Telemedicine has boomed since the pandemic. Accordingly, telehealth professionals continually seek strategies to streamline their workflows, enhance patient interaction, and bolster the quality of care they deliver.
Note-taking apps, with their blend of simplicity and sophistication, offer a digital platform for clinicians to document patient narratives, treatment protocols, and follow-up actions with precision and ease. These apps can improve efficiency, ensure productivity, and increase the speed of note-taking in session.
This article includes a list of some of the best note-taking apps that telehealth professionals can utilize. Here are those apps:
Key takeaways
- Note-taking apps help telehealth clinicians keep up during virtual visits. They give clinicians a digital place to record patient narratives, treatment protocols, and follow-up actions accurately, so documentation keeps pace with video consultations.
- Handwriting apps and security tools fill different needs. GoodNotes and Noteshelf turn handwritten notes into searchable text, while Standard Notes, Wickr, and VeraCrypt focus on encrypting notes, messages, and files that hold patient information.
- Virtual visits need a few extra lines in every note. Telehealth notes usually record consent, where the patient and clinician were, whether the visit was video or audio only, who took part, and any switch to phone, though requirements vary by payer and state.
- A shared Snippet makes those lines the same on every visit. TextExpander shared Snippet groups give a care team the same telehealth wording in any app, with fill-ins for each visit’s details, so nothing is missed and patient information stays out of the Snippet.
TextExpander
TextExpander is a powerful tool that telehealth professionals can use to increase their productivity. This software allows users to create custom keyboard shortcuts for frequently used text strings and templates—a feature known as “snippets.” For a telemedicine healthcare provider, this tool can be used to quickly jot down common medical terms, patient instructions, and even entire paragraphs of standard care directives with just a few keystrokes.
One of TextExpander’s standout features is its robust snippet library. Healthcare providers can build a personalized repository of medical shorthand, reducing the need to type out lengthy, repetitive information. For instance, a snippet could instantly expand “HTN” into “hypertension” or transform “PRNmeds” into “medications to be taken as needed.”
Moreover, TextExpander facilitates consistency across patient care documentation. Standardized snippets for diagnosis descriptions, treatment plans, and follow-up instructions ensure a uniform approach to patient note entries. This uniformity is critical for maintaining clarity and continuity in patients’ records.
Beyond individual note-taking, TextExpander excels in collaborative environments. Teams can access shared snippet groups which ensure that everyone uses the same language and format when entering data. Another way TextExpander can contribute to collaborative environments is its ability to integrate with other software, including EHR systems.
Whether it’s for drafting quick notes during a video consultation or compiling a patient’s medical history, TextExpander empowers telehealth providers to do more in less time, all while upholding the highest standards of patient care documentation.
- Platforms supported: Chrome, macOS, Windows, Android, and iOS
- Price: Free; paid plans start at $5 per user per month, billed annually
GoodNotes
With GoodNotes’s advanced digital handwriting recognition, GoodNotes transforms the natural act of writing on a tablet or smartphone into a searchable, editable text format. This feature allows healthcare providers to take quick handwritten notes during patient consultations and then search for specific information later as if it were typed text.
One of the app’s most powerful features is its ability to organize notes into virtual notebooks. This can be used to maintain separate notebooks for different patient cases or administrative tasks. Additionally, GoodNotes makes it easy to review and fill out forms, such as patient forms or informational PDFs, during a telehealth session.
GoodNotes also helps Telehealth professionals reference medical illustrations or annotate imaging. The software offers features for drawing diagrams or highlighting specific areas on medical images, which can then be saved directly into the patient’s digital record.
Furthermore, GoodNotes’ synchronization feature ensures that all notes are up-to-date across devices. This cross-compatibility allows healthcare professionals to start note-taking on an iPad, for instance, and continue on a Mac without any loss of information.
GoodNotes equips telehealth professionals with a digital tool that keeps pace with the demands of modern healthcare and optimizes their time spent on documentation and patient communication.
- Platforms supported: macOS, Windows, Android, and iOS
- Price: Free to $29.99 (one-time payment)
Noteshelf
Noteshelf is a valuable tool for telehealth professionals looking to refine their note-taking and elevate their productivity levels. Noteshelf provides an intuitive and user-friendly interface that mirrors the traditional experience of paper and pen while infusing it with the advantages of digital technology.
A particular feature that stands out for telehealth is the app’s audio recording capability. Professionals can record patient conversations (with consent) during consultations, ensuring no critical information is missed.
The app’s ability to sync with cloud services like iCloud, Dropbox, Google Drive, or OneDrive is especially beneficial for telehealth professionals. This means that patient notes and records can be safely backed up and accessible from any device, ensuring that the most up-to-date information is always at hand.
Moreover, Noteshelf’s handwriting recognition feature allows for the conversion of handwritten notes to text, which can be a massive time-saver for professionals who prefer writing by hand but need to maintain digital records.
Noteshelf also assists telehealth providers who often need to share notes with colleagues or patients. Professionals can quickly share annotated documents or specific pages from their notes, streamlining collaboration and patient communication.
Incorporating Noteshelf into the telehealth workflow can lead to a more organized, efficient, and responsive practice, all while keeping the human touch in digital note-taking.
- Platforms supported: macOS, Windows, Android, and iOS
- Price: Free to $4.99 (one-time payment)
Standard Notes
Standard Notes can increase privacy and security for telehealth professionals who want to enhance their note-taking practices without compromising patient confidentiality. This app offers end-to-end encryption, ensuring that all notes remain private and secure.
