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Using Zoom for Telehealth

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Linking your Zoom account to Practice Better gives you more flexibility for virtual sessions: host group meetings, meet with prospects who don't have Client Portal access, and record 1:1 sessions for the AI Charting Assistant. This article walks you through linking your account, setting your defaults, and booking your first session.

In this article:

Before You Begin

A few things to know before you link your account:

⚠️ Important: You'll need a paid Zoom account to remain HIPAA compliant while using this integration. A free Zoom account isn't sufficient for handling client health information, and it also caps group meetings at 40 minutes. 

  • The Zoom integration is available on all paid Practice Better plans (Starter, Pro, Plus, and Team). It isn't available on the free Sprout plan.
     
  • On the Starter plan, Zoom sessions are limited to 1-on-1 meetings. Group meetings require Professional plan or higher.
     
  • Unlike Practice Better's built-in telehealth, Zoom sessions don't require your client to have Client Portal access. This makes Zoom a good fit for discovery calls or prospects you haven't invited to the Portal yet.
     
  • You can record Zoom sessions using Zoom's own Record button, independent of Practice Better. This works whether or not you have the AI Charting Assistant add-on; it just won't generate a transcript or AI summary inside Practice Better unless AI Charting Assistant is set up. See Recording Sessions With the AI Charting Assistant below.
     
  • Not sure whether Zoom or Practice Better's built-in telehealth is the better fit for your practice? For a full comparison, see Practice Better Versus Zoom for Telehealth →

Linking Your Zoom Account

  1. Open the Settings menu (gear icon) and go to your Integrations page.
     
  2. Click Link next to the Zoom integration.

     
  3. Enter your Zoom email address and password when prompted, then click Authorize to let Practice Better create and manage meetings on your behalf.

     
  4. Once authorized, your Zoom account is linked, and Zoom becomes available as a telehealth option throughout Practice Better.

📍 Note: Linking your account doesn't turn on recording or transcription by itself. See Recording Sessions With the AI Charting Assistant below to set that up.

Recommended Zoom Settings

You can adjust most Zoom meeting settings, like auto-recording or allowing participants to join before the host, directly from your Zoom dashboard. A couple of settings are worth prioritizing:

  • Disable your Personal Meeting ID (PMI) for scheduled meetings. This keeps each session tied to its own unique meeting room instead of a reusable link.
     
  • Turn on automatic cloud recording if you plan to use the AI Charting Assistant with Zoom. This saves you a manual step before every session.

Unlinking Your Zoom Account

You can unlink your Zoom account at any time from Settings > Integrations by clicking Unlink next to Zoom, or directly from your Zoom Marketplace account.

📍 Note: Unlinking your Zoom account doesn't remove Zoom links from sessions that were already scheduled. Those sessions will keep their original Zoom link and remain joinable. However, you won't be able to resync or generate a new Zoom link for that session while the integration is unlinked.

Setting Zoom as Your Default for Telehealth

Once your Zoom account is linked, Practice Better automatically makes Zoom your default option for telehealth appointments. You can change this in two places:

  1. Account-wide default: Go to Settings > Telehealth & Messaging and choose Zoom or Practice Better's built-in telehealth.

     
  2. Per-service override: Go to My Practice > My Services, Edit a service, and under Booking Options, set Use Practice Better Telehealth for video sessions? to Zoom.

💡 Tip: The per-service (and per-session) setting always wins over your account-wide default at the moment of booking. If a service is sold as part of a Package, sessions booked through that Package automatically inherit the service's telehealth setting, so there's no extra step needed there.

Booking a Zoom Telehealth Session

  1. Go to My Practice > My Services, then click Book a Client next to the service you'd like to schedule.
     
  2. Set How would you like to conduct this session to Online/Video Chat, and select Use Zoom as the telehealth method.

     
  3. Complete the remaining booking details and click Schedule.

Once booked, you'll see a Start Zoom Meeting button next to the session on your My Bookings page. Confirmation and reminder emails sent to your client will include a link to join the Zoom meeting directly, no Client Portal access required.

Learn more about Booking Client Sessions from the Practitioner Portal → 

Copying Your Zoom Meeting Invitation

  • Click the More Options menu (3 dots) next to a session on your My Bookings page and select Copy Zoom Invite.

     
  • Click on the session itself to view the session details page, where you can copy the Zoom invite from the More Options menu (3 dots) next to the Zoom meeting. 

Client Access and Notifications

Your client doesn't need Client Portal access to join a Zoom session, they can join straight from their email.

  • Confirmation and reminder emails: When you book a Zoom session, Practice Better sends your client a confirmation email (and a reminder, if enabled in your Booking Settings) with a direct link to join the Zoom meeting.

     
  • If your client already has Client Portal access: they can also join by logging into the Portal and clicking into their session details, where the same Zoom link is available.

📍 Note: Because the meeting happens outside Practice Better, your client won't see the Client Hub or in-session chat that Practice Better's built-in telehealth offers. Screen sharing, recording, and chat during the session all happen within Zoom itself.

Hosting Group Sessions With Zoom

Zoom is the only integrated option in Practice Better for conducting group telehealth sessions. Setting up a group service, availability, and attendee registration is covered in Managing Group Services with Practice Better → 

Once your Zoom account is linked here, you'll be able to select it as the telehealth method for a group service.

📍 Note: Group Zoom sessions require the Practice Better Professional plan or higher and a paid Zoom account that supports meetings longer than 40 minutes.

Starting an Instant Zoom Meeting From Chat

Need a quick check-in with a client or group instead of a scheduled session? You can launch an instant Zoom meeting straight from Messages.

  1. From your Messages page, click the video icon next to a client or group under Active Chats.

     
  2. In the pop-up, click Create meeting to proceed. 

     
  3. In the subsequent pop-up, click Launch Zoom and start your meeting.

     
  4. After clicking Launch Zoom, the pop-up remains open for you to either:
    • Copy Join link: Share this link with other participants to connect to this meeting.
    • Share Join Link: Copy this link into the current chat. You can adjust the message before sending.

Rescheduling and Canceling Scheduled Zoom Sessions

What happens to the Zoom meeting depends on who takes the action:

  • You reschedule the session in the practitioner portal: The original Zoom link is preserved and carries over to the new time.
  • Your client reschedules themselves: The original session is canceled, and a new session is created, with a new Zoom link.
  • Either party cancels the session: The Zoom link is removed.

Recording Sessions With the AI Charting Assistant

The Zoom Record button on its own creates a standard Zoom recording, nothing more. To get an AI-generated transcript and summary inside Practice Better, you'll need the AI Charting Assistant add-on and a few specific settings enabled in your Zoom account (cloud recording, audio-only files, and audio transcript, at minimum).

🪄 This only applies to 1:1 Zoom sessions. Group sessions in Practice Better don't have a charting function, so the AI Charting Assistant setup isn't relevant there. You can still record group sessions using Zoom's Record button; you just won't get a Practice Better transcript or summary.

The full setup steps live in Using the AI Charting Assistant for Telehealth →

Troubleshooting and Support

Having trouble setting up your Zoom integration? Email us at help@practicebetter.io, we're happy to help you get connected.

You can also find answers to common Zoom meeting questions in the Zoom Help Center.

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