Scheduling

Creating blocks and appointments on your schedule.

Blocks

Blocks are the shifts within your schedule. When you create Blocks, you'll assign a practitioner, location, services, and start and end times. You can also set up Blocks at repeating intervals. Here's a video overview:

Adding a block blockicons.png

Go to the day and location where you want to create the Block, then click the plus sign [+] in the group of block icons to the top right of the page. A form will popup in a modal window. You can either use a Saved Block or Create A New Block:

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Using a Saved Block:

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Create a New Block:

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Create Block.png

Repeating blocks

When adding a block to the schedule, you can repeat that block on future dates. To repeat a block, click on the Repeats dropdown menu to select your interval. You can repeat a block on a daily, weekly or monthly basis. Then select the number of times you want to repeat that block. 

You can use the Repeat function when you are adding a new block or adding one from your saved blocks:

Repeating block 1.png

Repeating block 2.png

Edit a block blockedit.png

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Editing or Deleting saved blocks

Click on Saved Blocks under Appointments on the main menu: 

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From here you'll select the saved block you want to edit or delete. Select your block to edit the title or delete the block:

Saved block 6.png

Private Blocks

Private blocks are visible to schedule admins but do NOT appear on the patient portal, so patients are unable to schedule an appointment in a private block. Only admins can schedule an appointment in a private block.

If a patient has an appointment scheduled in a private block, the appointment WILL show up in their list of appointments on the patient portal. 

To make a private block, click the "Private?" checkbox in the block options when creating a block: 

Private block 10.png

The top of a private block will be highlighted in blue on the schedule:

Private block 11.png

 

Saving Block Styles and Using Them

Any block can be used as a template of sorts, saving that block as a block style. Block styles include the practitioner, the service options, the start to finish times and any coffee breaks included. This is intended to make it easier to make blocks and to have fewer errors.

To create a block style

Saved block.png

You can save any existing block to be used again on any other day or location. This includes the practitioner, Service options, start and end times and all coffee breaks. 

To Save a Block for Later Use

Saved block 2.png

To Use a Saved Block

Saved block 3.png

To View Your Saved Blocks

Under the Appointments tab on the left-hand side of the page, click Saved Blocks. This will bring up a list of your saved blocks. From here, you can change the title of a saved block or delete a saved block.

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To Delete a Saved Block

From your Saved Blocks page, click on the name of the block you want to delete. The details of the saved block will appear to the right. Click Delete to delete the saved block. 

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To Edit a Saved Block

You can edit the title of a Saved Block but not any of the details. From your Saved Blocks page, click on the name of the block you want to edit. The details of the saved block will appear to the right. Enter your new title in the Title field and click Save. 

 

Scheduling an appointment

If you have not created any blocks, please do so prior to scheduling any appointments. Open ACU lets you create appointments on a Block or shift based on the preset parameters of the block.

Here's a video overview of how to schedule an appointment:

Schedule an appointment on a block

Find the slot you want to add the appointment to. It will have the time on the left and two icons on the right. The coffee cup icon is for adding a coffee break to the block. Click the [+] sign.  

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A popup form modal will appear. This is where you'll enter the appointment details:

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Checking In

Once an appointment is set by placing it on a block you are ready for patients to arrive. Upon arrival, in Open ACU you will check them in. This does two important things to your schedule and your patient's data. First it records a successful appointment, confirming the patient arrived. Second you can add transactional information to the appointment an therefore the patient.

Checked In

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Clicking the check icon at the far right of the appointment slot not only opens the transaction form modal, it records the fact that the patient showed up for their appointment. In your reports and in the patient record, plus on the schedule grid, it is clear which patients have shown up or not. 

The check in also timestamps the checkin and the user who did so. All a part of the appointment log.

Go to the next part of Checking In “The Checkin Transaction”.

In Open ACU you cannot edit transactions, checkins or otherwise.

The Checkin Transaction

In Open ACU you cannot edit transactions, checkins or otherwise.

When you checkin a patient into the schedule you are confirming their arrival and creating a financial transaction for their visit. This transaction is a standard debit and credit system that is associated with a patient. Let's look at the basic checkin window. (Click on the image to enlarge)

checkin window.png

Quick Checkin Tip checkin_icon.png

  1. Enter the amount to charge for treatment (or leave it your default amount)
  2. Tab once to total field and hit return.

Checkin Transaction Fields

Adding Items to a Transaction

Sometimes you sell something other than a treatment to a patient when they visit. Open ACU allows a non-treatment transaction for when patients arrive and want to purchase something without having a treatment appointment. See the non-treatment transaction help for more. The transaction popup form allows additional lines to the transaction.