Telehealth providers can use Standard Notes to securely document patient details, checklists, reminders, and protocols. Additionally, the Extended Version of the app includes editors that support markdown, code, and spreadsheets, catering to the diverse documentation needs of healthcare professionals.
The application’s cross-platform capability ensures that telehealth workers have access to their notes whether they’re on a desktop at the clinic, a tablet at home, or a smartphone on the move. Moreover, with unlimited devices per account, the seamless synchronization feature keeps all devices up to date with the latest notes and edits.
Standard Notes’ tagging system fosters organization in your notes by making retrieval quick and intuitive. With the ability to lock individual notes and the automatic backup system, professionals can rest assured that their data is both safe and recoverable in case of device loss or failure.
- Platforms supported: Web, macOS, Windows, iOS, and Android
- Price: Free to $10 monthly
Wickr
Wickr is a secure messaging platform that has robust end-to-end encryption that ensures any shared patient information, from treatment plans to sensitive personal data, remains confidential.
One of Wickr’s key features beneficial to telehealth is its secure file transfer capability. Healthcare providers can safely share notes, images, and other patient-related documents without fear of interception or unauthorized access. The app’s “Shredder” feature further enhances security by irreversibly deleting all deleted items from the device.
Additionally, the platform supports group messaging, allowing care teams to discuss patient cases in a secure environment. This collaborative feature can improve productivity by streamlining communication between different healthcare professionals involved in a patient’s telehealth experience.
For telehealth sessions, Wickr can serve as a note-taking tool, where professionals can quickly jot down important patient details in the chat during a virtual visit. The ability to set message expiration times also means that this sensitive information does not remain accessible indefinitely, adding an extra layer of security to patient data.
Wickr provides an essential combination of secure communication and information sharing.
- Platforms supported: Web, macOS, Windows, iOS, and Android
- Price: Free to $15 monthly
VeraCrypt
VeraCrypt is a free, open-source disk encryption software that telehealth professionals can utilize to enhance the security of their digital note-taking and documentation.
The software’s robust encryption algorithms are capable of securing patient notes against unauthorized access. Before accessing any encrypted data, users must authenticate with a password or keyfile, ensuring patient confidentiality and privacy.
Another application of the software is the creation of encrypted volumes for storing patient records and notes. These secured containers can hold text files, images, and any other form of digital notes, which are essential for maintaining a comprehensive and confidential patient history.
Additionally, VeraCrypt can encrypt USB flash drives or external hard drives. VeraCrypt ensures that patient data remains protected in these forms, even if the physical device is lost or stolen.
Through the use of VeraCrypt, telehealth professionals can ensure that their note-taking and productivity tools are fortified against external threats.
- Platforms supported: Web, macOS, and Windows
- Price: Free
What should a telehealth visit note include?
A telehealth visit note includes everything an in-person note does, plus details about the virtual visit itself: the patient’s consent, where the patient and clinician were, whether the visit was video or audio only, who else joined, and any connection problems. Requirements vary by payer and state, so confirm the rules that apply to you.
- Consent. That the patient agreed to a telehealth visit, and when. Some payers want consent noted at every visit, others once.
- Locations. The patient’s city and state and the clinician’s location, which matter for licensing and billing.
- Visit type. Live video with audio, or audio only.
- Participants. Anyone else on the call, such as a parent or guardian for a pediatric patient, an interpreter, or a family member.
- Time. Start and end times or total time, when the visit is billed by time.
- Technical issues. Whether the visit switched from video to phone, and why.
These lines repeat almost word for word at every visit, which makes them a good fit for a Snippet. Save your telehealth wording once with fill-ins for the patient’s state, a popup menu for video or audio only, and a time field, then expand it with an abbreviation like ;televisit in any EHR or web app, on Mac, Windows, and in the Chrome extension. Share the group so the whole care team documents virtual visits the same way, and pair it with a patient after visit summary for the instructions you send afterward.
The Snippet holds only the standard wording, and patient details go into the fill-ins inside your EHR, never into the Snippet itself. TextExpander signs a BAA for qualified customers on the Enterprise plan; see TextExpander and HIPAA. No tool makes a telehealth practice HIPAA compliant on its own.
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Frequently asked questions
What apps do telehealth providers use for notes?
Telehealth providers usually write the official note in their EHR and add other apps around it. Handwriting apps like GoodNotes and Noteshelf suit clinicians who take notes on a tablet, encrypted tools like Standard Notes and VeraCrypt protect files, and a text expander like TextExpander speeds up wording that repeats, such as consent and visit-type lines. Use only tools your practice has approved for patient information.
How do you document consent for a telehealth visit?
Note that you explained the visit would take place by video or phone, that the patient (or a parent or guardian) agreed, and the date. Some payers and states ask for consent at every visit and others once, and some require specific wording, so follow your practice’s policy. Saving the approved consent wording as a Snippet with a date fill-in keeps it identical across clinicians.
How can you take notes during a video visit without losing eye contact?
Keep typing to a minimum during the conversation. Prepare the note structure before the visit, use short abbreviations that expand into full sentences so you type a few characters instead of a paragraph, and jot only key details while the patient talks. Finish the narrative right after the call. Placing the note window near your camera also helps you glance at it without looking away.
