Telemedicine with Otto Flow

Requirements

To use the video call feature in Flow, both the caller and the recipient must have a stable internet connection.

They must also have a camera and microphone for the other party to see and hear them. Smartphones are commonly used for video calls because they have both built-in, but a computer with a camera and microphone can be used as well.

The first time that your device is used for a video call with Flow, you may be asked by your web browser to give access to your camera and microphone. Without this, clients will not be able to see and hear you. However, once you give access, you should not have to regrant access again ahead of the next video call.

If you plan to use video calls for telemedicine appointments regularly, encourage clients to download and use the Otto Care app on their smartphones. This can be a convenient way of ensuring that they have access to a camera and microphone and using the app should make for a smoother connection during the call.

How to video call a client

There are two ways to video call a client through Flow. Both will send a client an invitation to join a video call, the only difference is which is more convenient to you at the time you need to place the call.

How to invite someone to join a video call:

Through the client profile

1. To call a client through their client profile, search for them using the paw and magnifying glass icon on the right side of the screen.

💡 Helpful Hint: Remember that when searching for clients, you can use their name or ID from the PIMS, or the patient name or ID from the PIMS.

Click Video Chat in the client profile.

 

• Clicking Video Chat will open a conversation with the client with a video call request attached.

• Click Send Message to send this request, just like you would any other attachment.

Through an open conversation

1. If you already have a conversation open with a client, there is no need to search them out to find their client profile. Instead, within the conversation, click the video camera icon at the bottom of the text box. (When you hover your mouse over this icon, a text box will read “Request Video Call.)

2. Clicking this button will attach a video call request to the conversation.

3. Click Send Message to send this request, just like you would any other attachment.

Starting the call

• Once you send the video call request, there will be an option to join in the conversation. Click Join Now to start the video call.
• A window will appear for the video call previewing what is being captured by your camera and microphone. You can mute or unmute yourself, as well as start and top your camera to test that everything is working. When you are ready, click Join Now to join the call.
  • If you want to change your audio or video settings, click More, next to the three dots on the right. This will allow you to change your camera, as well as your audio input and output devices, for example, if you wanted to use a headset.
• During the call, you will have options at the bottom of the window to disable your camera and microphone, as well as to record the video call and share your screen.
• When the call has concluded, click Disconnect in the upper-right corner of the window to end the call.
  • If you record a video call, there will be a red label in the lower-right corner of the window indicating to both you and the client that the call is being recorded.

💡 Helpful Hint: You can resize the window of the video call by clicking in the lower-right corner and dragging the window to a larger or smaller size.

• When the call has concluded, click Disconnect in the upper-right corner of the window to end the call.

What the client will see when video called

When you send a video call request to a client, they will receive an alert just as they would any other message sent through Flow. This means that if the client settings allow them to receive text messages, they will get a text about the video call request; and if their settings allow them to receive email messages, they will get an email about the video call request.

The text message will look like this:

The email notification will look like this:

In both cases, the client will need to click the link to access their Pet Portal to join the video call. When they do, the clinic message about joining the video call will be there, just like it is on the clinic side of things.

Again like the clinic side, the client should click Join Now to join the video call.

If the client is using a device that has never been used for a video call in Flow before, they may need to grant access to their camera and microphone so that they can be seen and heard during the video call.

If clients are using a smartphone, encourage them to download the Otto Care app. Using the app can prevent lag and other issues during calls.

While in the video call, the client will also have the option to share their screen if they wish. They can also end the call by clicking Disconnect in the lower-right corner of the screen.

Telemedicine Best Practices with Flow

Website Widget Requests

It may be a good idea to have a specific appointment request option on your clinic’s website widget for telemedicine appointments if you wish to advertise that as an option to clients. This not only allows clients to see that there may be a more convenient option available to them, but also allows the clinic to track incoming appointment requests for telemedicine as opposed to in-person appointments.

It also allows you to draw certain boundaries around when telemedicine appointments can be requested. For example, it is common practice for clinics to only allow telemedicine appointments for existing clients. Some clinics are even more stringent, requiring that a client have come to the clinic physically within the last twelve months before they can request a telemedicine appointment. A dedicated website widget request can act as the messenger for whatever criteria you want to apply to telemedicine appointments.

You can also customize what questions you would like to ask for a telemedicine appointment request, as opposed to an in-person appointment request. For further information on customizing website widget forms, click here.

Automations

Though the convenience of telemedicine can be a huge boon, it can sometimes make it easier for clients to forget their appointments. So in addition to the usual confirmations, it can be a good idea to create a reminder automation to send fifteen or thirty minutes ahead of telemedicine appointments. This may help well-meaning clients who have forgotten, or need to get ready for their telemedicine appointment.

