Schedule Patients
The Schedule Patients tab is used to assign the first visit for a patient after a referral has been processed or when a previously discharged patient returns to care.
This page helps staff quickly identify the most appropriate provider and visit time, minimizing provider travel and simplifying the scheduling process.
How the System Recommends a Provider
The system automatically recommends a provider based on:
the geographic distribution of the provider’s visits
the provider’s Service Area
the provider’s workload on that day
The recommendation appears in the Recommended Provider column along with informational badges that explain why the provider was selected.
Provider Badges
Badges help users quickly understand how the system ranked providers.
Closest
The green Closest badge marks the provider whose Service Centroid distance is the smallest. This means the provider is geographically closest to the patient based on their existing route for that day. Note that Closest does not always mean the provider will be selected automatically, because other factors such as Service Area may have higher priority.
Distance
The blue badge shows the distance in miles between the patient’s location and the provider’s Service Centroid. This helps estimate how efficiently the visit can be added to the provider’s route.
The Service Centroid is a calculated point that represents the center of a provider’s visit activity for the day. It is calculated using the geographic locations of all visits already scheduled for that provider. Unlike a simple geographic midpoint, the Service Centroid shifts toward areas where the provider has a higher concentration of visits.This allows the system to determine which provider can take an additional visit with the least amount of additional travel.
In Area
The yellow In Area badge indicates that the patient’s ZIP code is included in the provider’s Service Area. This is the highest-priority factor when the system ranks providers. If a provider serves the patient’s ZIP code, that provider is prioritized.
Assigning ZIP codes to a provider’s Service Area is optional. Practices may choose to use this setting if they want the system to prioritize providers who regularly work in specific areas. However, the scheduling recommendations work effectively even if no ZIP codes are configured, since the system primarily relies on geographic proximity and provider routing.
Visit Count
The white badge shows how many visits the provider already has scheduled for that day. This helps staff quickly understand the provider’s workload.
No Visits
The red No Visits badge indicates that the provider currently has no visits scheduled on that day.
How to Add a Visit to a Provider’s Schedule
To schedule a visit for a single patient:
Find the patient in the Schedule Patients table.
Review the recommended provider and suggested date.
Click the + button next to the patient’s name.
This opens the Schedule Visit window where you can:
confirm the recommended provider
select a different provider if necessary
choose the visit time
Once confirmed, the visit will be added to the provider’s schedule.
How to Schedule Multiple Visits at Once
If you need to schedule visits for several patients at the same time, you can use Bulk Action.
To do this:
Select the checkboxes next to the patients you want to schedule
Choose the bulk scheduling action.
The system will automatically assign visits based on its recommendations.
Bulk scheduling distributes visits across providers while considering:
Service Areas
provider routes
provider workload
This allows large numbers of visits to be scheduled quickly and efficiently.
Why Urgent Visits Cannot Be Scheduled in Bulk
Urgent visits require individual attention and confirmation.
In most practices, urgent visits must be performed within a few hours after patient documents are processed.
Before scheduling an urgent visit, staff typically need to:
contact the provider
confirm the provider can perform the visit immediately
ensure the schedule change is possible
For this reason, urgent visits cannot be scheduled through Bulk Action.
Instead, they must be scheduled individually through the visit scheduling window.
Urgent visits are visually highlighted in the interface by:
a lightning icon in the Services column
a red scheduling button
a locked checkbox that prevents bulk scheduling
These visual indicators help staff quickly identify visits that require immediate attention.
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