Managing Appointments and Schedules

Use the calendar feature to schedule and manage patient appointments and group events.  

This topic contains the following sections:

Manage Patient Appointments

Schedule a Patient Appointment 

Search for the patient you want to schedule an appointment for, and then create an appointment. 

When you create an appointment, the To Time and Duration property values are set automatically set based on the category you select. You can modify both values if needed.

Note that you can search for a provider based on gender or on language spoken to address the patient's needs or concerns.

1. Click the Schedule tab.
2. Click Add Appointment.
3. Click the Patient field to open the search dialog, and then search for the patient.
4. Provide the relevant details. Fields marked with an asterisk are required. 
   Note that if the Service Specific Prior Authorization feature is enabled, the application blocks creation of appointments if prior authorization does not exists for the corresponding service code.

5. Optionally click Find Available to locate an available time slot within the next seven days for a selected provider, or to find a provider based on gender or language spoken.

6. Click Save to add the appointment to the calendar.

Check In a Patient

When you check the patient in after they arrive for the appointment, the application creates a new encounter based on the category you select. For more information on categories, see Create Categories. You document the details from the appointment in the encounter.

If the patient pays the amount due at start of appointment, such as a copay amount, you can enter the payment information when you check the patient in.

1. Click the Schedule tab to open the calendar.
2. Click the appointment. 
3. Select the check in option:
   • Check In As Arrived: Select to check the patient in and create a new encounter.
   • Check In Arrived With Payment: Select if the patient pays the amount due at start of appointment. Enter the payment details, and then click Save.
   • Check In as Absent: Select if the patient fails to arrive for the appointment. For more information on billing and tracking no-show appointments, see No Show Appointments.

Use the Enhanced Calendar Version 2.0

The enhanced version of the calendar, designated version 2.0, offers the following features:

• Display only Monday to Friday. Note that you must select the Hide Weekend Days global setting to enable this option.
• Drag and drop an existing appointment from one time slot to another.
• Change the appointment duration/time by resizing the event box on the calendar page.
• Create a new encounter by double-clicking a tile in the calendar.
• View appointments for up to 100 providers at a time.

To enable the new calendar, select 2.0 as the Calendar Version global setting. Note that if you use the Google Chrome browser, you must use Chrome version 87 or higher to use the new calendar.

Export Appointments to Microsoft Outlook

You can export patient, group, and provider appointments to an .ics file, which you can then import into your Microsoft Outlook client. You can export a single appointment, or you can export all of the appointments for a day, a week, or a month.

Note that if you export a repeated event, all of the associated repeated events are exported.

1. Click the Schedule tab to open the calendar.
2. Choose the appointments to export.
3. To export a single appointment, click the appointment event in the calendar, and then click the Export to Outlook button.
4. To export all appointments scheduled for a day, a week, or a month, click the Day, Week, or Month button in the calendar, and then click the Export to Outlook button.
5. Select the event type, category, or facility to further refine the export selection.
6. Click Export to download the .ics file containing the appointment data to your computer.

Wait Lists

When a provider or other resource is not available for a patient, you can add the resource to a wait list. You can use wait lists in the following scenarios:

• The selected provider is not available at the requested appointment time. The application prompts you to add the appointment event to the Individual Appointment wait list.
• A group you want to add the patient is at maximum capacity. You can add the patient to the Group wait list from the Add/Remove Patients page.
• The provider you want to assign as the patient's primary care provider cannot accept any more patients, based on the Caseload Capacity defined for the provider. The application prompts you to move the request to the Admit wait list.
• A bed is not available in a selected facility. You can add the bed request to the Bed wait list from the Bed Allocation page.

Manage Wait Lists

Use the Wait List Dashboard to manage your practice's Wait Lists. Note that you can print the wait list contents, or export the data to a .csv file.

1. Click the Practice tab.
2. Click Wait List Dashboard in the left navigation bar.
3. Select the wait list - Admit, Appointment, Bed, or Group - to view from the Type menu.
4. Enter the remaining search criteria.
5. Click Search. 
6. Click the check mark icon in a wait list entry in the search results, and then update the status.

Manage Group Appointments

Create Categories for Group Appointments

To create group appointments, you must create categories that contain the services provided for each group. When you create a group appointment, you select the facility, program, and category to create it under.

1. Click the Practice tab.
2. Expand the Administrative tab, and then click Categories.
3. Click the Add button. The Add Category window opens.
4. Enter a name for the category.
5. Select Group from the Type menu.
6. Select the facilities that group appointments will be billed under.
7. Click Save.

