How video visits work

What staff do, what the patient does, and the rules the system enforces. Nothing here is optional wording: each step is what the software actually checks.

For staff

Call someone right now: open the patient's card (Patients tab) → 📹 Video call now. That books a 30-minute visit starting now, starts the video visit and texts the patient the link.
Or from a booking: Schedule → click the visit → Video visit card → Start video visit → Text link to patient (or Copy link to send it another way).
Watch the Telehealth tab. When the patient has signed the consent and tapped “I'm here”, the visit shows Patient waiting.
Press Start call. The patient's phone connects on its own within a few seconds. You control when the call starts; they cannot start it.
When you're done, End visit. The link stops working immediately.

For the patient

Open the text from the clinic and tap the link. No account, no login, no app to install.
The first time only: read the telehealth consent and tick each box, then I agree. It is saved to their record; they are asked again only if the wording changes.
Allow the camera and microphone, check the preview, tap I'm here. Every step has a way out: Not now on the consent (nothing is saved), Back on the preview, and Leave the waiting room while waiting — leaving clears “Patient waiting” on your Telehealth tab and the link keeps working, so they can tap I'm here again later.
Wait. The page says “your provider will start the visit shortly” and connects automatically when staff press Start call.
Mute, camera off and Leave are on the call screen. After the visit the page says it has ended.

A patient needs a mobile number on their record for the text. If they have none, staff copy the link and send it however they like.

Phone calls from RevivalOS (staff calling)

Switch: Setup › Staff calling. Every call shows the clinic's number; nobody's personal phone is involved. The clinic number is set once under Setup › Call routing (or by the administrator on the server).

Call a patient: open their card (Patients) → 📞 Call, or from an Inbox conversation that is linked to a patient → 📞 Call. The call goes to the number on the patient's record.
The call bar at the bottom of the screen shows who you are calling and the state (Calling… → On call). Mute and Hang up live there. Allow the microphone the first time the browser asks.
When the call ends, it is logged automatically in the Inbox (Calls filter) with who called, how long, and how it ended. Nothing is recorded.
Incoming calls to the clinic number still ring the numbers set under Call routing. Ringing straight into this screen is the next phase — the Answer button in the call bar is ready for it but nothing rings it yet.

If 📞 Call says calling is not configured: the server-side vendor connection is not set up yet (administrator: scripts/telnyx-provision-softphone.mjs), or the clinic number is missing.

The rules the system enforces

Consent firstNo video credential is issued to a patient until a signed telehealth consent for the current wording is on their record. Signing is per patient, once per wording version. Only during the visitA link works from 15 minutes before the booking starts until 60 minutes after it ends. Outside that, the page shows when it opens. “Video call now” books a visit starting now, so the window is open immediately. Provider starts the callThe patient checks in and waits. The connection happens only after staff press Start call. Staff are never bound by the window. One link per visitTexting or copying a link again replaces the previous one; End visit kills it. Links contain no name, no phone, no reason for visit. While the patient is checked in and waiting, a new link is refused (it would drop them out of the waiting room) unless you confirm. Leaving the callWhen staff hang up or close the tab, the patient's page goes back to waiting; a patient who reloads is never sent into an empty room. Visits whose window has passed are closed automatically within a couple of hours; sign-in codes are deleted after a day. Not recordedRecording is switched off in the software itself, not by a setting. A recorded visit would be stored medical information at the video vendor. Where the video goesAudio and video flow between the two devices and Telnyx (the clinic's communications vendor, under a signed HIPAA agreement). They do not pass through the clinic's website hosting.

Two switches in Setup

Telehealth videoEverything above for staff-started visits. Patients only ever see a texted link. Patient portal (video visits)Optional and separate. When on, patients can also sign in themselves at the clinic's link with their mobile number and a texted code, see upcoming video visits, sign the consent ahead of time, and request a video visit (staff approve it from the Telehealth tab with one click, which books it and texts the link). Off by default; nothing patient-facing beyond the texted link exists while it is off.

If something doesn't work

Patient sees “link not valid or expired”: the visit was ended, a newer link was sent, or the booking's window has passed. Text a new link or use Video call now.
Patient is stuck on “waiting”: staff have not pressed Start call yet, or the booking isn't open yet (the page says when). Start call from the Telehealth tab. The patient can also tap Leave the waiting room and come back.
A visit is stuck on the Telehealth tab / you want it gone: End visit on its card. That closes the room and kills the patient's link. Tick Show ended to see it afterwards.
Start call seems to hang: the video window now opens immediately and says it is waiting for camera permission — look for the camera icon in the browser's address bar (allow it), or press Cancel. Cancel never marks you as present to a waiting patient.
Patient typed the wrong mobile number on the sign-in page: ← Back on the code screen returns to the number (or Clear it). Any format works — with or without +1, spaces or dashes.
“Link not texted”: the Telehealth tab shows the reason (no phone on file, opted out of texts, or the text failed with the vendor's error). Copy the link and send it another way, then fix the phone on the patient's Contact tab.
Camera/microphone blocked: the phone's browser permission was denied. Fix it in the browser's site settings and reload the link.
“Couldn't connect”: the video service refused the room. End the visit and start a new one; if it repeats, tell the administrator — it is a vendor-side issue, not the patient's.
No text arrived: the patient's record has no mobile number, or they replied STOP to the clinic before. Copy the link and send it yourself, or ask them to text START to the clinic number.

Consent wording: Forms → the “Telehealth Consent & Terms” template. Editing and re-installing it mints a new version and every patient is asked to sign again.