Scheduling Preferences
- Dylan Nigh
The Scheduling preference allows you to customize the settings in the Scheduling ability.
Calendar Tab
Start and End Times: You can use these fields to determine the times displayed on the schedule.
Time Interval per block: Determines the amount of time each segment of the calendar occupies. Using Local Time Interval will change the blocks locally. Using the Database Time Interval to have the Server control the Schedule Time Interval on all computers using MacPractice.
Time Interval Column Format: Allows you to choose how the time will appear when viewing the time on the edge of the schedule window. You can choose between the Short format (as presented in the image above) or the Expanded Format.
Show hour lines: Selecting this will show distinct hour lines in the Schedule.
Single click action in small calendar: When selected, the small calendar in the Schedule can be used for quickly choosing the day you want to work with; a single click in the Schedule will advance you to the selected day. If this is unchecked, you must double click the date to view it in the Schedule.
Auto-refresh after _ Min: When checked, the terminal will fetch new information from your MacPractice server every X amount of minutes, defined by the drop down selector.
NOTE: Shorter refresh intervals may slow down your computer as this increases the number of times the schedule is loaded from the Server. If you notice sluggish performance, you may consider increasing the refresh interval.Fit calendar to view on startup: Most of the time the calendar will not fit in the MacPractice window, so this preference allows you to always see the full calendar in the MacPractice window. The calendar will also automatically resize itself to fit to view when the schedule is refreshed.
Do not show Recall/Follow-up date alert if patient does not have insurance: By default, you will be given an alert if a Recall/Follow-up appointment is being set up earlier than the suggested appointment date; if this preference is selected, you only will see this alert if the patient has insurance.
Do not alert if patient has prior Missed/Cancelled/To Reschedule appointments: When enabled you will not see a warning or notice that you could use an existing appointment that was moved to Missed/Cancelled/To Reschedule.
Remember Row and column sizes: With this preference set, you can change the size of your columns and it will remember the adjustment the next time you view the schedule.
Set HIPAA view on startup: When enabled, will set the HIPAA view when MacPractice is logged in.
Hide resources on days they are marked as not available: If a resource is marked Unavailable, then it will not appear on the Schedule.
Appointments Tab
The Appointment tab specifies how appointments are used in the Schedule.
Flashed selected appointment: When enabled, the selected appointment's border will flash. You can adjust the number of times it flashes to suit your preference. This can help with viewing a particular appointment if you have a lot of appointments in your Schedule.
Show Tooltips: When enabled, a yellow box with additional information about appointments will show up when the mouse is moved over an appointment. The information in the tooltip cannot be edited.
Confirm appointment drop (also applies to transparency drop): When enabled, you may see prompts asking whether or not you want to move a specific appointment or transparency. This can help to ensure you don't accidentally move an appointment or transparency.
Allow overlaps with appointments/blocked timeslots: By default, MacPractice will not allow overlaps in the Schedule, so enable this preference if you want to overlap appointments.
Show Indicator on overlapped appointments: This preference, when enabled, will place a red border on appointments that have been overlapped. Overlapping appointments requires the "Allow overlaps with appointments/blocked timeslots" preference to be enabled.
Do not allow appointment scheduling in the past: By default, MacPractice allows you to schedule in the past; select this preference if you do not want to be able schedule in the past.
Do not allow appointments scheduling on Unavailable Resource Times: When enabled, you will not be able to create an appointment for a resource outside of their scheduled hours (as set in the Resources node in the sidebar). Uncheck if you need to schedule after-hours appointments.
Double clicking on calendar creates 1 unit appointment: Select if the intervals on the calendar equal the time of a standard appointment; you can double-click on the schedule to create the appointment, rather than clicking and dragging.
Bring up 'Appointment Detail' window after creating appointment (7.3 and earlier): When enabled, a drop down window will appear allowing you to enter patient information.
Set 'Patient' as the default tab for 'Appointment Detail' window:When enabled, the Appointment Detail window will open up to the Patient tab.
