Your HealthSource website has the ability for patients to make appointments. New patients select from actual appointments available on your Scheduler. Existing patients request appointments so that you can make sure they're set for the right appointment type for their treatment. Appointment requests appear in the software for you to review and confirm to add to your Scheduler.
This document explains how to make specific appointment times available to new patients and how to review and accept appointments from new and existing patients.
It's critical that Online Scheduling settings and the NP visit settings are correct as they define the available times that are displayed on your website.
Online Scheduling
Under Utilities - System Setup - General - Online Scheduling
1. Allow same day scheduling with ...... hour lead time: This is coming soon!
2. Add New Patient appointments to schedule: When a NP makes a NP appointment online, this automatically puts the patient on your scheduler with a yellow star.
3. Use STAFF provider for New Patient appointment availability: Checking this will allow the online appointment availability to only look at STAFF for availability to schedule not your doctors. In house NP appointments will then look at the doctors settings and not STAFF.
4. For New Patient appointment availability, use the provider (s): If you have multiple doctors that allow for a NP you can decide the default provider (s) that will automatically be selected when scheduled. If you select more than one provider, they will rotate.
5. For New Patient appointment availability, use the visit code: All codes for a NP appointment to be available online must begin with NP. If you have several NP codes that you wish to add to be able to schedule online you can add them here.
If you select the Use STAFF provider for New Patient appointment availability, you will not be able to select your provider (s).
New Patient Settings
Parameters for the NP appointment type are shown on the Visit Codes window. Appointment availability is displayed on the website based on these settings (in sequence).
Each provider that is marked Allow for NP visit type can have their own hours filled out on the grid.
- NP appointment code. The new patient appointment code MUST begin with the letters NP.
- Hours marked as available for the NP appointment type. Select the hours doctors are available for new patient appointments.
- Providers set to allow NP appointments. Only providers with a check in the Allow column count towards Max Bookings.
- Available time slots don't exceed the total of the Max Bookings (Max Bkg.) allowed.
- The Hourly Start Times are marked for the available times for new patient appointments.
New patient appointment availability is live on the website based on these parameters. Patients receive immediate confirmation of the appointment.
Settings to Check
- Verify NP availability hours for each provider
- For each provider with a check in the Allow column, verify Max Bkg. (Max Bookings) are set correctly
- Verify Hourly Start Time and Minutes are correct
The total of Max Bookings for allowed providers minus the number of existing appointments in a time slot determines what patients see as available on the website.
Patients cannot select a specific provider via the website. This assures the maximum number of new patients can find available times on the website. After an appointment is made, the patient is assigned to a provider by the front desk.
Existing Patient Settings
Online appointments for existing patients are different than new patient appointments. New patient appointments look at real-time availability and allow the patient to choose and confirm an exact visit date/time. Existing patient appointments look at date and time ranges but are not seeing real-time availability. Because of this, existing patient appointments are only a request, which you need to review, accept and confirm with the patient.
Existing patient appointments may include therapies or other treatments, making real-time online scheduling difficult, which is why it's a request, rather than a confirmed appointment.
In Scheduler Settings, click the Show All Types box to reveal a hidden appointment type used ONLY for existing patient web appointments. Set the days and times for existing patients to request appointments on the website.
The Online Experience
New Patients
A confirmation is displayed on the website.
Existing Patients
Appointments shown for existing patients use Scheduler Settings for days, times and max bookings, but because details about the patient's treatment are unknown they are only requesting an appointment time. This allows you to make sure their request fits with their treatment plan before confirmation.
Review and Accept Appointments
When patients make appointments on the website, an icon appears on the left-hand menu for Appointment Requests (Appt. Req.). A badge with the number of requests is shown.
Viewing New Patient Appointments
When a New Patient schedules on your website, under your Appt. Req. button, you will see a list of patients that are marked as "Booked". They will appear on the scheduler with a yellow star.
Clicking in the Viewed box and hitting Process on the bottom right, you can then send the NP link
You will select the Case History Options and what Forms you would like to send to the patient portal.
A link for the online Portal and Forms is found at the bottom of this document.
New Patients that request an appointment online have received a confirmation of their appointment. This is not a request for an appointment therefore if there is a conflict you will need to call the patient to re-schedule their appointment.
Viewing existing patient appointment requests
An existing patient requesting an appointment online, will fall under your Unprocessed.
- Click the box to approve the appointment
- Make sure that the Visit Type is listed as OV
- Depending on your set up will determine what provider, if any, the appointment request comes in as. You can click the drop down and select the Visit Type and Provider you wish to schedule the appointment with.
Put a check mark under Approve and click Process. You will receive a message that a record has been processed and they will be put on the scheduler.
- You can add any notes by clicking and typing in the box.
Merging New Patients that are not actually New Patients to an existing patient record.
An existing patient may schedule themselves for a NP which will create a duplicate account. To resolve this issue, we have added a Merge field off the Booked section.
To determine if there is an existing patient record, you can click the Merge icon for Patient Bahir Kaczor as an example.
A patient search box appears for you to find the other patient account to merge into.
If there is only one name that appears, that means there is no existing patient record and when you process there will be no duplicate.
If you click the merge on a patient that has the potential for a duplicate account, you will see more than one option for the merge.
Clicking Yes, will match the New Patient record (that really isnt a NP) into the existing record which will remove any duplicate patient accounts.
There is a way to merge even if you Accepted the appointment and realized later that its a duplicate.
Magnifying Glass for existing patients
Clicking on the magnifying glass will bring up a Patient Search box for you to look and possibly match to an existing patient.
Once matched the magnifying glass will turn into a person icon.
Pink line on Request
You can Hover over the pink line to see how many appointments are scheduled at that time.
Approving Existing Appointment Requests
1. Click the box to approve the appointment
2. Make sure that the Visit Type is listed for the correct type from the drop down.
3. All online appointments will show Provider as STAFF. Please click the drop down and select the provider you wish to schedule the appointment with.
4. You can add any notes by clicking and typing in the box
Be sure to call the patients after the appointments are accepted into the system.
Also, remember that the existing patient is waiting for the call to confirm the appointment availability.
Sending the New Patient History Link for Online Completion
New patient paperwork is vital to the doctor's understanding of the patient's case and family health history. Patients can complete their history on a computer in the office or in advance via the patient portal. To access the portal version, the clinic sends a link to the new patient when they make their appointment. This link can be initiated from several places in the software. Information from the patient's response is automatically entered into the software making it possible for the doctor to review the information in advance of the patient's appointment.
The Link below will show you how to send the NP paperwork and digital forms.