Virtual Consultation

• You live out of town and it is a hardship to come in for an in-person consultation
• You live locally, lead a busy life and like the idea of a consultation from the comfort of your own home or office
• Now there is a third reason – in view of the Coronavirus Pandemic, social distancing precludes coming into the office for an in-person consultation

There are three components to an Online Consultation:

• An online meeting platform where two or more people can join
• A method of sending photos of a portion of your body to the consultant
• A method of communicating your medical history to the service provider conducting the consultation

The simplest way to do this is to email photos and answer some questions about our medical history and send in an email format ahead of time. At the time of consultation, a method of videoconferencing such as FaceTime or Skype is used. We discovered several problems with this system:

• Meeting platform: Skype consultations were sometimes difficult to get started, and were at times unstable, causing interruption
• Photos: Email of photos is not a particularly secure method of information transfer, and the data would then reside in one persons email box (usually the patient coordinator) and would not be available to the service provider on an as needed basis
• Medical History: The medical history sent was often cursory at best, sent by email, or obtained at the beginning of the online consultation, which took valuable time away from the consultation.

For the patient to have the most worthwhile consultation experience, it is essential to have all required information prior to the online session, just as would be the case with an in-person consultation. The more information you provide us, the better a consultation we can give you. When new patients are seen in our office, they are also asked to upload their medical history ahead of time. Who wants to sit in a waiting room for twenty minutes filling out paper forms, then waiting for the staff to enter this information into our computer system. Why should we compromise your care for the sake of convenience? The medical history is very important. Sometimes, seemingly insignificant facts become very important to the patients proper care and we do not want to miss this during the consultation.

Meeting platform: We use an online meeting platform called TouchMD. This is a very popular platform used by numerous professionals in our industry. It provides for people to connect all at once; consultant, patient, nurse, patient coordinator – Depending upon circumstances, everyone can just as easily be in a separate location, or just two locations (our office, your home/office). We can all see and hear each other.

Joining an online meeting is very simple. My patient coordinator will send you an “invitation” by email which is a confirmation of your appointment with the date and time of the consultation. There will be a link in the invitation that you click on with your computer or mobile device a few minutes prior to the consultation. This will open up the software and the meeting will begin.

Photos: Providing good quality photos is essential to the success of a virtual consultation. In days past, this was a time consuming and difficult task, but with the quality of mobile device cameras what they are now, the process has been made incredibly simple! We all know how to use our cameras. So how do you take the photos properly and upload them to me? Here’s how:

• Posing, number of photos: For the procedure you are interested in, go to the photo photo gallery on our website. Look at the way the patients in the images are posed. Try to take similar photos as you see in these images. When possible, have another person take the photos for you – they will always be better quality.

Uploading photos: We use TouchMD as a portal for you to upload photos. To do this, you install the MyTouchMD app on your mobile device. You will receive a detailed email from the patient coordinator with instructions. These instructions are detailed below

TouchMD is a special HIPPA compliant, safe and secure application with a portal that you can log into and visit anytime.

You will be sent an automated email with the Subject: Your Requested Appointment Has Been Scheduled . There will be a link New Client Intake Form . This link will take you into our patient portal for our electronic medical record system for the purpose of reviewing your medical history ahead of time. This will take about 10-15 minutes, no longer than you would spend filling out a paper form, and without the hassle of then scanning and emailing the paper form to us. Your entries go right into the TouchMD system, ready for our review prior to your visit. If you should encounter any difficulties at all, please reach out to us at 905-393-7546 or by email for assistance

Step 1
Schedule your virtual appointment

Step 2
You will then receive two separate emails:

• Email 1 will prompt you to complete your TouchMD account – this is where you find Client Intake Form and the option to upload photos prior to your virtual/online appointment. Client Intake Form and photos should be completed prior to the day of your appointment. If you need further instruction on how to complete/access your TouchMD account, please click here https://laserspagroup.com/resources/touchmd/
• Email 2 will contain a link for you virtual/online appointment- this email you do not need to access until the day/time of your appointment.

Step 3

A few minutes prior to your consultation, you will receive a phone call from a member of our team to help you connect with us virtually through a secure and HIPAA compliant manner! We will provide a website to go to, along with a unique Session ID code to help you connect with us. Follow the onscreen prompts and your provider will join you shortly. At the time of your appointment click on the virtual/online appointment link mentioned above (you may do this from a phone, iPad/tablet, or a computer containing a camera/webcam)

Step 4
You will then be placed in our “virtual waiting room”. Please keep this screen open. When we are ready to be with you, your virtual session will begin!

A few minutes prior to your consultation, you will receive an email to connect with us virtually through a secure and HIPAA compliant manner! Select the link provided on a computer/tablet/smartphone to connect to your consultation. Follow the onscreen prompts and your provider will join you shortly.

A few minutes prior to your consultation, you will receive a phone call from a member of our team to help you connect with us virtually through a secure and HIPAA compliant manner! We will provide a website to go to, along with a unique Session ID code to help you connect with us. Follow the onscreen prompts and your provider will join you shortly.

Please review this video prior to your consultation to familiarize yourself with the virtual consultation portal and please also review this information to help you prepare to use the myTouchMD Patient Experience app before/after your virtual consultation.

Photos: Prior to your consultation, please utilize the myTouchMD app to upload photos into your myTouchMD account. We will use these photos during your consultation. Please take and upload one (1) photo of each angle of the area of your concern (i.e., face, body, etc…).

• You may take the photos yourself if desired. If you do so, please utilize a mirror for body consults. For the face, please utilize the “selfie” mode.
• You may have someone else take the photo if desired.
• If at all possible, please have a clean background for your photo. For example, take the photo in front of a blank wall that is free of distractions. We also recommend taking each angle of the photo at the same distance and level, and using good lighting.

How do I upload an image into my myTouchMD account?

Please review these instructions: https://www.touchmd.com/patientresources

 Consents/Forms: Prior to your consultation, please utilize the myTouchMD app to review and sign the assigned consents/forms in your myTouchMD account. Your assigned consents/forms may be found in the Timeline (main screen) of the app under the heading “Consents”.

We are excited to visit with you soon!

-The staff of LSG