SimplePractice · Access
SimplePractice Telehealth Appointment Calls
Katie handles telehealth calls for SimplePractice practices: trouble joining, switching formats and first-session questions, with urgent ones flagged.
Calls that come minutes before a video session
Telehealth removed the drive to the office, but it added a new kind of call. A client cannot find the link. A browser blocks the camera. Someone joins from a phone with the volume off and assumes the clinician forgot them. Meanwhile the clinician is sitting in the video room, watching the start time slip, unable to answer the office line without leaving the session.
These calls are urgent in an operational sense even when nothing clinical is wrong. The client needs help now, and the clinician needs to know whether to wait.
First-time telehealth clients add a different set of questions a day or two ahead: whether they need to download anything, whether they can join from work, whether a partner can sit in. None of these needs a clinician, but each one needs an answer from someone.
Help Katie can give, using your instructions
Your practice knows how its telehealth works. Give Katie the instructions you would give a new receptionist and she can repeat them to callers:
- Where the session link usually arrives and what it looks like
- Whether a phone, tablet or computer works best for your setup
- Basic steps such as allowing camera and microphone access
- What to do if the clinician has not joined after a few minutes
- Who to contact if none of that works
Letting the clinician know
If the client still cannot connect, Katie captures the problem and marks it time-sensitive. While the office is open, your rules can send that call straight to front desk staff, who can reach the clinician or send a fresh link. The structured summary records who called, which appointment, what went wrong and how urgent it is, so nobody has to piece it together afterward.
Format changes and location questions
Clients regularly ask to switch an in-person session to video because of weather, illness or a long workday, or the reverse. Where your policy allows a straight switch, Katie rebooks the session in the new format directly in SimplePractice. Switches that depend on the client's coverage are recorded with the session they apply to and held for staff to check first.
Where the client will physically be during the session matters for licensure. If your clinicians are licensed only in certain states, give Katie that rule and she asks every telehealth caller where they will be, so the coordinator is not surprised by a client calling in from out of state.
Virtual-first practices
For groups that see most or all clients by video, the phone line is the only front door. Katie answers those calls immediately, around the clock, whichever state or time zone the caller is in. MedReception AI is live with practices on SimplePractice, so a new video session can be booked there during the call, and staff act on each summary for the rest.
Frequently asked questions
- Can Katie fix a client's audio or video?
- She can walk through the steps you provide. Anything beyond that goes to your staff, with the details already captured.
- Can she move an in-person session to telehealth?
- If your policy allows it, yes, directly in SimplePractice. When the change depends on coverage, she marks it for staff to confirm first.
- Does Katie join or monitor telehealth sessions?
- No. She only handles calls to your practice. Sessions remain between the client and the clinician.
- What about a client who calls because they feel unsafe at home and cannot talk freely on video?
- That call follows your escalation rules, not a tech support script. You can also have Katie ask whether it is safe to call or text back, and the summary records the answer so staff do not reach out in a way that puts the client at risk.
Ready to implement this for your SimplePractice practice?
Book a demo and we'll run your own calls through Katie: new client inquiries, sessions booked straight into SimplePractice, billing questions and the crisis escalation rules your clinicians set. You'll see the booking and the summary your staff receive after each call.