Suggested Pre-Requisite Reading:
Scheduling - Setting up Schedule Templates
What is the Sooner option on the schedule?
Overview
After reading this article, you should know the functionality of all items that you can see when on the Home > Schedule View page, for the location which you signed into when first entering Cloud 9 at the Login screen. Since this article is specifically regarding the Schedule screen, we will not cover anything above the Locator Bar (to include the Locator Bar itself), as those are part of the general screens that are seen no matter what view you are in. If you need to refresh yourself on the Locator Bar, read this article: Patient Locator Bar
Take it From the Top
Here is the bar of buttons running across the top of the Schedule Screen, under the Locator Bar.
From the left, here is what each button does:
This is the Appointment Search button. When selected, it takes you to this screen:
While on this screen, you filter by date range (top line), Schedule View (Location, second line), and by Appointment Class or Type. Then select the Search button, middle of the page to the right. The Results will be shown on the bottom half of the screen. When you identify the appointment you want, choose (on the bottom left) whether you want to go to the Reservation (the available appointment spot on the schedule), or Make Appointment, which takes you directly to that appointment on the screen for you to complete.
You may be asking why the Go To Reservation button is important. It is commonly used if you are attempting to schedule multiple patients from the same family. You can go to the reservation and see if there is a nearby or adjacent appointment that you can get multiple siblings into around the same time.
This is the Patient Lookup button. When selected, the next field looks like this:
This is the usual Lookup Patient screen used elsewhere in the software and has the same functionality. It is just accessible from within the scheduling screen.
Moving from Left to Right, the next button is the Practice button. When selected, it will show you a monthly view of the Practice on each day that the schedule is opened. Be advised that, if you have a dozen or more locations, this view may not be a useable one for you. Also, if you have not closed the dates that your Practice is not open (covered in the Pre-Requisite Reading about Setting up Schedule Templates), this view will be less helpful and potentially inaccurate. Select this button within your practice to check it out.
This is the Legacy Reminder Button.
By selecting this button, you will be taken to the above screen. Input your Location, the From and To dates for which you wish to send out reminders, The Appointment Type (Or all appointments within the Date Range), and confirm the email and text reminder that you wish to send out. Then select the Refresh button on the far left to populate the screen with your required data. Reminders showing on this screen WILL NOT be sent out until the send button that looks like a paper airplane is selected.
The next button is the shortcut to the Reminders Dashboard when using the C9 Connect Reminders. For more information on the Connect Reminders, view this article: C9 Connect Reminders Dashboard
It takes you to the same destination as View > Reminders Dashboard would, and it looks like this:
The Notes button comes next and is for adding a specific note to the schedule.
Using the self-explanatory buttons, you can add a note at a designated time on the schedule (maybe a lunch and learn from 12 to 1:30), or if you do not designate a time, it will be a pop-up that will show EVERY time the schedule is accessed for the entire day.
CAUTION: A note cannot be added for a specific chair, just for a specific timeframe which will span all chairs on the schedule. If it is added to a time when there are patients scheduled, the note itself may be covered by appointments.
Next is the No-Show Button.
When selected, you will be taken to the following screen.
On this screen, using the two buttons at the upper left, you can mark the patient as a no-show, and using the second button you can apply a No-Show Fee to their account.
The week button is next. When selected, you can determine which location and which week you would like to view. This is shown below.
The colors correspond to the type of appointment. Also, note the totals outlined in red at the bottom of each day, showing how many Appointments and Patients are expected that day.
The print button is next and provides you with the opportunity to print the daily schedule. When printed, it will appear just like the viewed schedule and can be used for multiple purposes.
The start time and end time fields are pre-populated with the times on the schedule. In most cases the buttons that need to be checked come pre-populated. But there are also options to print in landscape, or to print it as a HIPAA page. We will cover the HIPAA Button next.
This is the aforementioned HIPAA button. When selected, it will show the appointments on the schedule with the Patient ID number, and not the patient name. This is particularly useful when there is a screen that may be seen by unauthorized personnel or patients, so that HIPAA compliance can be maintained.
