Real-Time Access to Your VA Care Team Through VA Video Connect

VA Video Connect allows Veterans and their caregivers to quickly and easily meet with VA health care providers through live video on any computer, tablet, or mobile device with an internet connection.

Need Help? VA can help you get set up or troubleshoot technical problems. Call the Office of Connected Care Help Desk at (866) 651-3180 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.

Test your device. Visit the VA Video Connect test site to test your microphone and speakers. To test on your mobile device, text ‘V’ to 83293 or 323-621-3589. Standard text messaging rates may apply. You can also ask your VA care team for a practice session.

Talk with your VA provider about using VA Video Connect if:

• You live far from your VA facility or have limited access to VA facilities.
• You have health conditions that make traveling to the VA specialist you need difficult.
• You lack time to regularly attend in-person appointments.
• You don’t require a hands-on physical examination.

Download VA Video Connect brochure.

Features:

• Participate in secure video appointments with your VA providers
• Chat with your VA care team

Get Started with VA Video Connect

1. Talk with your VA health care team about using VA Video Connect. If you are interested in receiving care through VA Video Connect, speak with your VA care team to decide if it is right for you.

   You can use the VA facility locator to find your nearest VA Medical Center by entering your city, state, or ZIP code, then selecting “VA Health” from the facility drop-down menu. VA Telehealth is based out of your nearest VA Medical Center, not Community-Based Outpatient Clinics or Vet Centers.

2. Get set up. Once you make an appointment to meet with your VA provider through VA Video Connect, you will receive an email notification from VA with instructions. On the date and time of your appointment, open VA Video Connect by selecting your appointment link included in the email you received.
   
   • ​Windows and macOS. VA Video Connect opens automatically in a web browser on Windows, macOS, and Android devices after clicking the link in your email.

     Download the guide.

     

     Personal Computer/Laptop

     

     Android

      

   • Android. New VA Video Connect Android app 1.0 released. The new VA Video Connect for Android app provides a user experience optimized for Android. To install: Android users can search for VA Video Connect on Google Play and then download it for free. VA Video Connect will continue to open in Android device web browsers if the Android app is not installed.
     

     Download the guide.
     

   • ​Apple iPad and iPhone. For VVC sessions that require the use of VA peripheral devices such as BP Monitor, thermometer, scale, Pulse Ox, Eko Duo Stethoscope, the VA app is required. Visit the Apple App Store and search for “VA Video Connect". For VVC sessions that do not include the use of VA peripherals, the VVC app is recommended but not required. If a device does not have the VVC app installed, the device will launch VVC Web when joining a video visit. Note: Some email apps on iOS devices such as Gmail and Yahoo will need to be set to open the Safari browser for VA Video Connect to open.
     

     Download the guide.
     

   

   iPhone

   

   iPad

3. Test your device. Visit the VA Video Connect test site to test your microphone and speakers. To test on your mobile device, text ‘V’ to 83293 or 323-621-3589. Standard text messaging rates may apply. You can also ask your VA care team for a practice session.

VA Video Connect Instructions for Patients

Time: 2:37 minutes

VA Video Connect Demonstration

Time: 00:57 seconds

VA Video Connect Troubleshooting Tips

Time: 4:46 minutes

With Veterans and VA care teams using VA Video Connect more than ever before, Connected Care Communications produced a new video that offers troubleshooting tips for VA Video Connect to address common technical difficulties and help foster long-term adoption of the video telehealth tool. The 4-minute video provides tips to troubleshoot and resolve each of seven main issues that users commonly face:

• Tip 1: I can’t find my VA Video Connect appointment email. (0:11)
• Tip 2: My appointment link won’t work. (0:42)
• Tip 3: The virtual medical room page won’t load in the browser. (1:27)
• Tip 4: The virtual medical room takes a long time to load. (2:00)
• Tip 5: I cannot hear or speak to my provider. (2:34)
• Tip 6: I cannot see myself or my provider on the screen. (3:24)
• Tip 7: The video picture freezes or audio cuts in and out. (4:02)

Annie is a VA service that sends automated text messages to Veterans to help them stay focused on their self-care. This might include health related notifications, reminders, or motivational messages. Annie also empowers Veterans to play an active role in their care, by prompting them to provide health data such as weight or blood pressure. Thousands of Veterans successfully use Annie to stay healthy and on track in meeting their wellness goals. Anyone with a phone that can send and received text messages can use Annie.

