Edit Appointment  

The Edit Appointment window opens when you make an Appointment for a patient who is not already scheduled or have an unscheduled appointment, or when you double click on an existing appointment.

Time Bar
Along the left side is a color-coded time bar.  White squares are dental assistant time; colored squares are Provider time. Clicking on a square toggles it. Usually the appointment time is set up automatically based on Procedures at the time of set-up but you can also change it. Click and drag the solid grey square up or down to increase/decrease time. The Time Length amount will also change, and the Time Locked box will check.  The time pattern (how many minutes each square represents) is set in Appointment Views.

How Appointment Time is Automatically Calculated
Every Procedure Code has a time pattern as part of its definition.
If there is only one procedure selected for an appointment, the time pattern for that appointment is simply the time pattern for that procedure.
For each additional procedure, the time patterns are combined following these rules:
- Each additional procedure is shortened by 20 minutes before being added.
- The first and last time units are removed.

Example: / = dental assistant time; X = doctor or hygienist time
If you have 3 procedures:
- MOD amalgam (/XXX/)
- Extraction (/X/)
- Crown prep (/XXXX////)
The resulting time pattern is: /XXXXXXXX////
The first three X's are the amalgam. The fourth X is the extraction. The last four X's and three slashes are the crown prep. The slash at beginning and end is standard.

If there is a combination of X's and slashes, all the X's are grouped at the beginning of the pattern. Sometimes, the time still needs to be adjusted manually using the Time Bar slider, such as when doing two crown preps.

Appointment Fields
Status: The current status of the appointment.
- Scheduled: The appointment is scheduled.
- Complete: The appointment has been Set Complete.
- UnSched List: If this option is grayed out, you are accessing this window from the Unscheduled list and an appointment is not scheduled.  You can also select this status to send an appointment to the Unscheduled list. 
- ASAP: The appointment is scheduled, but the patient is available sooner and would like to come in if an opening becomes available. This can be a set as a display option in an Appointment View.
- Broken: The appointment has been Broken.

Unscheduled Status: Used in the Unscheduled List, Recall List, and Planned Appointment Tracker to easily identify why an appointment has not been scheduled, and determine whether to contact patient or not. Status options can be customized in Definitions, Recall/Unsch Status.

Confirmed: Defines the appointment's confirmation status.  Confirmed options can be customized in Definitions, Apt Confirmed. Each option can have a corresponding color. If you include the Confirmed Color field in the Appointment View, a small colored circle will indicate the status in the appointment.  Often the Confirmed status is changed directly in the Appointment module (next to the Appointment buttons) instead of on this window.

A typical color pattern for confirmed statuses could be as follows:
Not Called: White
Unconfirmed: Red
Confirmed: Green
Left Message: Yellow
Arrived: Orange
Ready to go back: Purple
In Tx Room: Blue
Front Desk: Gray

Confirmed statuses are linked to Time Arrived, Time Seated,and Time Dismissed values (see below).

New Patient:  This box will automatically check anytime a patient is created and a new appointment is generated.  Once the appointment is set complete and a new appointment is created, it will uncheck.

Clinic, Dentist, Hygienist: If the appointment is scheduled in an Operatory that has an assigned clinic, dentist, or hygienist, the operatory values will be used by default, but they can be changed.
- Clinic: Assign a clinic. Only visible when Clinics is turned on in Show Features.
- Dentist/Hygienist: Assign a dentist and hygienist (Provider). Every appointment must have a dentist and can optionally have a hygienist. When an appointment is Set Complete, the procedures on the appointment automatically get assigned to the dentist and/or hygienist. For example, exams can be assigned to the dentist, while the prophy and xrays get assigned to the hygienist. To set up which procedures are hygiene, see Procedure Code Edit. If the appointment does not have a hygienist selected, all procedures get assigned to the dentist.

Assistant: Select the assistant (Employee). Employees are set up in the manage module.

