Gaps in the appointment book are incredibly costly for a practice. Principle has an Appointment Gap workflow that will help you fill these gaps without needing to manually search for empty slots in a calendar.
The tutorial will cover how to:
Fill gaps with candidates on your waitlist
You can fill gaps in your appointment book using the Appointment Gaps tab in the main menu.
1) Click into Appointment Gaps from the main menu. This will show you all the gaps in the appointment book for the next few days.
2) Click into the gap that you want to fill. The shortlist of the best candidates for that gap will appear below.
3) Using the Score and Urgency criteria, start to choose candidates to add to your shortlist. A scorecard with green or orange would be the best option to fill the gap. This is based on appointment length and urgency. However, sometimes a more urgent appointment with a smaller appointment time might be better to fill the gap. Use your discretion.
4) Add the best candidates to your shortlist by clicking on the +person icon.
5) Contact your candidates by clicking on the vertical 3 dots next to their name and choosing call or sms.
6) If they decline the slot click Not Available, if they accept the slot, click Approve.
7) You'll be taken to the Fill Gap page. Step 1 and 2 should be pre-filled with the details of their appointment.
8) Depending on how soon the appointment is, choose to keep them or remove them from the waitlist.
9) Click save.
10) Now the gap has been filled with the new patient's appointment. You can see their appointment in the Receptionist Dashboard.
Fill gaps with candidates not on your waitlist
You can also create appointments for those who may not be on your shortlist by clicking create appointment in the gaps box. By doing so you will be taken to the normal appointment booking workflow where the date and time will be pre-filled based on the gap you are filling.
Block-out time so that patients cannot book appointments in that gap
If you've decided that you don't want a patient to book in an appointment during this gap, you can click Block-Out Time in the gaps box. This will take you to the normal calendar event workflow where here the date and time will be pre-filled based on the gap you are filling. Always make sure to keep the blocking event box ticked.
