Ideas for Implementing App Chat in Practice
Updated
How to implement App Chat in practice
- To support your clients during COVID-19, provide App Chat as a free service to all clients for a short period of time.
This is a great way to support your community during COVID-19, and to encourage your clients and staff to get comfortable with your new technology service. After a month or two, you can decide when and how you want to charge for telemedicine virtual services as you gain clarity on the types of chats that are being submitted by clients.
- Only allow chat for clients who book a telemedicine appointment.
When clients request a telemedicine consult by using the app or calling, you can instruct them to download the latest version of your app and manually activate individual chat in the Chat settings of the dashboard.
- Let the client know the window of time the doctor will be starting the chat. TIP: It's best to give a wide range of 30 minutes to one hour in case the doctor is running behind.
- Collect payment through Virtual Payment. Click HERE to learn more about using virtual payment in your practice.
- When the provider is ready, they can initiate a chat from the practice dashboard.
- Offer a “Peace of Mind” package at your practice.
Allow clients to pay a monthly or yearly fee to have full access to App Chat as needed. This can be a great way to generate passive recurring revenue for your practice. Once you have enough subscribers, you will be able to pay your team to pick up extra “shifts” to man the chat dashboard, which will take your practice to the next level for client care.
Step-by-step:
- Create a “Peace of Mind” package, and offer it to clients during a visit.
- Suggested script: “Would you be interested in access to unlimited App Chat with a nurse or doctor during working hours? We now offer a 30-day or 1-year package that will enable this feature just for you in our app.”
- We suggested charging $20 for 30 days, and $200 for 1 year.
- If the client purchases this package, activate App Chat for them in Chat settings, and ensure they have the latest version of the app installed by sending them a welcome chat.
- Set a reminder in your practice software to shut chat off at the end of the time period, or to contact them to renew their package.
- Teletriage with only in-person appointment option.
Designate a staff member(s) to receive incoming conversations and identify any that need an exam. Convert conversations to appointments, and have the pet owner come in or drop their pet off. This is basically the same way the reception team handles phone calls, but it’s instead handled through chat.
- Advance teletriage to paid-for telemedicine consults.
Step-by-step:
- Designate a staff member to receive incoming conversations and identify any that need an exam.
- Let the client know that a doctor is needed to continue the conversation. Offer the client the option to come in or advance to a telemedicine chat with the doctor. Inform them of the fees.
- Suggested script: “I think we better have you see the doctor. Would you prefer to book an appointment and come to the clinic, or would you like to chat with the doctor when she gets a moment in the next hour or so? The fee is $50 for an in-person appointment and $25 for a telemedicine chat.”
- If the client chooses chat, you can say, “Great! I will send you a payment request through chat shortly to get your credit card for payment. Then the doctor will be taking over this chat.”
- Inform the doctor that they have a chat pending in the practice dashboard with the response time expectation. Suggested script: “Hey, Dr. <Name>. You have a telemedicine chat waiting in the practice dashboard. They are expecting a reply within the hour.”
- At the end of the chat, the doctor can email a summary pdf of the chat to the front desk or download the chat pdf for upload into the medical record.
Different options to staff Conversations
- Designate one person per shift to be in charge of Conversations, answering the phone, and other office tasks. This has so many benefits, primarily being the positive impact of decreasing phone traffic at the front desk.
- Have the practice dashboard open at multiple work stations, and use an “all-hands-on-deck” approach for replying to conversations.