Time Length: Automatically adjusts to reflect the minutes indicated by the Time Bar.

Time Locked: If you manually set the appointment time using the Time Bar, this box will check automatically.  When marked, added procedures will not automatically adjust the appointment time.

Color: Override the appointment color. By default the Provider's appointment color is used for appointments. Click the color box to choose a special color for this appointment only, until it is Set Complete. Click None to erase the color override.

Time Ask to Arrive: If you entered a value on the Patient Edit window for Ask to Arrive Early, the value will automatically fill in each time you schedule an appointment. You can also enter a value manually (00:00 PM). This field is an available field in Appointment Views.

Time Arrived, Time Seated, Time Dismissed:  These values are automated based on time triggers set in Appointments Module Setup.  Usually you will not change them from this window, but instead base values on a confirmed status that will in turn trigger an entry.  Confirmed statuses are usually selected in the main Appointments window.  You can manually change the field values as well, or right click, then select Now to insert the current time.

These confirmed statuses are usually set as the time trigger defaults for each field:
  - Time Arrived trigger: Arrived.
  - Time Seated trigger: In Treatment Room
  - Time Dismissed trigger: Front Desk

Lab: Attach a Lab Case to this appointment, or edit an existing lab case. This information can show in an Appointment View.

InsPlan1, InsPlan2: These fields are only visible if Public Health is turned on in Show Features. When the appointment is set complete, these fields will automatically fill based on the patient's current insurance coverage. The purpose is to make certain kinds of reports easier for very large public health clinics. Without these fields, it would be impossible to run historical reports once a patient's insurance coverage changed.

Req: This field is only visible if Dental Schools is turned on in Show Features. This is not usually used for general practices.

Appointment Note: Notes entered here will show when you hover over an appointment. This field can also be added to an Appointment View.

Appt Fields: A list of any Custom Appointment Fields you have set up.

Procedures on this Appointment
The Procedures on this Appointment list shows the patient's Treatment Plan procedures, along with any completed procedures that have the same date as the appointment. From this list, highlight the procedures to attach to this appointment. To remove a procedure from an appointment, un-highlight it.

If a procedure is not on the list, there are a few options.

• Quick Add List/Explosion Codes: To the left of the procedure list are commonly used procedures and explosion codes. Simply click on a procedure or explosion code and it will be added and highlighted. This is useful when a procedure does not require a tooth number. Explosion codes and options can be set up in Definitions, Appt Procs Quick Add.
• Click Add to select a procedure from the Procedure Code List. This should be done rarely since all treatment should be treatment planned ahead of time.

To permanently delete a procedure from the appointment, make sure it is the only highlighted procedure, then click Delete.

Patient Information
Basic patient information is shown, but can not be edited.

Communications Log
The Communications Log is used to track all scheduling related phone calls so you can easily see appointments that were rescheduled, cancelled, etc. The same list can be seen from any appointment for the patient, including the Planned appointment, and the Recall List.  This help you avoid calling a patient too often when they have indicated a wish to wait. Similarly, if a patient says that nobody called for their recall, you can immediately confirm by reviewing the history. Typically you will not make an entry for appointment confirmations. This is a great tool for viewing all communication at a glance.

To make a Comm Log entry, click Comm. To edit or view an entry, double click on it.

Text
Click Text to send a confirmation Text Message to the patient. This button is only enabled if, on the Patient Edit window, a wireless number had been entered for the patient, and yes has been set for Txt Messages. The default text message is set in Recall and Confirmation Setup.

Audit Trail
Click Audit Trail to view a log of actions that have been taken for this specific appointment. This audit trail is accessible to all users. It is different than the Audit Trail accessed via the Main Menu, where log entries for all appointments can be viewed at once.

Task List
Send this appointment to a specific Task List. This is useful if you want to keep track of appointments that need followup or appointments of a certain type. First you need to create a task list for each purpose. The Object Type of the list should be Appointment.