the practitioner.

What if I selected Deny on the camera/microphone notification?

The first time the camera and microphone are used on a device or browser, you will be prompted to Allow or Deny access. If Deny is selected, TeleHealth will not be able to use the camera or microphone and will need to be enabled in the browser settings.

1. Open Chrome Settings (chrome://settings).
2. Go to Privacy and security > Site Settings.
3. Scroll down to Permissions and the settings for Camera and for Microphone.
4. For each, as required, click the trash icon 🗑️ to remove the block or click the dropdown and choose “Allow”.
5. Close settings and refresh the site.