Client Self Scheduling-Client Portal – TherapyMate

Clients can schedule their own appointments or make appointment requests that require approval. To enable these feature the Practice needs to configure the Client Portal settings in the Online Appointment Booking section.

There are two methods available for Online Appointment Booking:

Client Self Scheduling without Clinician Approval
Client Self Scheduling requiring Clinician or Staff Approval

Please review each of these methods in this article to determine which one will work best for you.

If either of these features are disabled, the client can view their appointments when they login to the Client Portal but they can't make any changes.

Client Self Scheduling without Clinician Approvals

This method allows a client to login to the client portal and book an appointment that will get added to the clinician's schedule immediately if their request complies within the settings shown below:

Here are the available options for those drop downs:

1. Clients can book appointments on the Full Hour, Half Hour or Quarter Hour.

2. Limit bookings to:

3. Clients can book within:

The Practice chooses these settings in advance and will be used for all clinician's in the Practice.

Here are some important things to note:

1. Configure each clinician's work hours settings so clients can only see the desired time slots that are available for each day.
If a clinician doesn’t want certain time slots available they should create Calendar Events to block them out so clients can't schedule during those time slots.
If a time slot is taken, the client will see "Unavailable".
The service code used for the appointment will automatically default to whatever the clinician has designated in their clinician service code settings. The client will not see the service code or be able to pick a service code.
The service locations shown on the client's appointment creation window will show "No Location Set" unless the clinician has set a default for each day of the week in their Clinician Work Hours settings. See example below.

Both the service location and service code can be updated later by the clinician or staff member later as needed.
If a client later cancels their appointment, the appointment will be marked missed on the clinician's schedule. The client will be asked to provide a reason for the cancelation. An Appointment Cancellation Note will be added to their chart in the Notes and Documents tab. The clinician does not get notified via email when an appointment is cancelled in this manner.

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Client Self Scheduling Requiring Clinician or Staff Approval

This method allows client to login to the client portal and request an appointment. An appointment request must be approved by the clinician or a staff prior to the appointment actually happening.

The client's request must still comply with the settings the Practice has chosen for the following settings:

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To Enable Appointment Approvals make sue both toggle switches are in the On position. See below.

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When these are enabled, you'll notice there is a new section called General Service Locations.

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General Service Locations are added so the client can pick a general location for their appointment when they schedule their appointment request. The Practice should configure the General Locations as needed.

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When the client clicks in the General Location drop down the options will appear.

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When the clinician or staff member reviews the request, they will be able to pick the most appropriate or specific service location.

For example, maybe the client picked the Heber City location but the Practice might have have three offices within the Heber City location. The clinician or staff member chooses the correct Office before approving the request. Be sure to add these general locations. They will apply to all clinicians in the Practice.

There is an exception to what was described above. If the clinician has a specific location for a particular day set, that will override the General Service Locations options. For example, If the clinician has the Sandy Office #1 set for Monday, that's what the client will have as their only option on Monday. The Practice should decide if this is allowed. If not, each specific location with the clinician's settings needs to be reset to the "select location" option in the drop down so the General Service Locations will rule.

How Does the Approval Process Work?

When a client requests an appointment they will told their request has been submitted. The clinician and/or enabled staff member will get notified via email that a request was made.

The client's calendar will show their request on the day and time specified in a gray color. From their view of point it will say: Appointment Request Waiting for Approval

From the clinician's point of view, the client's request will appear on their dashboard a couple of minutes after the client creates the request. The client's request puts a placeholder on the clinician's schedule in gray. Here is an example:

It is now necessary for the clinician or staff member to approve or reject the request. This can be done in one of two ways. Notice the two areas highlighted by the red arrows where this can be done.

1. Click on the grey are on the appointment on the clinician's schedule to open the edit appointment window.

Appointment Approval.png

Choose the correct service code and location. The Code Modifier is optional. Then click the Approve button. The client will get an email letting them know the appointment was approved and the gray appointment placeholders will change to the normal light green color.

2. Click on the Action menu item called +Appointment Requests. Notice there is a red number next to it indicating there are two appointment requests waiting to be reviewed.

On the Appointment Requests screen you will see all of the requests that need approval. See an example below:

+appointment window.png

Before can approval can be done, The location and service code need to be selected. The procedure code modifier is optional. Then click the Approve button.

The client will get an email letting them know the appointment was approved and the gray appointment placeholder on the clinician's and client's schedule will change to the normal light green color.

In either method if the appointment is rejected, the client gets an email telling them it wasn't approved and to call their clinician or the clinic for assistance.

If a client later cancels their appointment, the appointment will be marked missed on the clinician's schedule. The client will be asked to provide a reason for the cancelation. An Appointment Cancellation Note will be added to their chart in the Notes and Documents tab. The clinician does not get notified via email when an appointment is cancelled in this manner.

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Who can approve appointment requests?

There is a Staff role that will enable certain staff members to approve appointment requests. The roles that can be configure to approve appointment requests are: System Administrator, Assistant System Administrator, Clinical Director and Scheduler.

The System Administrator goes to their Staff page and clicks on the staff members name on the left side of the page. Over on the right at the bottom is the checkbox to enable approvals.

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If the checkbox is inactive it means that staff member is not allowed to do appointment approvals in the system.

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