How to...
The Flow of the Consult
DocLink simplifies telehealth consults, creating a seamless experience for both your pharmacy staff and patients.
With DocLink, you can efficiently book patients in under 30 seconds to be speaking with a Medmate telehealth doctor within 15 minutes. Patients pay for the consult directly in the pharmacy, making the process hassle-free. All they need to do is answer their phone when the doctor calls—no apps, web portals, or extra steps required for them.
Here’s a step-by-step breakdown of how it works.
Step 1: Create a Request
From the DocLink home screen, either search for an existing patient in your pharmacy’s dispensing software or use the SpeedScan feature to scan a prescription label to automatically choose that patient.
Select the appropriate appointment type:
- Rx Request: For when a patient has no repeats remaining for a regular medication they’re taking. Ideal for quick prescription renewals of ongoing treatments.
- Consult: For when a prescription medication is needed to treat an acute issue that requires a doctor’s assessment (e.g., antibiotics for a common infection).
Next up is consent. You can either record the patient having provided verbal consent, or you can click Request Consent by SMS to send an SMS to the patient if you’d prefer to be extra cautious.
If requesting consent by SMS, DocLink will automatically recognise when the patient has responded with “YES”.
If the patient would like to have links to the specific T&Cs and Privacy Policy they’re consenting to, click SMS T&C – Privacy Policy to send this through to them.
Ensure you charge the patient now (i.e., before the consult is actually booked), because:
- Medmate will invoice your pharmacy monthly for each consult conducted.
- If for whatever reason the consult results in no eScript being prescribed despite one being requested, it’s much more straightforward to have collected payment before this point.
Anything above the amount Medmate charges for each appointment type (as outlined in your initial agreement email*) is a professional services fee you get to keep.
* Please also feel free to contact us if you’d like more specific information regarding pricing.
If you initially selected a patient that was synced from your dispensing software, the patient information section (except for gender) will be automatically filled.
Depending on your dispensing software, the patient’s Medicare card number will also autofill in this next section.
If the patient does not have a Medicare card (e.g., international tourist), tick the box indicating this. The main impact of this is that the Medmate doctor won’t be able to provide an eScript, and will instead need to email your pharmacy a scan/photo of a paper script (which will be posted to the pharmacy later). This carries no extra charge.
In the Clinical area, add any relevant details about the request to be sent through to the doctor to aid them in their assessment.
- Rx Requests: Specify the required medication(s) (drug name, strength, formulation). Use Dispense History to pull this from the patient’s dispensing history, if available, to show established use.
- Consults: Include the patient’s symptoms, medical history, and any relevant medications using Import Hx from Dispense to help the doctor avoid drug interactions.
After ensuring all required information has been provided (i.e., all the squares on the left are green) and clicking the Create button, you should see this confirmation.
The patient will then receive an SMS from Medmate shortly after to let them know their request is being processed.
Step 2: Monitor Consult Progress in Real-Time
Open the Appointment Log from the DocLink homescreen to view all requests and their respective statuses, which are as follows:
- Request Sent: The consult request has been successfully submitted to Medmate.
- Clinic Processing: Medmate’s operations team is reviewing the request.
- In Waiting Room: The patient is queued and waiting to be assigned to a doctor.
- Doctor is About to Call: The patient has been assigned to a doctor, is next in line, and will be contacted shortly.
- Completed: The consult has concluded, and an eScript (if issued) has been sent.
Refresh the Consult Log using the orange Refresh button to stay updated.
If you need to contact Medmate support for any reason, clicking on the blue phone button in the Medmate column will display a code to provide to support so they can quickly navigate to your specific request.
Step 3: Dispense the Script
If an eScript is prescribed and the patient consented to this being sent to the pharmacy, a button will appear in the eScripts column in the Appointment Log once the consult is completed.
Clicking this button allows you to copy the eScript token, which you can then paste (Ctrl+v on your keyboard) directly into your dispensing software for quick and efficient dispensing.
Optional: Customise Your Fees
Hot Tip: You can edit the RRPs (and the stock card you’ve created) that are displayed during the DocLink appointment creation process via the Settings button on bottom-left of the DocLink home screen.
The pharmacy’s account password will need to be entered to access this area.
Keen to learn more? Check out our Tips for Success help page to see how you can further make the most out of DocLink in your pharmacy.