Preparing Your Patients and Providers to Migrate from SVC to Zoom for Healthcare

Sam Brennand

Updated January 31, 2024 15:15

Switching your OnCall Health account from the legacy Secure Video Client (SVC) over to the new custom implementation of Zoom for Healthcare? Follow these best practices to ensure your patients and providers are ready for the upgrade.

Over the last several years, your patients and providers have come to rely upon OnCall's SVC to deliver virtual care. As a result, it's natural that they may have questions or concerns about upgrading to a newer, more robust platform like Zoom for Healthcare.

To help ensure that they're ready for the switch, it's important to ensure that your providers and patients are aware of the following:

OnCall’s custom implementation of Zoom for Healthcare is a safe, secure option that is PHIPA, PIPEDA, and HIPAA compliant.
Video calls hosted through OnCall’s custom implementation of Zoom for Healthcare are 256-bit end-to-end encrypted. By default, video calls are NEVER recorded or stored at rest anywhere.
OnCall’s custom implementation of Zoom is a stable, reliable platform for video and audio conferencing that will cut down on frustrating technology challenges.
For Canadian customers, we have a signed “PHI Annex” with Zoom that guarantees the video calls are exclusively hosted on servers located in Canada (Vancouver or Toronto for now, expanding to additional Canadian locations in the future as Zoom establishes them).
For American customers, we have a signed HIPAA BAA with Zoom.
We can share a copy of our signed PHI Annex and/or HIPAA BAA upon request.
OnCall’s custom implementation of Zoom never shares any PII or user information with Zoom (OnCall usernames are turned into a tokenized, secret key which is then used to create video appointments in OnCall’s custom implementation of Zoom).
OnCall’s custom implementation of Zoom will immediately provide an array of additional video conferencing features to OnCall customers that were previously unavailable with SVC.
OnCall’s custom implementation of Zoom will not cost you or your customers anything additional.
Nothing apart from the video conferencing tool will change about the patient or provider experience.
Zoom is the global leader in video conferencing technology, and holds a portfolio of intellectual property that allows it to provide exceptional reliability. Zoom and OnCall have partnered to create a joint offering that covers the full range of virtual care features that your organization needs to coordinate and grow its virtual care program.

To help you manage the transition, we recommend taking the following actions:

Be proactive in communicating the change to patients and providers (surprises are never fun), sharing these articles and resources to help answer any questions they might have
Create a version of the points above that you can host on a page of your own website
Create a PDF of the talking points above to host on your own website or to easily send to your patients and providers

Email Communication Template

Here's a templated email communication you can proactive send to your clients, patients, or providers:

Hi [customer name],

We have always prioritized having a secure and reliable video solution. Today, we are excited to announce that your virtual care experience is about to get even better.

Starting on [Date], we will be migrating our video conferencing platform from SVC to a new custom implementation of Zoom for Healthcare. Video calls hosted through our custom implementation of Zoom for Healthcare are PHIPA, PIPEDA, and HIPAA compliant and 256-bit end-to-end encrypted.

Zoom is the global leader in video conferencing technology and is able to provide exceptional reliability and stability. By relying on Zoom to power video conferencing moving forward, we will be able to provide you with a full suite of virtual care tools to serve you best.

This new custom implementation of Zoom will give us access to an array of new features we're excited to use during our appointments, including things like robust screensharing, whiteboarding, background filters, audio sharing, and a patient waiting room. You can review the full feature set that will be available here.

Apart from this update to the video client, it's important to note that everything else in your account will remain the same and the upgrade will come into effect automatically. When joining video appointments scheduled after June 23rd, the Zoom for Healthcare application will launch instead of Secure Video Client (SVC). If you do not currently have Zoom installed on your device, you will be prompted to download and install the application prior to your first or next appointment. If you need help, technical support is always available by contacting support@oncallhealth.com.

If you have additional questions or concerns about this switch, please review this Knowledge Base article or explore these Zoom for Healthcare FAQs.

Best,

[Your name or your company's name]

Additional resources: