This article provides information about in-person appointments at Rula. It covers topics such as who is eligible to offer in-person appointments, how to opt in through the Rula provider portal, and how to add in-person availability in the Rula provider portal.
Providers in all 50 states and Washington, D.C. can opt in and see patients in-person through Rula as long as they meet the designated requirements below.
Who is eligible to see clients in person?
In order to see clients in person, a provider must meet the following criteria:
- Have an existing office with an address. If you do not have an existing office with an address in one of these states, you are not eligible to provide in-person services at this time.
You can read more details about office requirements in our In-Person Session Checklist.
How to start seeing clients in person
If you meet the above eligibility criteria, please follow these steps:
- Log in to the Rula provider portal.
- Click on the Profile tab from the left menu.
- Click Practice details.
- Under Where I practice, find the In-person section.
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Click the Start seeing clients in-person button.
- The “I would like to see clients in-person” box will be checked.
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Add the address to your office.
- An address is required to save your selection for in-person appointments. If not, you'll receive an error message when saving your changes.
- Click Save.
- This will immediately take you to your availability page to add in-person availability.
How to update your in-person address
To edit your in-person address:
- Click on the Profile tab from the left menu.
- Click Practice details.
- Under Where I practice, click Edit next to the In-person section.
- Update the address as needed.
- If you need to move and start seeing clients in a new state, you can click into the state field and select from any active telehealth states you're practicing in. Changing your in-person state to one that is not an active telehealth state is not possible.
- Click Save.
How to stop seeing clients in-person (opt out)
To remove this selection:
- Click on the Profile tab from the left menu.
- Click Practice details.
- Under Where I practice, click Edit next to the In-person section.
- Uncheck the “I would like to see clients in-person” box.
- Click Save.
- This will remove future in-person availability, but keep any appointments you already have scheduled.
How to add in-person availability
To add in-person availability, follow these steps:
- Log in to the Rula provider portal.
- Click on the Schedule tab.
- Click the Manage availability button in the top right-hand corner.
- The availability editor will slide open from the right side of your screen.
As a reminder:- Important Note: Existing appointments and calendar blocks will override new client availability.
- To add client availability, click on the plus sign to add availability to any day. You can also edit your existing availability to adjust the location of the availability block using the location drop-down.
- Next, select the time frames for each day that you are available to see new clients.
- Here, you can add a continuous length of time, for example from 9 am to 3 pm, or individual time slots, for example, from 9 am to 10 am.
- You can adjust your availability in 30-minute increments.
- When you are satisfied with your selections, click Save.
- This sometimes takes a second as the portal is updating all availability into the future.
To learn more about new client availability best practices and set up, check out Adding availability for new clients in the Rula provider portal.
You can read more about how to plan for a safe in-person experience here!
If you have a patient who has been meeting with you in person but decides they would prefer to meet virtually, simply cancel any scheduled in-person follow-up appointments and rebook them as telehealth. You will not be able to edit the appointment to change the location.
Additional resources
- Editing your availability for new clients in the Rula provider portal - Details the steps to take in order to edit existing availability for new clients in the Rula provider portal.
- Managing your practice settings in the provider portal - Details important information on the Practice tab in the Rula provider portal.
- How to grow and sustain your practice - Details different ways providers can attract clients to their practice in order to build and maintain an ideal caseload.
- Webinar: Providing In-Person Care Through Rula - Details the process of getting set up to see clients in person, and patient safety while seeing clients in person.
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