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Click the plus sign at the right of the treatment amount to add lines. This will add a new line. You can add a description and price. Click the red minus sign to delete the line from the transaction.

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These lines add to the total due. Using a token for the transaction will only apply to the treatment amount.

Use Patient Token to Pay For Treatment

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If a patient has at least one token they can use one to pay the treatment amount as entered in the transaction. This will adjust the balance of the transaction. Added line items total will remain and will need to be paid. Clicking Save will reduce the patient's tokens by one.

Use Patient Credit to Pay

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If a patient has credit it will appear in the transaction. Credit can be used to pay for the entire transaction including extras and the treatment. If the credit is less than the total it will reduce the total transaction by the amount of credit and the rest will need to be paid.

When a Patient Has a Debit

Patients may have accumulated debit on their account when they were either unable to pay (as noted above) or from a no-show cancellation. When this happens a debit amount appears in the transaction. The transaction amount is increased accordingly. 

checkin window 2.png

 

 

Check in without recording a transaction

You can check in a patient without recording a transaction by enabling the checkin without transaction feature. 

Getting started

To turn on this feature, go to your Settings page. In the Basics section, click the Allow Checkin without a Transaction box:

checkin only 3.jpeg

Note: the default setting is to require a transaction at the time of checkin. If you’d like to check in patients without a transaction, you’ll need to opt in to this feature. 

Be sure to click Save Basics when you’re finished.

How to check-in without recording a payment

First, click the checkbox next to the patient’s name on the schedule. The popup that appears will show two options: Check In + Payment or Check In Only:

checkin only 1.jpeg

Click Check In Only—this will eliminate the payment and transaction boxes from the popup window. Then click the green Checkin Only button in the bottom right hand corner of the popup box: 

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The checkin check box next to the patient’s name will now appear in RED—this is your reminder that you still need to collect and record the patient’s payment: 

Checkin only 4.png

When you’re ready to collect and record payment, click the red check box. This will bring up the popup window, where you can record the transaction (you also have the option here to reverse the checkin, if you checked in this patient by mistake): 

Checkin only.png

Once you’ve recorded and saved the payment, the patient will appear in yellow on the schedule:

Checkin only 6.png

Here's a quick screen recording showing how it works: 

Canceling Appointments

Appointments can be cancelled by an admin under the following rules:
Patients can also cancel appointments via the patient portal

But, they are restricted by the number of hours the clinic has set in the preferences. This time is from 4 hours to 36 hours prior to the appointment.

How to cancel an appointment

Click the red cancel button next to the patient's name on the schedule:

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When the admin cancels an appointment the cancel popup appears.

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To charge the patient a no-show fee enter a dollar amount in the first field. A note is first for the appointment log and may also be used to send the patient an email. Checking the box sends that email with the details of their appointment cancellation. You may use the default values, no charge and the log note without sending an email.

When you charge a patient a cancelation fee, it will appear as a negative credit on their account. You can view their credit balance and history from their Patient Profile page: 

CNX appt 3.png

The negative credit balance will appear as a red dollar sign next to their name at future appointments, until the credit balance is paid: 

CNX appt 4.png

How to charge the cancellation fee to a patient's credit card

If you're using our payments integration via Stripe, you can automatically charge the cancellation fee to a patient's credit card on file. 

When you click the cancellation button and the cancel popup appears, you'll see an option to charge the card on file:

CNX appt.png

Select that option, then click Confirm. Their card has now been charged, and a negative credit balance will NOT show on their  account. 

Using tokens or credits to pay a cancellation fee

Tokens and credits can also be used to pay a cancelation fee. 

Use Patient Token to Pay Cancelation Fee

Check the "take a token" box in the cancel popup - this will deduct one token from their account:

token-cancel.png

Note: You should only check this box if the patient has tokens in their account. Otherwise you'll give them a negative token balance. 

Use Patient Credit to Pay Cancelation Fee

If a patient has a positive credit balance, the cancelation fee will automatically be deducted from their account when you confirm the cancelation and charge. The patient's credit history on their Patient Profile page will show when credit has been used to pay for treatments, cancelation fees, etc:

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Waiting Lists

Each day / location combination can have a waiting list.

Adding a patient to the waiting list

First, click the plus sign next to Waiting List, located at the bottom of the left hand sidebar menu:

Waiting list 1.png

waiting_modal.png

 

This will create a waiting list under the button, menu.

