Appointment Settings

The Appointment Settings in the Virtual Practice allows you to customize the Appointment Booking Flow for patients and fine-tune the Appointment Calendar settings for Healthcare Providers and default Calendar Time Slot for patients in the Virtual Practice. This guide will walk you through the configuration options available within the Appointment Settings.

Appointment Booking Flow

Within the Appointment Settings, the Appointment Booking Flow is a key aspect. This flow is divided into two methods, allowing for flexibility based on your organization’s preferences. Select the desired appointment booking method for patients by using the provided checkbox.

Healthcare Provider-Based Service Booking: Choose this option if you want patients to book appointments for encounter-based services such as Video, In-Person, and Text Consultations by selecting from available Healthcare Providers in the Virtual Practice.  It also provides an option for patients to choose a specific practice location for Video and In-Person Consultations, where applicable.

Appointment booking interface as seen by the patient

Service Only Based Appointment Booking: As an alternative, this method allows patients to book appointments by selecting a service first and then followed by the desired practice location, if applicable. The system then automatically assigns an available Healthcare Provider for the appointment. This method is particularly tailored only for Video Consultations and In-Person Services.

Appointment booking interface as seen by the patient

It is important to note that this method does not apply to Text Consultations. In such cases, patients need to select a Healthcare Provider to proceed with the text consultation booking. If Text Consultations are not preferred, they can be disabled from the ‘Service Settings’ and removed from the website display through the ‘Patient Portal Website Settings’.

Note: Ensure that ‘Services’ are turned ON in the ‘Patient Portal Website Settings’ to display these options on your website.

Appointment Calendar Settings

Appointment Calendar Settings give you control over the Appointment Calendar Display of Healthcare Providers and the default Calendar Time Slot that patients see within the Virtual Practice while booking appointments.

Appointment Calendar Display: This setting allows you to manage the display range of the Healthcare Providers’ Appointment Calendar. You can set the typical start-of-the-day and end-of-the-day timings within which services are normally provided by using the drop-down menu in the settings.

Calendar Time Slot: The Calendar Time Slot setting is crucial for defining how time slot rows are displayed in the calendar view when patients book an appointment. It is advised to set this time slot duration equal to that of the shortest bookable service in your Virtual Practice. It’s important to note that this setting does not change the actual duration of the services provided.

Note: You can configure the Calendar Time Slot further per Healthcare Provider by accessing settings under their respective accounts.