Managing telehealth settings for features

There are a variety of telehealth settings related to features and tools, and understanding how to use them will set you up for hosting successful video appointments. You can enable as many settings as you'd like, since there's no limit to how many telehealth features you have access to. In this guide, we’ll cover:

• Host control settings
• Video settings
• Audio settings
• Background settings
• General settings 
• Emergency info
• FAQs

Note: The following telehealth settings can be accessed before or during a telehealth session. To access telehealth settings before starting a session, click Telehealth settings. If you're already in a telehealth session, click your avatar, and choose Telehealth settings.

Host control settings

Once you've opened telehealth settings, select Host control from the left panel. 

Participant permissions

Within Participant permissions, you can enable and disable your clients' access to the following features: 

• Chat
• Share screen and whiteboard
  • For more information, see Sharing your screen during telehealth and Using the telehealth whiteboard 
• Background
  • For more information, see Changing your telehealth background
• Ask clients for their location
  • For more information, see Emergency info

Meeting access

You can enable a waiting room for telehealth appointments so that clinicians can admit client(s) into the session individually or all at once. Only clinicians will be able to see when a client has joined the waiting room. You can toggle Use waiting room on or off:

For more information, see Telehealth waiting room.

If you'd like to see a confirmation message prior to ending an appointment, you can toggle this on:

When you click End during a telehealth session moving forward, you'll be prompted to select Cancel to return to the session, or select End to confirm the end of the appointment. 

Clients and clinicians can raise their hand during telehealth sessions to signal a question or request to speak without interrupting the conversation. This option is automatically available in all sessions on a web browser and mobile app and doesn’t require any settings changes.

Video settings

Once you've opened telehealth settings, select Video from the left panel.

Camera

To change the camera used for a telehealth session, you can use the Camera dropdown menu:

Quality

You can update the video quality by selecting an option under Quality:

• Auto
• Low-definition (LD)
• Standard-definition (SD)
• High-definition (HD)

Mirror self view 

You can mirror your self view to avoid seeing a reversed image of yourself. To do this toggle Mirror self view to On or Off

Audio settings

Once you've opened telehealth settings, select Audio from the left panel.

Microphone and Speaker

Use the Microphone and Speaker dropdown menus to select the device that's used for your audio capture:

Reduce background noise

Reducing background noise can help block ambient, unwanted noise. You can toggle Reduce background noise on or off when using Chrome or Firefox:

To reduce background noise on iOS or Android:

1. Tap the gear icon on the top right of a telehealth session
2. Tap Settings
3. Toggle Reduce background noise on

Use spacebar to mute/unmute

You can quickly mute or unmute yourself temporarily by pressing and holding the spacebar during the session. To enable or disable this this, toggle Use spacebar to mute/unmute:

A visual indicator will appear to show you’re temporarily muted or unmuted. Releasing the spacebar returns you to your previous state.

Background settings

Once you've opened telehealth settings, select Background from the left panel.

Here you can update your background if you prefer to display different or virtual background while your camera is on. For more information on the background options, see Changing your telehealth background. 

General settings 

Once you've opened telehealth settings, select General from the left panel.

Timer 

You can see how much time has elapsed in your telehealth session by enabling the timer from the welcome screen before the start of a session, or directly from the telehealth call window during the session.

Note: Timer isn't available when using the SimplePractice telehealth app to hold a telehealth session. To use the timer, launch telehealth from the web app.

To enable a timer for your telehealth sessions:

• Toggle Show appointment timer on

• Use the dropdown menu to set when the the timer will start

• If you’d like the timer to count down, toggle Timer counts down on
  • This can only be toggled before you enter a session

Captions 

Live captions display real-time text of your conversation during a telehealth session. This feature can be especially helpful for individuals who are hard of hearing, in noisy environments, or prefer reading along for clarity and comprehension. At this time, this feature is only available on web browsers.

To enable live captions during your telehealth call:

1. Click your profile icon in the top right
2. Select Telehealth settings > General
3. Toggle Captions on and exit settings

4. Click Captions in the lower toolbar

When captions are enabled, the button is highlighted blue, and live captions for all participants in the call will be displayed below your video screen. If you want to turn off live captioning at any time, click the Captions button again.