Enable appointment keyboard shortcuts in calendar: (Overlapping shortcuts enabled through the Operating System will not work in MacPractice)
Symbol | Keystroke | Result |
← → | Left/Right Arrows | Scrolls left or right 1 resource. |
↑ ↓ | Up/Down Arrows | Scrolls up or down one time interval. |
⇱ | Home | Scrolls to beginning of the calendar selection. |
⇲ | End | Scrolls to the end of the calendar selection. |
⎋ | Esc | Deselects the selected appointment. |
↩ | Return | Opens the selected appointment. |
⌘←→ | Command-Left/Right Arrows | Increases/Increases the calendar column width 1 unit. |
⌘↑↓ | Command-Up/Down Arrows | Increases/Decreases the calendar row height 1 unit. |
⌥←→ | Option-Left/Right Arrows | Moves the selected appointment left or right 1 resource. |
⌥↑↓ | Option- Up/Down Arrows | Moves the selected appointment up or down 1 unit. |
Gray-out non ONE patient appointments: if checked, when you are in One mode, appointments on the calendar that are not for the selected patient will show in faded colors.
Show Cancelled/Missed appointments dating back to __ days: Use to set the number of days back that you want to be able to see past Cancelled/Missed Appointments when you go to the Cancelled/Missed Nodes in sidebar. Loading many missed or cancelled appointment records may create some slowness in your schedule. Reduce this number to improve performance.
Show __ days when selecting appointments: When bringing up the schedule for the first time it will bring up Today's date, in addition to the number of days placed in the box.
Show Missed appointments in the past (Marked with "X" on appointment): When selected, if you move an appointment to Missed, this preference will put a red X over the appointment to show it was missed once the appointment time has passed. Missed appointments with a future time will never be shown on the schedule.
Automatically create account alert when missed appointment: when enabled, MacPractice will create an alert for the patient when an appointment is flagged as Missed.
Add new alert to References > Account Alerts: This setting will save each missed appointment as a new alert, and display the date of each missed appointment.
Show only the missed appointment count: This setting will create an alert that displays the number of missed appointments only.
Default Status: ______________ ; Type:_____________ : When set, every appointment created in the schedule will have this status and type by default.
After adding charges when recall, allow them to be tied with existing appointments ___ days before the recall date: Note-Some insurance companies deny coverage for appointments scheduled before the recall date
Hide patient alerts on the appointment: When checked, the alert icon (a triangle with an exclamation point inside of it) will not be displayed on an appointment block. When unchecked, this icon will be present for patients with patient or account alerts.
Hide Appointments in the Missed, Cancelled, and To Reschedule nodes when in One mode if they have already been rescheduled: This preference, when enabled will hide appointments that have been rescheduled in the Missed, Cancelled, and To Reschedule nodes.
Goals Tab
These settings will affect Scheduling Goals found under the Calendar node of the Schedule ability.
Daily Production Amount: The total Production target for your office, per day.
Number of appointments: The number of appointments you would like to have scheduled daily.
Hide Scheduling Goals: When selected, will hide set scheduling goals when looking at the Calendar in Schedule ability.
Ledger Tab
Determines how ledger information (particularly treatment plans) impact the Schedule ability.
Default Incident sidebar selection: This preference determines how the ledger will appear in Advanced view.
Last used Incident: Automatically selects the Incident when viewing the ledger.
Last used treatment plan: Automatically selects the treatment plan with most recent activity when viewing the ledger.
Treatment plan associated with Appointment: Automatically selects the treatment plan that contains treatments associated with the selected appointment when viewing the ledger.
In Scheduling Sidebar, show node for appointments 'With Treatments': When enabled, you will see a new node called With Treatments in the Schedule ability. This node will contain patients with Treatment Plans that have appointments during the dates selected in the small calendar.
Transparencies Tab
Automatically update default transparencies: This preference creates/updates the MacPractice Holidays and National Holidays transparencies. Uncheck this preference if you wish to delete these transparencies. If this preference is checked and the transparency is deleted, it will be automatically recreated the next time you log in.
Online Tab
Allowing Scheduling out to XX Time Interval: Here, you can permit online scheduling out to an allotted time. The first box is for a number, the drop down has Hour(s), Day(s), Week(s), Month(s)
User to receive online appointment notifications: This option designates whom will receive a appointment notification when a patient schedules an appointment via Online Scheduling.
You can set this to the Appointment Provider, or you can specify a single user to receive all notifications. By default, the Appointment Provider will be selected. If you would not like to receive notifications about online appointments, you may set this to None.
Notifications will appear in the Messaging Ability, and the From field will be "MacPractice Patient Portal". Below is a screenshot of a sample appointment notification.