To revert this on the schedule, simply select the HIPAA button again, and the names will appear instead of the ID numbers.
Still on the same horizontal row, but on the other side of the Header called Scheduling, we have more vital information. The number of Appointments and Patients are shown for reference. The numbers may not always be equal, as a patient may come in that has two separate appointments for this day.
In this example, we have 62 appointments on the schedule for today, for 60 Patients.
The Today button will return you to the schedule for today. There are many instances where you will need to navigate to a different day, and this is just a quick key to bring you back to this day on the schedule.
The Refresh button is used when you want to refresh the screen. This is done automatically every few seconds, but the button allows you to do it as well.
This brings the review of the functionality of the top line of the schedule to a close. How fitting is it that the close button is the one to do it? This button will simply close the screen.
Walk on the Left Side
Now that you are familiar with the functions of the buttons across the top, we will look at the left side of the screen, and work down the items located there.
Outlined above is the Toolbar/Clipboard Removal tool. It simply provides more space to the schedule by hiding the small calendar and the clipboard. Select this a second time to bring it back into view.
On the very top of the left side you will see the provider drop-down menu. Normally, this field is set to "All Providers". Any patient on the schedule for today, no matter who their assigned provider is, will be shown on the schedule. This is the setting for most offices, and for all single doctor offices. But if you have more than one doctor, and one doctor is selected in this list, those patients being seen today, but assigned to the other doctor, will appear shaded out on the schedule.
The patient on the schedule is showing as grayed out, because the Provider listed IS NOT this patient's provider.
Under the Provider field is the name of the Schedule Template that has been applied for the day we are looking at. In this case, the Template was named Tuesday-Thursday- Winter Hours 9-4.
Beneath the template name you will find the Small Calendar.
This calendar shows what has been templated. It shows days marked as closed, denoted as a dark gray or charcoal color, and each opened day displayed in a color commensurate with the color of the template applied to that day. Using the arrows on either side of the name of the month, you can move forward or backwards. You can select a specific date and be taken to that date on the schedule.
Below the calendar you will find the Clipboard tab. In the screenshot to the left, the Revert Appointments button is also included, as the two of these can be used in conjunction with each other. Also, the Revert Appointments button has nothing to do with the two other tabs, Needs Appt and Sooner, which will be explained later.
When you have an appointment on the schedule that needs to be moved, instead of cancelling it and finding a new day to place it, simply drag the appointment to the clipboard. Then, using the small calendar, find the next available slot that appointment could be placed in, and drag the appointment from the clipboard into that open slot. If, after searching for multiple vacant spots the patient decides to just keep the original appointment, just select the Revert Appointments button. This takes the appointment on the clipboard and drops it back into its original date and time on the schedule.
Needs Appt tab. There are three criteria necessary to have a name appear on this list. The patient must be 1) in an active status, 2) not have an established recall, and 3) not have a future appointment scheduled. This tab is simply a quick look at what can be seen in the Patients Needing Appointment Report. What removes the patient from the report is the same thing that removes them from this tab, which is removing one of those three previously listed criteria (normally by scheduling them for an appointment).
Sooner tab. This is the tab that identifies whether or not the patient would like to be considered for an appointment sooner than the one they currently have scheduled. How to document this on the appointment will be covered in the next section. For more information on this topic, see this article on the Sooner option: What is the Sooner option on the schedule?
The Scheduling Portion of the Screen
The main body of the Scheduling screen is now what we will cover. The Pre-requisite reading covered the creation of the schedule template, which is what you should now see in this section. Your number of columns are dictated by the Template, which was created based on the physical space that you want to use in your office.
Scheduling an appointment
To schedule an appointment, locate the time and the chair in which there is enough time available for the type of appointment needed.
Select the option for Schedule an Appointment. The image below is what will appear.