When deleting a block with appointments in it all those appointments will be cancelled but also added to the waiting list with a note stating who they were to see and what time.

waitinglist.png

When one or more patients are on the waiting list for a given day, the number of patients on the waiting list will appear in gold at the top of the schedule, next to the date: 

Waiting list 2.png

Adding appointments from the waiting list

Once there are patients in the waiting list you can easily add them to open slots on any block for that day / location.

If the slot is occupied with an appointment and you cannot select the slot to add from the waiting list as a squeeze, you will have to add that squeeze appointment conventionally.

Allowing patients to add themselves to the waiting list

You can enable the waiting list feature on the patient portal from your Settings page. If you want to allow patients to add their names to the daily waiting list via the patient portal, check the Allow Patient Portal Waiting List box and click Save to save your preference:

Pt waiting list.png

Patients will see a Wait List button at the top of the schedule: 

Pt wait list 2.png

They can then add a note about their preferred appointment time. Their name will then show on the waiting list on the admin schedule. 

 

 

Squeeze Appointments

Sometimes you have your schedule set, full of appointments and someone calls. What do you do? Squeeze them into your schedule. That's the idea behind Open ACU Squeezes. There are a number of scheduling strategies that utilize squeezing appointments which are outlined below. But first to how you create and manage squeeze appointments.

Adding A Squeeze Appointment

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Squeeze Appointment Management

Squeeze appointments show up as a tab to the right. Clicking on the expand icon (not the checkin icon) expands the appointment slot view. 

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Clicking the "X" or hitting the escape key closes the slot view. 

The expanded view works just like a regular appointment. You can cancel or checkin the patient. 

Using squeezes in scheduling strategy

If your block slot times allow 6 appointments in an hour (10 min slots) you can expand that to more per hour using squeezes.

Since squeezes aren't available for patients to schedule through the patient portal you can add squeeze appointments for phone call ins or walk in patients. This leaves the regular slots available for the patient portal. 

Day Notification

You can use the Day Notification to alert your patients and staff to any pertinent information that is specific to that day. For example, if the road in front of your clinic will be closed due to an event, use the Day Notification to communicate this. 

The Day Notification does two things:

To add a Day Notification, click on the bell icon next to the date on the calendar:

Day-notice-1.png

Enter your subject and message:

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Click Save Notice to save your message. 

Once you’ve saved your message, it will appear at the top of the day’s schedule:

Day-notice-3.png

Simply click the bell icon next to the notification subject to see the full message. 

Recording a note prior to checkin

If you want to record a note on an appointment prior to the check-in, you'll click on the check-in icon next patient's name on the schedule as if you were going to check them in. However, don't enter any payment info. Instead, you'll add a note in the "Add note only" box at the bottom and click save: 

note-only-2.png

Once you add the note and click Save, the checkin icon next to the patient's name on the schedule will turn yellow: 

note-only-3.png

When you check in the patient, your recorded note will appear in the "Add a note only" box, and in the box above the payment method:

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Here's a quick video showing how it works:

Text message appointment reminders

Your clinic has the option to send SMS/text message appointment reminders in addition to email reminders. Patients will need to opt in to receive text messages. They can opt in by logging in to the Patient Portal, or you can do it for them via the Patient Profile Page. 

This feature does NOT include two way texting. If a patient replies to a reminder text with anything other than STOP, they'll receive a message directing them to call your clinic phone number for further assistance (see below for an example).

Setting up SMS reminders

To activate the SMS reminders feature and enter your settings, go to your Settings and Templates page. On the top right hand side you'll see a box for Text Reminders:

SMS 6.png

Complete the following steps to activate SMS reminders:

  1. Check the Send SMS Reminders box
  2. Select your preference for when text messages are sent - they can be sent either 24 or 48 hours before the appointment. 
  3. Enter your verbiage for your text message - click the Key to Verbiage Codes button for options to customize your messages.
  4. Click Save Texting Preferences and you're done!

See this reference for the text code variables you can use or click the Key to Verbiage Codes button on your admin page.

Next, patients will need to opt in to receive text message reminders. They can opt in by logging in to the Patient Portal, or you can do it for them via the Patient Profile Page. 

