Overview
Our scheduler is designed to act as a virtual receptionist, giving you full control over your availability, booking preferences, and patient screening. Whether you’re working solo or managing a multi-practitioner clinic, this guide walks you through the key schedule settings to streamline your workflow and protect your time.
Navigating to Schedule Settings
Start by going to Settings > Schedule to view and configure your appointment preferences. If you have multiple practitioners, each will have a separate tab.
Calendar Options
Click the Edit Calendar Options button to customize:
Booking intervals: Choose which times patients can book (e.g., 1:00, 1:30).
Online booking buffer: Prevent last-minute bookings by setting a minimum number of hours in advance.
Booking window: Restrict how far in the future appointments can be scheduled (e.g., limit to 2 or 3 months out).
Patient Screening
Enable the patient screening feature to review new appointment requests before accepting:
Auto-accept: Accept all, or only return patients.
Queue new patients: Review new patient requests before confirming.
Accept/deny interface: Accept or decline requests based on referral source, reason for visit, or messaging via HIPAA-compliant chat.
Enable staff notifications for “New pending appointment, patient screening” to stay informed.
Blocking a Patient
From the Demographics section, you can block a patient by editing their status, adding a reason, and specifying which practitioners they are blocked from.
Displaying Work Hours
Optionally hide your work hours from patients in the portal. This is useful for practitioners who prefer not to share their availability publicly.
Smart Scheduling
Smart scheduling is enabled by default and helps reduce gaps:
• Limit visible openings: Choose how many appointment slots are shown to patients (recommended: 10–12).
• Fill gaps: Encourage booking next to existing appointments to tighten the schedule.
• Concurrent appointments: Choose whether to allow overlapping appointments, and how they should be prioritized.
Each of these preferences must be set individually for each practitioner.
These simple yet powerful settings help ensure your availability is respected, your time is optimized, and your clinic runs smoothly—just the way you want it.