Running telehealth visits
Run video-call visits with separate clinician and patient links, chart and bill the visit as usual, and use the correct place-of-service code for telehealth.
A telehealth visit in Ona is a normal visit with a video call attached. Everything else — charting, notes, billing — works the same as an in-person visit; the only difference is how you and the patient meet.
Setting a visit to video
In the left sidebar, click Visits, then click the visit. A visit's mode is set when it's created: Video call or In person. A video visit shows Online in its header rather than a room or location.
You can also switch an existing visit between modes from the bar at the bottom of the visit workspace, which shows Video call and In person toggles. Choosing a service tagged as telehealth (like the seeded "Telehealth Consultation") naturally pairs with the video mode.
Joining the call
On the same page, the bar at the bottom of a video visit carries the call controls. Use Online (1) in the header to confirm the visit is a video visit, Video call / In person mode (2) to switch modes, Join (3) to open the consultation room for you, and Copy the patient (4) to copy the patient's meeting link; the stage header also shows the practice logo or name with the practice theme colors around the page chrome.
- Join (3) — opens the consultation room for you, the clinician.
- A Copy the patient button (4) beside it — copies the patient's meeting link to your clipboard, confirmed by a "Patient meeting link copied to clipboard" message.
So there are two links, and they're not the same: Join takes the clinician in, and the copy button gives you the patient's link to send them. Share the patient link over whichever channel suits — SMS or email through Omnichannel (see Omnichannel messaging), or the patient portal.
Send the patient their link ahead of time, not at the appointment moment. A link that arrives while they're already waiting is a link they're fumbling with instead of being seen — a minute of setup before the slot saves the first minute of the visit.
The Invalid or missing link message (1) tells you the link won't open a visit, and Open the visit link from email or text (2) tells you to use the invitation link instead.
In the waiting room and, when supported, in the in-call control bar, Background effects lets you choose None, Light blur, Strong blur, a preset background or Upload for a custom image. Uploaded custom backgrounds can be removed from the background picker.
When your browser supports it, the in-call control bar also includes Picture in picture. Select it to keep the video visit in a small window while you work in another tab, then select Exit picture in picture to leave that mode. Unsupported browsers hide the button. In the mini window, you can use the microphone, camera, Back to tab and Leave visit controls.
Charting a telehealth visit
On the same page, once you're in the call, the visit workspace is exactly as it is for an in-person visit. You chart vitals (patient-reported, in this case), diagnoses, and observations; generate and sign a note; and handle billing — all from the same sidebar. Nothing about the clinical record changes because the visit was remote.
One thing to get right is the place of service: a telehealth visit is billed with a different place-of-service code than an in-person one, which flows from the service's Billing settings onto the claim. If you bill insurance for telehealth, make sure the telehealth service carries the correct POS code (see Setting up services), because payers treat in-person and telehealth claims differently.
Recording and notes
On the same page, the ambient recording that drives AI note generation works the same on a video visit. With a recording, Generate note drafts from what was said; without one, the note falls back to template placeholders (see Reviewing and signing an AI-drafted note). Recording a telehealth visit may carry its own consent requirements — the Telehealth Consent template in the consent library exists for exactly this (see Building consents).
In short
Telehealth isn't a separate part of Ona — it's a visit mode. Create the visit as a video call, send the patient their link, join the room, and chart as usual. The differences that matter are practical: get the patient's link to them early, and make sure telehealth billing carries the right place-of-service code.
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