How to opt in via Patient Portal

The patient will need to log in to their account and click Your Account in the upper right hand corner:

SMS 5.png

On the Account page there is a box under their name where they can enter the phone number where they'd like to receive messages:

SMS 4.png

Once they enter their number they'll get a confirmation code via text message:

Confirmation.jpeg

They'll need to enter the code to complete the process:

Confirmation 2.png

They'll see a confirmation message once they enter the code:

Confirmation 3.png

How to opt in via Admin Portal

You can opt in for the patient via the Admin Portal on their Patient Profile Page. Under their name you'll see a box for SMS reminders. Enter the phone number where they'd like to receive message:

SMS 1.png

Once they enter their number they'll get a confirmation code at that number via text message:

Confirmation.jpeg

Enter the code to complete the process:

SMS 2.png

You'll see a confirmation message once you enter their code:

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How your text messages will appear

Example of appointment reminder message (this will vary based on your saved verbiage):

SMS example.jpeg

If a patient tries to reply to a text, they'll receive this message listing your clinic's phone number:

SMS reply.jpg

When a patient replies STOP to end messages, they'll receive this text:

Stop.jpg

Opting back in after opting out

If a patient STOPs text messaging by replying STOP to their Open ACU appointment reminders and want to turn text reminders back on follow these steps:

SMS opt back in.png

 

Text Reminders: Codes Key

If you have text reminders with your Open ACU account you can edit the verbiage in the messages sent to your patients to your preferences. These messages can contain a combination of fixed text and variables that depend on the recipient and their appointment. Think of it like mail merge.

An Example of Text Reminder Verbiage:

Hi [[NAME]]! It's [[CLINIC]] with a reminder of your [[BLNAME]] appointment with [[PRAC]] [[APPTIME]]. Visit [[URL]] to make changes. Reply STOP to end msgs.

Use the codes with double brackets "[[]]" and all caps when inserting specific variables.

Text Reminder Codes Reference:

Code Description
[[NAME]] Patient's first name
[[APPTIME]] Appointment Date and Time
[[URL]] Your Patient Portal URL
[[CLINIC]] Your clinic's name
[[PRAC]] The appointment's practioner's name
[[BLNAME]] The Block Name
[[LOC]] Location Name
[[LOCADD]] Location Address
[[LOCPHONE]] Location Phone Number

Reverse A Checked-In & Paid-For Appointment

An Open ACU appointment is either checked-in or not checked-in. The payment for an appointment is typically done at the same time. So a reserved appointment is either not yet checked-in, checked-in without payment or checked-in with payment. 

You can go to Account > Settings and turn on the ability to check-in patients without payment. You would then add the payment later.

Sometimes you may have mistakenly checked-in an appointment and you need to reverse that checkin status. Or you need to cancel an appointment that you accidentally checked-in. 

Here's how to reverse a Checkin that has a payment

  1. Click the appointment pencil icon.
  2. This opens the appointment editor.
  3. Tick the checkbox at the top "Checkout this appointment"
  4. Click the button "Remove Checkin/Refund" near the bottom of the editor.

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This will create a refund for the transaction for the appointment, so now there are two transactions. One for the original checkin and another for the refund. If you are using Stripe Payments this will also issue a refund to the patient on the payment method they used. Your patient will see both the original charge and the refund on their credit card statement.

If you end up checking the patient back in they will be charged a new transaction. If you are using Stripe there will be a new charge on their credit card.

If you choose to checkin only, without payment (you must change the setting for this feature) you can reverse that checkin as well. Since there is no transaction yet there is no refund. 

Reverse a Checkin Only Appointment 

  1. Click the red checkin icon to open the appointment editor
  2. Click "Reverse Checkin at the top.
  3. The appointment is now not checked in and can be checked in again.

reversecionly.jpg

Move an appointment with drag and drop

If you want to move an appointment to a different time within the same Block, you can do so through drag and drop.

Here's a video overview:

Step by step instructions: 

  1. Highlight the preferred appointment time by clicking anywhere in the space next to the time on the schedule
  2. Click the arrow buttons next to the name of the patient whose appointment you want to move:

drag and drop 1.png

3. A popup box will appear, asking you to confirm the change:

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4. Click Move the Appointment, and voila! The appointment has now been moved to a new time. You also have the option of emailing the patient a notice of the change.

 

Telehealth

To create a Telehealth Service, you’ll add it on your Services page. Check the “Telehealth” checkbox, and then enter your telehealth URL in the Telehealth Link box. Open ACU does not provide a telehealth URL. You will need to provide your own from a service such as Zoom or Doxy.

Telehealth.png

When a patient is scheduled for a Telehealth service, the link where they will join the telehealth session will appear in their confirmation and reminder emails:

Telehealth 2.png

Patient Portal: No Available Indicator

There is a feature on the patient portal that indicates days that have no available appointments. 

When a patient pulls down the dropdown menu the days with available blocks are still links. Days whose blocks are all full, therefore no appointments available, are red.

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Page without any blocks

If a patient loads the portal on a day you are closed (no blocks) a calendar to choose a date replaces where the blocks normally show up.

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