Start a Telehealth Session

Note: If you would like to enable the feature, have your Practice Administrator click the User Icon > Settings > Telehealth and select to enable Basic or Premium.

Role Required: Clinician

With TherapyNotes Telehealth, you can meet clients where they are using reliable, HIPAA-compliant video technology. Any device with a camera, microphone, compatible web browser, and Internet access is suitable for a telehealth session.

Telehealth sessions can be started by any clinical user who has an appointment with a patient. In order to start a telehealth session for an appointment:

The Type must not be Scheduled Event, or Vacation or Blackout Period.
The Use TherapyNotes Telehealth checkbox must be selected on the appointment.
The appointment has not been marked as Missed or Cancelled.

Tip: Use the link under Invite Others in the People tab of your telehealth screen to invite clients after a session has already started. The link directs the user to your portal's telehealth page so users can access your clinician-specific waiting room without logging in.

As long as the appointment meets the above criteria, the Clinician on the appointment can start a telehealth session beginning 5 hours prior to the Scheduled Time until 5 hours after the Scheduled Time. So, for an appointment scheduled at 5:00PM, the Clinician may start the telehealth session between 12:00PM and 10:00PM.

Note: The appointment must be saved with information that meets the above criteria in order to be eligible for a telehealth session. Changing the Scheduled Time, for example, in the appointment dialog without saving your changes will not affect your ability to start a telehealth session for that appointment.

To start a telehealth session:

Click Scheduling
Click on the desired appointment on the calendar.
If the appointment is eligible for telehealth, a banner will be displayed at the top of the appointment dialog. Click the Start Telehealth Session button.
Your browser will prompt you to share access to your camera and microphone. Click Allow

Tip: Most browsers will offer an option to always allow camera and microphone access. Selecting this option will prevent your browser from needing to request access each time you start a telehealth session. For browser-specific instructions, read Allow Camera and Microphone Access for Telehealth.

In the Welcome! dialog that appears, Enter Your Name as you’d like it to appear in the session and select the Camera and Microphone you want to use for your session. You should see a preview of your video and an audio meter that responds to your voice.

Tip: If no camera or microphone is detected, first verify that the device is connected to your computer, tablet, or smart phone. Next, repeat the above steps, making sure to click Allow when your browser requests access to your camera and microphone. Read Connecting a Camera and Microphone for Telehealth for additional guidance.

Click the Join Session button.

When your patient is ready to join the session, you'll see a notification in the middle of your screen and most browsers will play a sound. Simply click the Accept button when you're all set, and you'll be connected with your patient.

Note: By default, Safari will not play a sound when your patient is ready to join the session. To enable auto-play in Safari, go to TherapyNotes, then open the Safari menu > Settings > Websites. In the left sidebar, click Auto-Play. For therapynotes.com, select Allow All Auto-Play.

Once in a telehealth session, a small preview of your video will appear, and your patient's video will appear larger in the middle of the browser. Here's what you can do in your session:

Reposition your video preview by clicking and dragging with your mouse, tapping and dragging with your finger on a touch device, or using keyboard controls by pressing Tab to focus on the video preview.
Hide your preview by hovering over, tapping, or focusing on your video preview and selecting the eye icon that appears.
Use the icons menu at the bottom of the screen (or to the left on a landscape view) to disable your camera, mute your microphone, Share your screen or end the session.

Clinician View During a Session

During a telehealth session, the clinician’s screen includes a box on the left side with People, Schedule, Chat, and Settings tabs. At the bottom of the screen are buttons to turn your camera, microphone, and screen sharing on and off.

The People tab displays who is in the session, who is waiting to join the session, and who is waiting as a guest in the session. It will also show participants who are waiting for upcoming sessions.
The Schedule tab displays your current and upcoming telehealth sessions. You can use the arrow icon in the Upcoming box to start the next session.

In the Schedule tab, users can navibate to their schedule sidebar and hover over the patient's name to view additional patient details. You can see a patient's date of birth, phone number, communication preferences, and comments while inside the telehealth call.

The Settings tab includes a free text field to update your name, camera and microphone settings, a toggle switch to show or hide your video preview (the screen in which you appear) and a toggle for the call timer. You can move your video preview screen around your screen by clicking and dragging it across or down your screen.
- If the practice has Premium telehealth enabled, users will also see Backgrounds, which allows them to blur or use a virtual background in their sessions.
The Chat tab is integrated into Telehealth, allowing you to exchange typed messages with other participants. To open the chat, use the icon located in the upper left of the menu bar.

When you have new messages waiting for review, you'll see a dot at the top right of the chat icon. Clicking on the icon will open the chat, where you can view messages, see in real-time when someone is typing, and create new messages.

Quick Tip: Messages can only be seen by the call participants and cannot be retrieved once the session ends. These messages do not become part of the patient record, and this feature is not integrated with Secure Messaging.

Ending the session will remove both you and your patient from the video call. If you or your patient end the session by mistake, you may rejoin the session. To rejoin a session, click the Restart the Session link at the top of your TherapyNotes page. Both you and your patient must select the option to rejoin in order to reconnect in the telehealth session.

If you experience connection issues during your session, please refer to Troubleshooting Telehealth Connection Issues.