Offering in-person appointments allows you to support a broader range of clients seeking help and support, especially those who believe meeting in person is the better option for them. However, many providers prefer to host a short screening session or to have their first session with a new patient be virtual rather than in-person
If this is the case for you, then converting your intake session with a new patient from in-person to telehealth, might be a practice that helps you feel safer and more confident in your practice. In this article, we will walk through how to convert an in-person appointment to a telehealth appointment and best practices when communicating this with your new clients.
Communication is key
Before you convert your intake appointment, it’s critical that you talk to your client. This ensures that you start your relationship with open communication, honesty, and transparency.
Utilizing the Messaging feature within the Rula provider portal, you can provide information about converting the appointment and why you’d like to take this step, all while welcoming your new client to create a safe and warm first point of contact.
Guided Steps for converting session locations
In order to convert your appointment from in-person to telehealth, you'll need to take two separate actions:
- Cancel the in-person appointment
- Schedule a new telehealth appointment.
Remember, you should communicate with your client before making appointment changes.
Canceling the in-person appointment
- Go to the Schedule tab in your Rula provider portal.
- Click on the appointment you want to cancel. Keep note of the date and time for when it comes to creating the telehealth appointment!
- Click the three-dot icon (⋯).
- Select Cancel appointment.
- Be sure you select Cancel this event to only cancel the initial appointment.
- Choose the cancellation reason Something else, this will trigger a text box to appear asking for your reason to cancel. Type “Converting in-person intake to telehealth”.
- Click Yes to confirm the cancellation.
Scheduling a telehealth appointment
- From your Schedule tab, click into the date and time of the in-person appointment you just canceled.
- Fill out the information for your client, being sure to select the location as telehealth and that the appointment does not repeat.
- When finished, click Create.
- Your new client intake is now a telehealth session!
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