Schedule a Group Session Event

Group sessions encourage patients to meet with other people who are coping with similar kinds of situations. Patients are evaluated using the program's predefined set of forms and questionnaire. You select the patients to include in the group after you create the event.

When a capacity is defined for a group, the application displays the capacity in the group appointment details.

When you create a group appointment, you select the facility, program, and category to create it under.

1. Click the  Schedule tab.
2. Click Add Appointment.
3. Click the Group button.
4. Provide the relevant details. Fields marked with an asterisk are required. Select the category used to bill for the group appointment from the Billing Program menu.
5. Click Save.
6. Click Add Now in the popup window to add patients to the event.
7. Select the patients to add, and then click Add Patients to the Event. 
8. Click Close.
9. Click Save to add the event to the calendar.

Check In Patients for a Group Session

When you check a patient in for an event, an encounter is automatically created with a Group Therapy Note form.

1. Click the group session in the calendar. 
2. For each patient, the Check In link in the Action column in the table within the popup window. You can select multiple patients to check in.
3. Click the Check In link in Action column for a patient. The payment screen appears. Enter the payment details and click Save.
4. Click the patient's name to create a new encounter.

Send Appointment Reminders

DrCloudEHR enables you to send appointment reminders to patients through integration with an automated reminder service provided by Intrado.

The application submits reminder requests to Intrado, which then sends a message to the home phone number, email address, and/or mobile phone number (for text messages) specified in the patient's Contact information. Contact information is specified through the patient's Demographics page.

Send Appointment Reminders

You use the ClientTell Log page to submit appointments that you want to send reminders for. When you click the Submit button, the application submits the request to Intrado, which then sends the corresponding reminder messages.

Reminders are sent to all patients that have an appointment scheduled on the selected date.

1. Click the Practice tab.
2. Click Administrative in the left navigation menu, and then click ClientTell Log.
3. Click the calendar icon next to Upload appointments for date, and then select the date of the appointments you want to upload.
4. Click Submit.

View Appointment Reminder Status

You can also view the status of previous appointment file submissions to Intrado. You can view files that were successfully submitted, and view files that failed to be sent and need to be resubmitted. 

1. Click the Practice tab.
2. Click Administrative in the left navigation menu, and then click ClientTell Log. 
3. Select the reminders to display:
   • Select Target Appointment Date to view submissions based on the appointment date.
   • Select Generated Date to view submissions based on the date the files were sent.
4. Click the calendar icons and select the target date or a date range that you want to view.
5. Select whether to view files that were successfully submitted, or files that failed to be sent.
6. Click Go.

Configure Appointment Reminders When You Create Categories

You can configure the application to send appointment reminders when you create a category. Reminders will be sent for all appointments created under the category.

When you create a calendar category, select the Include in ClientTell Script check box. The number of days before the appointment to send the reminder is determined by the ClientTell settings.

For more information on creating categories, see Create Categories. 

Customize Your Schedule View

You can change the default calendar view to display appointments by day, month, week, or daily agenda. To change your default view:

1. Click the Settings tab.
2. Click the Calendar tab on the User Settings page.
3. Select an option from the Default Appointment View menu.
4. Click Save.

No Show Appointments

From a practice management perspective, a no-show appointment is a billable event. DrCloudEHR enables you to charge and track no-show fees to patients who fail to arrive for a scheduled appointment.

• Create a service code specifying the fee to charge for no-show appointments.
• Optionally create a workflow with any encounter forms to use.
• Create a category that includes the service code and workflow to use to create encounters for no-show appointments.

To flag a no-show appointment, click the Check-in As Absent button in the appointment. When you click the button, the application generates an encounter based on the category, and creates a corresponding fee sheet with the service code and charges. 

Create a No Show Service Code

Create a service code to use for no-show appointments. Enter the fee to charge in the Fees field. The service code appears on the fee sheet created for the encounter.

For more information, see Define Service Codes.

Create a No Show Workflow

Optionally create a workflow containing the encounter forms to use for no-show appointments. 

For more information, see Define Workflows.

Create a No Show Category

Create a category to use for no-show appointments.

Select the service code you created in the Codes field, and select the workflow to use.

Select the category from the Category when checked in as absent menu. The category name appears in the list after you specify it in the Name field. Setting this value causes the application to generate a no-show encounter when you check the patient in as absent in the calendar.

For more information, see Create Categories.