In addition to reminding clients about their appointments, clients may also find it helpful to be informed about what to expect for their telemedicine appointment. So a good reminder might include:

• That a link will be sent to them at the time of their appointment
• That whatever device they use should have a camera and a microphone, and that they will need to give Flow access
• That—if possible—only one animal should be in the room where the appointment is happening

If you do not already have a dedicated appointment type in your PIMS for telemedicine appointments, it may be best to create one so that automations can be tailored specifically for the needs of telemedicine appointments.

💡Helpful Hint: For most PIMS, new appointment types will sync into Flow within a day, overnight. So if you create a new appointment type for telemedicine appointments, you should be able to create a dedicated automation for it the following day.

Because automations do not currently allow for self-service, ask your CSM to help you with creating an automation (or perhaps multiple automations) for telemedicine appointments to help clients remember their appointments.

Deposits

Another way to prevent clients from forgetting their telemedicine appointments is to ask for a deposit ahead of the appointment.

With automations and a distinct website widget request as described above, deposits can even be requested automatically—clinic staff would only need to intervene if a client was delinquent. Because the send timing of automations is customizable, it is worth considering when to ask for the deposit from clients: They can go out anytime between the client request and right before the appointment.

To collect deposits through Flow (whether requested automatically or manually), the clinic will need to have their Stripe account set up in Flow. If your clinic is not currently using payments and you would like to know more about setting up your Stripe account to take deposits, click here.

Conversation Statuses

It may also help clinic staff to manage telemedicine appointments to have conversation statuses dedicated to the practice. For example, it can make it easier for clinic staff to manage check ins for clients who are not physically present at the clinic or follow up on clients who have not paid down their deposit for the appointment.

Conversations can update to new statuses automatically based on any automated reminders that are set up for telemedicine appointments as well.

If a specific staff member or team at your clinic manage the telemedicine appointments, conversations with the telemedicine status can automatically be assigned to them as well.

For more information about adding new conversation statuses, click here.

Appointments View

Clinic staff may also find it helpful to have a dedicated view of the clinic’s telemedicine appointments in the Appointments tab. If the clinic has an appointment type for telemedicine in their PIMS, staff can create this column in the Appointments tab just as they would any other:

1. While logged in to Flow, navigate to Appointments
2. Click Enter new column name and type the name the column should have, then press Enter
3. With the column created, click the three dots next to the column name
4. Select the appointment criteria that are specific to telemedicine appointments for the clinic:
   1. If the clinic uses a dedicated appointment type, it will be listed with a pencil and notepad icon
   2. If a specific provider (or specific providers) handle all telemedicine appointments, their name(s) will be listed with a head-and-shoulders icon
   3. If the clinic has a specific room for telemedicine, it will be listed with a door icon
5. Click away to finish your selection

Once finished, this view can help clinic staff see a day’s telemedicine appointments at a glance.

Combining These Tools

Though all of the tools described above are optional and clinics can pick and choose which ones they wish to use, they do work in concert with one another. We can see that clearly by describing an example workflow that incorporates all of them.

Consider a clinic that has a dedicated appointment type for telemedicine in their PIMS, an option to request telemedicine appointments on their website widget, and uses Payments. From start to finish, their process might look like this:

1. A client requests a telemedicine appointment via the clinic’s website widget.
   1. Because requests for telemedicine appointments are called out by the website widget, clients can immediately confirm that they are an existing patient and that they have access to a camera and microphone for the appointment.
2. When the clinic is ready, they then schedule the telemedicine appointment for the client at an appropriate time.
3. This clinic chooses to ask for a $50 deposit immediately upon scheduling the telemedicine appointment.
   1. Because the clinic has set up an automation to handle this, the clinic staff need only schedule the telemedicine appointment in the PIMS—the deposit request will be sent automatically.
4. The client pays the deposit ahead of the appointment time by clicking the link that was sent to them and entering their credit card information.
5. Fifteen minutes before the scheduled appointment time, a reminder is sent to the client about the coming appointment.
   1. Because the clinic has set up an automation to handle this, the reminder is sent automatically.
6. At the time of the appointment, clinic staff sends the client a link to join the video call and joins the call.
7. After the appointment, clinic staff send an invoice to the client for the cost of the appointment, minus the $50 deposit.

FAQs

Where can I find a video call recording?

Video call recordings can be found in Reporting > Call History. This table will show all video calls made by the clinic. For any video calls that were recorded, there will be an option to view that recording in the Recordings column of the report.

Are recordings deleted?

We do not currently delete recordings of phone or video calls with clients.

Can I share video call recordings with clients?

Yes—you can download any video call that is less than 60 minutes long. Once downloaded, you can share the video file with clients however you wish.

Will the video export into the client record in our practice management system?

No, the video will not export into your PIMS. A record of the video call will be in the conversation, which can be exported to your PIMS as normal. However, the video file itself will be stored in Flow.