Portal - Schedule an Appointment Online

The Schedule Appointment tab will allow the user to schedule an appointment in the future. If Online Patient Scheduling is not activated for the office, this tab will automatically redirect to the Messages within the portal. This will let the patient message into the office to request an appointment. Visit this site to see what options are available on the patient portal. If Online Scheduling has been purchased, be sure to set this feature up in the Scheduling ability.

When the patient selects the Schedule Appointment tab they are presented with one question, "Is this appointment for a patient that has been seen by the office before?" This question will separate appointment types for new patients and existing patients.

As the patient answers this question MacPractice will automatically ask the next question; "What is the reason for your visit?" The following dropdown box will refer to the appointment types that have been setup for online scheduling.

After the patient selects the reason for the visit, MacPractice will then prompt them to select a date to view available appointment times. The patient can select a date within the calendar. Once a date has been selected, available times (based on your office's availability setup) and providers will show in green. The patient can even use the filters to hide all other providers beside their own.

Once the appointment time has been selected, the patient will need to select the patient that is in need of the appointment. The drop down box will show all of the patients in which the user has portal access. If the patient is new to the office, the user can still Create a New Patient by selecting this button and filling in the new patient information.

After all of the above steps have been complete, the patient will see a confirmation page before finalizing their new appointment. This page will hold the appointment slot for 10 minutes before releasing it to any other patients. If the patient does not confirm the appointment within 10 minutes, they will need to restart the process of selecting an appointment time.

The patient will know that their appointment is complete when the green confirmation box appears. If the user has an email entered in their portal access, they will receive an email with the appointment details. The patient can also review the appointment information on the summary tab of the patient portal.

On the MacPractice side, upon scheduling an appointment, a provider will be sent a message via Direct Messaging in the Portal Folder.
You can customize who receives this message via the MacPractice Menu > Preferences > Scheduling > Online > "User to receive online appointment notifications".