Note: When enabled on the client’s end, captions are limited to show only a minute of text at a time. Once a minute passes, those captions are removed and the next minute of captioning begins. 

Notifications

To enable or disable on-screen notifications for incoming chat messages, you can toggle Show previews of new chat messages:

Tip: Chat can be useful if a participant is experiencing connectivity issues, and you need a way to communicate with them. Whether you’re reloading the page or restarting your device, chat can be used to make sure the participant is able to be reconnected as soon as possible.

Emergency info

During a telehealth session on a web browser, you can view a participant's current location and emergency contact details. This can help you verify a client's physical location for insurance or licensing purposes, or in case of an emergency. 

Important: You can only view a client’s self-reported, current location while they’re in the session. Once the client leaves, or the call ends, their location will no longer be available or stored in SimplePractice. We recommend copying and pasting this information into a location outside your telehealth session while the client is still available. If you’re not able to save this location before it’s removed, you can use Secure Messaging to verify your client’s location.

To access emergency information during a session, click Emergency info in the top right corner of the telehealth call window. 

Note: The Emergency info button is available once the session begins, even before participants have joined.

The Emergency information panel has information on participants and invited clients.

Participant

This section shows anyone who has joined the video call. For each participant, you'll see:

• Their display name
• The session address they entered before joining

• If a participant didn't enter an address before joining, you'll see a Missing address label

Each participant has an edit icon that allows you to add or update their session address:

1. Click the edit icon next to the participant's name

2. Enter or update the Street, City, State, and ZIP fields
3. Click Save
   • To discard your changes, click Cancel

Note: Any address changes you make here apply to the current session only and won't alter the permanent address in the client's record.

If no participants have joined the call, this section will display that No participant joined yet. Their self-reported location will only be listed here once they connect to the call.

Invited client

This section displays read-only information pulled from the client's record. Depending on what's in their profile, you may see:

• The client's full name as it appears in their profile
• Their address on record
• A Client profile link that opens the client's profile in a new tab
• Emergency contacts and contact information, including the contact's name, phone number, and relationship tag

Note: If no address or emergency contacts are on file for a client, only the client's name and Client profile link will appear. For more information on updating this information, see Editing a client's information and Managing client contacts.

Sessions with three or more clients

For telehealth sessions with three or more participants, the Participants and Invited clients will be listed on separate tabs.

For more information on the client experience, see Entering your location.

Turning off client location collection

If you don’t need clients to provide their location before sessions, you can turn off the Ask clients for their location setting.

When this is turned off:

• The location entry screen that clients see before joining will be removed from all of your telehealth sessions moving forward
• The Participant section will no longer appear in Emergency info

You'll still be able to use Emergency info to view the address on file in the client's record and any emergency contact information when applicable.

FAQs

• Can I turn off the sound notification when an attendee joins or leaves the Telehealth appointment?
• Why did I see emojis during a Telehealth appointment?

Can I turn off the sound notification when an attendee joins or leaves the Telehealth appointment?

There isn’t an option to disable sound notifications for Telehealth. The sound notification that indicates when an attendee joins or leaves a Telehealth appointment is designed to give transparency to all attendees, so there aren't any surprises when someone joins, or if someone gets disconnected.

Why did I see emojis during a Telehealth appointment?

Apple released a new feature called Reactions. Reactions are currently enabled by default on iOS 17 and macOS Sonoma. When Reactions are enabled, emojis can appear during a video call based on a perceived gesture by the video participant with iOS 17 or macOS Sonoma installed. 

Important: This isn’t a feature integrated into our Telehealth platform and we don’t have control over these settings for iOS.

To disable this feature on iOS17:

1. Create a test video call
2. Swipe down from the upper right corner of your iPhone or iPad to activate the Control Center
3. Tap Video Effects
4. Tap Reactions to disable the feature

To disable this feature on macOS Sonoma:

1. Create a test video call
2. Click the green video camera icon at the top of your Mac’s menu bar
3. Select Reactions to disable the feature

For more information, see Use Reactions, Presenter Overlay, and other effects when videoconferencing on Mac.