Lesson 3: Basic Appointment Scheduling

Basic Appointment Scheduling In this lesson you will learn to: - Make an appointment - Confirm an appointment - Exit the appointment desk

Epic Basic Appointment Scheduling This lesson covers how to make a basic appointment. The standard workflow would be: A phone call from an established or new patient; A visit to your practice by the parent. The request for an appointment can come from some other source, i.e., a manager or a provider request.

Epic Basic Appointment Scheduling Use the Appts button from the toolbar to open the patient lookup window. You can also click on the Epic button and select Scheduling/Appts . Enter the appropriate search criteria in the Patient Lookup window.

Epic Basic Appointment Scheduling Reminder: Always search for the patient using the established Patient search criteria. The top three are: Known MRN 3,3 of the patient’s last and first name First 3 letters of the lastname and DOB For a new patient, do a thorough search and ask appropriate questions. To create a new record, type the full name (lastname,firstname), gender and date of birth. Click “Find Patient” once prior to creating a new patient to assure the patient does not exist in the system. If the patient is still not found, click on “New”.

Epic Basic Appointment Scheduling If the patient is in the system, the Patient Select window appears. Confirm if it is the correct patient by verifying the name, date of birth, gender, and address. Open the appointment desk screen by clicking the Select button.

Epic Basic Appointment Scheduling If the patient is not in the system, a window appears indicating that a match was not found. Click on Continue to be returned to the Patient Look Up window where you can re-enter the search criteria following the established recommendations.

Epic Basic Appointment Scheduling: Patient Header Located at the top of the Appointment Desk, the Patient Header is displayed throughout the appointment scheduling process. It includes the patient’s name, ID number, Sex, DOB, Age, HMRN and PCP. Note: When more than one patient record is open at a time it is very important to ensure that the correct patient workspace is selected.

Epic Basic Appointment Scheduling: Patient Header There is also an indicator as to whether or not the patient is currently an Inpatient. If currently an inpatient, the indicator will say “Yes”. When discharged it will change to “No”. If the patient has never been an Inpatient, the indicator will be blank. If the patient is an inpatient, do not make any edits to the patient name.

Epic Basic Appointment Scheduling: Appointment Desk Display Much of the patient’s demographic and account-related information is centrally displayed on the Appointment Desk Display. Information displayed may include links to other tables. You can scroll down on the Appointment Desk Display to view additional information. Click the Resize button to resize your window.       Click this button to save your sort order and column width headings. You can also clear your settings.

Epic Basic Appointment Scheduling On the Appointment Desk, click on the Make Appointment button. This will take you to the “Make Appointment” window.

Epic Basic Appointment Scheduling On the Make Appointment window, enter the 3 fields required for a basic appointment. If the department uses questionnaires, it will open as soon as the visit type is entered. Visit Type Provider Date Click on the Search button at the bottom of your screen to move to the Provider Schedule. Use the Schedule Scanner to help select the provider. Note: Use completion matching to speed up the appointment making process.

Scheduling Chronic No-Show Patients A warning message will display when attempting to schedule a patient who meets the frequent “No Show “criteria in your department. It does not prevent you from scheduling the appointment. You should follow your departmental policies regarding chronic No-Show patients.

Epic Basic Appointment Scheduling Scheduling Questionnaires If there are scheduling questionnaires set up for the visit type or the appointment department , they will appear as soon as a visit type is selected. Discuss the workflow at your office with your practice manager. Complete the questions. When you click Accept you can continue the scheduling process.

Schedule Scanner The Schedule Scanner can be a helpful tool when selecting a provider for an appointment. If you type “All” in the provider field the scanner will appear with all the department’s providers listed. It provides appointment percentage information for each provider on a given day, so physician’s appointments can be more evenly distributed.

Viewing Provider’s Schedule You can view the selected provider’s schedule and view information regarding: Time: Indicates the time slot. Pri?: A folder in this column indicates this is a private slot. If the space is empty, it is a public slot. MRN: Name: Visit Type: Len: Appt Notes: Click the Refresh button to refresh your screen

Epic Basic Appointment Scheduling When the appropriate appointment slot is determined, double click on it. A green slot is empty and can be used to place the patient into that appointment slot. Yellow has a patient assigned to that slot but can be overbooked, if needed. Check your practice policy on the use of overbooking appointments. A red slot is filled and cannot be booked without the appropriate security.

Epic Basic Appointment Scheduling Once double clicked, the bottom portion of the screen fills in with the visit type, date, provider, time. Type in the reason for the visit in the Appointment Notes field. Click on the Schedule button at the bottom right corner to complete this screen. Note: Appointment notes should be as brief as possible. Only the first 39 characters will cross to Eclipsys as the complaint. The ampersand keyboard character (&) interferes with the interface to Eclipsys. Use the plus sign (+) instead.

Epic Basic Appointment Scheduling The next screen is the Account Selection window. This is where you can review the current Guarantor Account and Insurance if it exists for the patient. For those with Registration access, you can jump to registration to update the information as needed. Otherwise, you can Click Auto Assign to assign the current account and coverage as the visit account and coverage if correct. Click Continue to finish scheduling the appointment. Current Active Account and Coverage

Epic Basic Appointment Scheduling The Appointment Review screen displays with appointment specific information regarding the visit type, provider, length of the appointment as well as insurance and co-pay information. The appointment slot is temporarily locked for 2 minutes. Clicking the Accept button advances you to the Patient Information screen for verification of demographic information. Once the Accept button is clicked, the appointment is scheduled.

Epic Basic Appointment Scheduling The Patient Appointment Information screen is the last screen in the appointment creation process. It allows for review and editing of patient demographic information such as name, address, telephone numbers, permanent and phone comments. This screen also provides jump access into Registration to complete the registration process. Click the Accept button to complete that appointment scheduling process and close the Patient Information screen.

Epic Basic Appointment Scheduling To create another appointment, click on the Appt button to bring back the Patient Lookup screen. To recall the last patient record opened, use the equal sign ( = ) then press <Enter> twice to open, or use the Recent Patients tab. This list contains the last 25 records opened.

Epic Basic Appointment Scheduling The patient appointment is displayed on the Appointment Desk for that patient. Close the Appointment desk screen by using any one of the following methods: The “X” on the patient’s workspace tab, The “Close” button on the upper right corner Using the keyboard keys “Ctrl + W”.