Scheduling - Docs

With our scheduling tool, you can create appointments that are:

Individual or group appointments
One-time or recurring appointments
Require no, one-time, or recurring payment
Can be conducted by providers or only by providers with a certain license type (e.g. MD) or in the patient’s care team
Allow patients to select which provider they want to book an appointment with or only allow patients to select a time slot but can’t see which provider is it with
Are bookable by all patients or only by certain groups of patients or individual patients

We also support matching patients to only providers that are licensed to practice in their state.

Prerequisites

Part 1: Create appointment types (EMR)

Appointment types allow you to set the different types of appointment (e.g. name, individual vs. group, duration, etc.) that you plan on conducting.

Follow the instructions here to set up your appointment types.

Steps:

Step 1: Set organization member availability (EMR)

Organization members on the standard tier (or admins on behalf of Organization members) can set their availability for taking appointments with patients.

To set organization member availability:

Go to the EMR (e.g. emr.avonhealth.com)
Click on the hamburger menu on the top left corner > Calendar
Select the provider that you want to view the calendar and set availability for in the top left corner
Click “Edit Availability” the top right corner
Select the appointment type that you want to set availability for
Set the weekly hours that the member is available to take appointments with patients at by clicking the plus button next to each day of the week and setting the hours the member is available that day
If you want other members to also join appointments booked during that time slot (e.g. want a nurse to also join into all appointments booked on the Monday 9 AM-5 PM slot to help do initial intake), you can select their names under the “Which other organization members should have access to the scheduled appointments?” dropdown
Set overrides for particular days by clicking the “Add” button next to “Add date overrides”
Click “Back” to go the previous calendar view page. The light green boxes on the calendar indicate the member's availability for taking appointments with patients.

Step 2: Sync with External Calendars (EMR)

Organization members can connect their external calendar to the platform to:

Check for conflicts: All booked slots on external calendars are shown on the platform as busy slots and patients are not able to book a lot on an organization member's calendar during that time
Add to calendar: All appointments booked on the platform are added to the standard or support team member’s external calendar and labeled “Appointment with {{COMPANY_NAME}}” (no patient information is included)

To sync with external calendars:

Go to the EMR (e.g. emr.avonhealth.com)
Click on the hamburger menu on the top left corner > Calendar
Select yourself in the calendar for dropdown in the top left corner
Click on the kebab menu on the upper left-hand corner > Sync calendars
Click the “Connect” button next to the calendar you want to connect

Step 3: Book a Patient Appointment (EMR or Patient Portal)

There are three ways an appointment can be booked.

Provider booking through admin portal

To manually book an appointment with patient:

Go to the EMR (e.g. emr.avonhealth.com)
Click on the hamburger menu on the top left corner > Calendar
Select yourself in the calendar for dropdown in the top left corner
Click the spot on the calendar you want to book an appointment at
In the “Add appointment” modal that pops up, set:
- Type: Select external appointment with patient(s)
- Appointment Type: Select desired appointment type
- Other Provider Invitees: Select other providers that you want to have attend this appointment
- Patient Invitee(s): Select patient(s) that you want to invite to this appointment (NOTE: If the appointment type you selected is a group appointment, you can invite multiple patients to this appointment. Or else, you can invite only one.)
- Date and Start Time: Modify the date and start time of the appointment as desired. The end of the appointment is automatically calculated based on the set duration of the appointment type.
Click “Send Invites”

Patient booking through patient portal

For patients to self-book an appointment:

Go to the patient portal (e.g. portal.avonhealth.com)
Click on the hamburger menu on the top left corner > Appointments
Click on “Book an appointment”
State the issues that they want to cover in the appointment and click “Next”
Select which appointment type they want to be seen for
Select the desired time slot
Click “Book” on the appointment details modal that pops up

Patient booking through calendar URL link

Coming soon!

Step 4: Book an Internal Appointment (Admin Portal)

You can also book internal meetings with other members of your organization.

To book an internal meeting:

Go to the EMR (e.g. EMR.avonhealth.com)
Click on the hamburger menu on the top left corner > Calendar
Select yourself OR the person that you want to book appointment with in the calendar for dropdown in the top left corner
In the “Add appointment” modal that pops up, set:
- Type: Select internal appointment with organization members
- Title: Edit the title of the appointment as desired
- Invitees: Select the organization members that you want to invite to the appointment
- Date, Start Time, and End Time: Modify the date, start time, and end time of the appointment as desired
Click “Send Invites”

Step 5: Join an Appointment (EMR and Patient Portal)

Organization members and patients can join appointments from the respective portals.

Patients joining an appointment

For patients to join an appointment:

Go to the patient portal (e.g. portal.avonhealth.com)
Click on the hamburger menu on the top left corner > Appointments
Find the desired appointment under the “Upcoming” tab
Click the “Join” button
A Zoom session will open in a separate tab
NOTE: Patients will not be able to enter the Zoom call room until the host starts the zoom call

Organization members joining an appointment

For organization members to start or join an appointment

Go to the EMR (e.g. emr.avonhealth.com)
Click on the hamburger menu on the top left corner > Calendar
Select yourself in the calendar for dropdown in the top left corner
Select the desired appointment on the calendar
Click “Join Appointment” or “Start Appointment” in the modal that pops up (NOTE: If the member is the host of the appointment, the button will state “Start Appointment.” Or else, the button will state “Join Appointment.” The host must start the appointment before everyone else can enter the Zoom call room.