Annie is to support self-care. While VA health care teams can view messages that are sent to Annie, they will not actively be reviewing them, and cannot respond in Annie. Therefore, Annie cannot be used:

• for an emergency or crisis; instead, CALL 911 or the VA crisis line immediately.
• to try to text your VA health care team about specific health issues; instead, contact your VA health care team directly.
• if a response from your VA health care team is needed; instead, contact your VA health care team directly if you need an answer to a question.
• to view medical information or records; instead, view medical records in MyHealtheVet.

The Annie App accesses your personal information from the VA Electronic Health Record. For your security, Annie requires you to use ID.me, DS Logon or My HealtheVet account credentials. Learn more about secure login.

Instructions to register and select messages

To use Annie, you must first be registered. The self-registration process is fast and easy and captures the basic information about you and your user preferences. The instructions below are a guide, but if you need additional assistance or have questions, the Health Resource Center can help you. They can be reached at 877-327-0022 and are open 8:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m. ET, Monday through Friday.

Step 1: Go to Annie for Veterans

Step 2: Select Your Log In Preference

My HealtheVet Premium, DS Logon Level 2, or ID.me. (Read more about secure account credentials or contact your VAMC and ask for the MyHealtheVet coordinator.)

Interacting with Annie

When Veterans register for Annie, they choose to receive and send self-care messages through text messaging or through the Annie app.

Interacting with Annie via (Standard SMS) Text Messaging:

• Veterans will receive text notifications, reminders and motivational messages directly on their mobile phone or smartphone (iOS and Android).
• Veterans will be prompted to send text messages directly into Annie on their mobile phone or smartphone, about their health readings (weight, blood pressure, etc.).
• If Veterans want to use additional features in Annie (message history, reports, schedule, preferences), they can navigate to Annie for Veterans and use their secure credentials to log in any time.
• Text messaging is not secure. Text messages on mobile phones can be read be anyone with access to your phone. Additionally, text messaging may have costs depending on your mobile phone plan.

Interacting with Annie via the Annie App:

• Some Veterans prefer the additional security of using the Annie app.
• When setting up their preferences, Veterans can choose to receive text notifications on their mobile phone alerting them that they have a new message in Annie.
• Veterans will not be able to interact with Annie through the text feature on their mobile phone. Instead, they will need to navigate to Annie for Veterans Annie for Veterans and use their credentials to check their messages or use any of Annie’s additional features:
  • Veterans can read all Annie messages (new and old) or send Annie new messages.
  • Veterans can see reports (charts and graphs) of the health data they have submitted into Annie.
  • Veterans can subscribe to VA medical facility announcements and motivational messages.
  • Veterans can start, stop, pause, and resume their Annie messages.
  • Veterans can view and change account settings and update their mobile phone number.

Annie 6.0 Updates

The first set of changes are designed to provide a simpler, cleaner, and more intuitive app. The changes are as follows:

• Messages is now My Messages. This is where you can exchange messages with Annie using the app.
• Reports is now My Data. The measurements you sent to Annie are still available in chart and table format.
• We removed Schedule, as it was deemed confusing and not helpful.
• In the future, we will add My Subscriptions, which will provide a listing of the subscriptions available to you for your self-care.
• Account is now My Settings. The same capabilities are available to you, but in a more understandable webpage and without the need for expanding selections.
• About, Help, and Logout are now in the Welcome Dropdown. Simply select the dropdown and these selections are available to you. See below screenshot.
• New Registration Wizard. If you haven’t used Annie previously, the first time you login you will see our registration wizard that simplifies the registration process into four easy, bite size chunks.
• Again, these changes are just the very beginning as we modernize the Annie App for Veterans and bring to you a better, more helpful app experience.