Self Scheduling will enable patients to book appointments directly on the calendar without needing to interface with staff. Your practice can designate which locations, providers, treatments, and time slots are available for self-scheduling.
>View video below<
In this article, you will learn how to:
- Enable Self Scheduling feature for staff
- Set up your calendar availability per provider
- Configure your scheduling policy and find your calendar URL
- Add a buffer period for self scheduling
- Enable credit card capture for self scheduling
- Self-scheduling booking fee agreement
- Identify self scheduled appointments in the calendar
- Understand the patient experience when self scheduling
Note: the patient portal provides the ability for patients to request appointments if this option is activated in the Practice Profile. The requested appointments are reviewed by the staff before being added to the calendar. Some treatments may be better suited for appointment requests vs. self-scheduling. You can choose which treatments display in each list as follows:
- Appointment requests: configured in Treatment Setup as Display for Patients toggle
- Self Scheduling: configuring calendar availability per provider
Enable Self Scheduling for Staff
To activate which staff can configure the Self Scheduling feature, go to User Accounts then edit Global Permissions/Schedule for each staff member to toggle on/off this feature. 
Once activated, the Self Schedule link will appear for those staff members.
Configuring Calendar Availability per Provider
Click on the Self Schedule link to start configuring your practice's availability for self-scheduling appointments. On the Location Settings tab, select your provider first to enable their locations of availability, then click the Add link to get started.
Start typing in the Select Procedures field to display a list of all procedures activated in Treatment Setup for that location starting with the letters typed. Multi-select the treatments to be available for self-scheduling.
Note: the appointment type is identified in parenthesis after the procedure name - be sure to select only the treatments with their corresponding appointment types to be available for self-scheduling. Only in-office appointment types can be self-scheduled. Appointment types are activated in Schedule Settings as follows:
- Initial = consultation
- Pre = pre-treatment
- Procedure = treatment
- Followup = post-treatment
Tip: to see the full list of procedures available, type any letter then delete that letter and the entire treatment list will appear.
Note: Only the treatments that have the price and duration set in the treatment setup will be visible in the list.
Tip: provide a generic treatment such as General Consultation for patients unsure which treatment to select.
Select Add working period to input for each day of the week the hours that are available for self-scheduled appointments.
By clicking into the hour, you can further select by 15 min increments.
You can configure the period for which you want to allow your patients to self-schedule.
It can be from 1 day to 1 year.
Save the changes by clicking OK.
After configuring the appropriate procedures and hours per week for self-scheduling appointments, use the Enable toggle to activate your selection. This will allow patients to start self-scheduling for these appointments.
Follow the above steps for configuring all locations, treatments, and availability for each provider.
Scheduling Policy and Calendar URL
On the Patient View Settings tab, the URL is provided for your customized calendar. Your web developer can embed a Schedule button within your website which will activate this URL, ideally in a separate browser tab.
You may input additional content regarding scheduling policy in the input field provided. This information will be visible below the scheduling interface throughout the patient scheduling experience.
Self Scheduling Buffer Period
In order to ensure your practice has time to prep for a newly self-scheduled appointment, you can designate how soon in advance patients will be able to self-schedule an appointment. This option is located in the Patient View Settings tab of Self Schedule Settings.
Credit Card Capture for Self Scheduling
Requiring patients to provide a credit card when self-scheduling allows your practice to capture a booking fee. This fee can be applied to the appointment invoice as a credit or as a No Show fee.
Note: your practice must utilize one of our integrated merchant services partners, such as Square or 360 Payments, in order to have access to this feature.
To enable credit card capture, go to the Self Schedule feature then the Patient View Settings tab. Activate the Charge Booking Fee option, include the amount of the booking fee, and input any comments for patients to see when inputting their credit card.
The patient will see the booking fee amount and comment before selecting their payment method.
The booking fee will be recognized as a credit on the patient's account and can be applied to the appointment invoice at check out or in case of No Show. The patient's credit card details are also retained as a credit card on file.