The Schedule Appointment Dialog box opens on the Appointment tab. We will look at this tab, from top to bottom. Begin by populating the information that is necessary. Because I selected the Date and Time before I performed a left mouse click, that information comes in pre-populated. Use the magnifying glass to look up the specific patient this appointment is for, then select the type of appointment. Once the Appointment Type is selected, the Minutes field will be populated, based on the standard time identified for that appointment. The Provider field and Assistant can be entered, depending on your local policies, as well as any notes specific to this appointment in the Notes field.
Sooner (if possible): If this is the first available appointment, but the patient wants something sooner if it becomes available, check the Sooner (if possible) box. This adds the patient to the Sooner list we previously discussed, on the left side of the screen, as a tab on the Clipboard. For more information, see this page: What is the Sooner option on the schedule?
Print an appointment ticket: If you want to print this appointment ticket, check the second box.
This appointment is confirmed: If the patient has confirmed this appointment, at any point between the creation of the appointment and the appointment time itself, check the third box to show the appointment is confirmed. Once saved, the appointment will now show on the schedule with a green check mark, showing that it has been confirmed as seen below.
Email appointment ticket: Check this box if you wish to email the patient an appointment ticket.
Insurance Verified: If you have verified the patient's insurance at any point between the creation of the appointment and the day of the visit, you can left click the appointment, and check the Insurance Verified box. Save your work, and it will appear like this on the appointment itself. Please note the slight difference in the Icon. This Icon is a clear check mark inside a green briefcase.
There is no limit on the number of boxes that can be checked on the appointment. It is possible to see the Appointment Confirmed and the Insurance Verified Icon on the same appointment.
We proceed next to the Procedures tab of this same screen.
In the example shown below, you will see two procedures showing when we open the Procedures tab of Appointment Details.
You may be asking yourself how these procedures get entered onto this screen. That is explained in the following screenshot. You must have permissions for Edit >Setup, and proceed to Appointment Types. The screenshot is of the Appointment Type AW 10. The outlined area shows where the Procedures for this appointment type can be added, edited, or deleted.
The third and final tab on the Appointment Details screen is the History tab. The history tab will show all of the history for that specific appointment, such as the Date/Time of the action, the name of the person logged in when the action was made, and (under the Status column) the action that was taken. This is a great tool to find who may have made or cancelled an appointment.
NOTE: This screen underscores the need for protecting your login. If you leave a computer open when you walk away, somebody else may come along and do something, nefarious or not, but your login name will still show that you were the one logged in when the action occurred.
Reserve Appointment Class / Reserve Appointment Type
While these options are available, and actually can be used on this screen, they are meant to be utilized under Edit > Schedule Templates. Refer back to the Pre-Requisite Reading for more information.
Close Time
There are a host of reasons why you may want to close time while in the schedule. Let's use the example of an assistant needing to leave unexpectedly for three hours. After the appointments they would've seen have been moved from the schedule, you can proceed to the schedule and left click in the first time increment that needs to be closed. Hold down the left mouse button and drag down to the final time slot that needs to be closed. Then Release the left mouse button, and the options should appear, while the fields are still highlighted, select Close Time. The time you covered will now be closed, meaning only an employee with permissions to schedule in closed time can schedule any appointments in that time. Below is a screenshot of that completed activity, when the time in Chair two has been closed from 7:30 until 10:30 AM.
Open Time
Using the same procedure as for Close Time, left click on the first time slot increment to be opened, hold down the mouse button and drag to the last time slot to be opened, and release the left mouse button. Once released, the menu again appears, and you would select Open Time.
Clear Overrides
The Clear Overrides option is used in limited circumstances, most of which may require communication with the support team to resolve. The situation normally begins when a schedule template is applied over one that is already there. Prior to applying a Schedule Template, the previous template should be removed before the new template is applied. Sometimes that does not happen, and that is the situation where the schedule Overrides button may need to be used.
As always, if you have any further questions, please do not hesitate to reach out to Cloud 9 Support by emailing us at cloud9support@planetdds.com, or chatting us online using the chat bubble on the lower right at https://cloud9support.planetdds.com/hc/en-us, or giving us a call during our business hours of 8:00 AM EST to 8:00 PM EST at the 1.800.394.6050 option 2.