In order to collect credit card details for self-scheduling patients without charging a booking fee, the booking fee can now be set to $0. This allows a patient's credit card on file to be collected without charging them a booking fee.
Open Patient View Settings tab, check the Charge booking fee box and set the booking fee amount to $0.
In the Booking Fee field, you can explain that the credit card details will be stored securely for future use but no charges will be applied for their self scheduled appointment. Example: "Your credit card will not be charged for this appointment but must be retained on file for future transactions".
Don't forget to click the Save button to retain the changes. A warning message will verify that you intend to not charge the credit card. Confirm If you agree to continue.
When a patient progresses to the payment step while self-scheduling, an explanation for credit card capture will be displayed and the patient will need to input their credit card details by clicking Add New Card.
Once the credit card details have been added, thepatient needs to click Add Card.
The patient will see a pop-up window informing that their credit card details have been saved.
The patient will be able to continue by clicking Next.
At the last step, the appointment will be booked.
The credit card on file can be seen in the patient account or the appointment.
Self-Scheduling Booking Fee Agreement
To ensure your patients acknowledge your booking fee policy, you can ask patients to agree to the Booking Fee Terms while self-scheduling.
You can turn on the agreement checkbox in Patient View Settings.
Select Charge booking fee checkbox.
4. Under the Booking fee comment select Ask patients to agree to the Booking Fee Terms.
If the checkbox is selected patients will have to agree to the Booking fee terms in order to book an appointment.
The booking fee agreement will be visible in payment PDF.
Calendar Display of Self Scheduled Appointments
Appointments that have been self-scheduled will display in the calendar with the following icon:
Staff should ensure their filters are displaying self-scheduled appointments on the calendar:
Understand the Patient Experience
Having activated the self-scheduling link from your website, the patient will select which treatment and appointment type they want to schedule. The patient will only be able to schedule one provider to provide one treatment per appointment. For multiple treatments, they will need to schedule multiple appointments.
The page will be branded with your practice name and logo. The guide along the top displays their progress in the scheduling process.
At the first step patient can look for their desired treatment using several options.
Patients can filter the treatments by:
- appointment type (consultation, procedure, follow up, etc.)
- treatment category (injectables, weight loss, IV therapy, non-surgical face & body procedures, etc. as outlined in Treatment Setup)
Results are rendered based on using multiple filters combined or only a single filter to help drill down on the patient's desired results.
After that, the patients will receive a list of all treatments that meet the filter requirements. They need to click on the desired treatment to continue scheduling.
Patients can also search by:
- keyword
Keyword searches will deliver results with or without selecting the treatment type and category.
The patient will then select their preferred location and must click on their preferred location, even if only one location is offered, in order to proceed.
Note: If the practice has only one location, it will already be selected when the patient accesses step 2 of the self-scheduling process.
The patient will select their preferred time slot, clicking More to display additional options.
The patient will next be prompted to log into their account. If their email address is not recognized, they will complete the input fields to create a new account.
If the patient inputs a valid email address, they will be prompted to log in using their established account. They will be able to reset their password if needed.
The patient will receive a final review of the appointment details before booking.
Once booked, the patient will receive notification that their appointment was scheduled successfully. They will also receive an email confirming their appointment.
Webinar Video
Content Timelines per Minute:
00:00 - 00:16 - Introduction
00:17 - 1:07 - Enable self-Scheduling for your staff members
1:08 - 3:31 -Configure self-scheduling for your practice
3:32 - 3:49 - Self-scheduling page
3:50 - 4:21 - Self-scheduling notes&disclaimers, booking in advance
4:22 - 6:39 - Booking fee and collecting credit card details, booking fee terms
6:40 - 8:44 - Patient's self-scheduling experience
8:45 - 9:06 - Self-scheduled appointments in the calendar
9:07 - 9:08 - Wrapping up