Recurring appointments

A recurring appointment is a series of ordinary appointments booked on the same weekdays, or the same day of the month, at the same local time. Each date is its own appointment, so it keeps its own status, check-in and visit. On the calendar, appointments in a series carry a repeat icon.

Book a series#

1. Click New Appointment and fill in the appointment as usual (see Appointments).
2. Under Repeat, turn on Repeat.
3. Choose whether it Repeats weekly or monthly.
4. For a weekly series, choose the Frequency (every week, every 2 weeks, and so on up to every 8 weeks), then pick the weekdays under On. The weekday of the date you chose is picked for you, and it follows the date if you change it.
5. For a monthly series, choose the Frequency (every month up to every 12 months), then under On choose the day, read from the date you picked: the same day of the month (for example Day 12 of each month), the same weekday of the month (Second Monday of each month) or, in the last week of a month, the last one (Last Monday of each month). A month too short for the day, such as the 31st, uses its last day. A month without a fifth weekday is skipped.
6. Choose how the series Ends: After a number of appointments, or On a date. When the patient has an authorization that covers the first date, its end date is filled in for you.
7. Turn on Skip holidays to leave out the dates your location is closed. Otherwise those dates are booked and listed for review with the other conflicts.
8. Click Book Appointment.

A series can span at most 156 weeks. Times stay at the same local time across daylight saving changes: a 9:00 AM series is at 9:00 AM before and after the clocks change.

Each date is checked against the authorization's limits as if the earlier dates of the series were already booked, so a series that would pass a weekly hours cap, a once per day limit or the units left for the period lists those dates under Series conflicts. The authorization summary under the conflicts shows what the authorization has left.

Review the series conflicts#

NeatPractice runs the booking checks on every date of the series before anything is booked. Under Series conflicts, each date with a problem is listed with what was found, such as a provider already booked or a date outside the location's hours. For each date:

• Click Skip date to leave that date out of the series. Click Keep date to put it back.
• Keep the date and enter an Override reason to book it anyway. The reason is saved with each appointment it applies to. You need the permission to override booking checks.

You cannot book while a date has a problem you are not allowed to override; skip that date or ask someone who can override.

Change a recurring appointment#

Open any appointment in the series, make your change and click Save Appointment. NeatPractice asks which appointments to change:

• This appointment: only this date. The rest of the series stays as it is.
• This and following: this date and every later one. NeatPractice splits the series here: the earlier dates keep the old series, which now ends the day before, and this date starts a new series with your changes.
• All future appointments: every upcoming date in the series, whichever one you opened.

To change the repeat rule itself (the weekdays, the frequency or the end), edit it under Repeat and choose This and following or All future appointments; a rule change cannot apply to one date alone. For a series that ends after a number of appointments, the count includes the appointments already in the series.

Before saving a change to several dates, NeatPractice checks each of them. If any has a problem, Review Series Conflicts opens: skip the dates you want to leave as they are, or keep them with an override reason, then click Save Series.

Extend a series#

When a series is about to run out, add more dates instead of booking a new one:

1. Open any appointment in the series.
2. In the footer's overflow menu, click Extend Series.
3. Under Extend, choose By a number of appointments and enter how many more, or To a date and choose the new end date, often the end of the plan of care or the authorization.
4. NeatPractice lists the dates it would book after the last appointment in the series, following the same pattern (weekdays or day of the month), at the same time and with the same patients and providers. Any date with a problem appears under Conflicts: click Skip date to leave it out, or keep it and enter an Override reason.
5. Turn on Notify patient to send each patient a short message about the new appointments.
6. Click Extend Series.

The new appointments join the same series, so a later change or cancellation of All future appointments reaches them too. The 156-week limit counts from the first date of the series.

Move a recurring appointment on the calendar#

Drag a recurring appointment to a new time or day as usual. NeatPractice asks whether to move This appointment, This and following or All future appointments. Moving several dates moves each of them by the same amount, at the same local time, and moves the weekdays of the series with them. If any date has a problem, the conflicts review opens before anything is saved.

Cancel a recurring appointment#

Open the appointment's menu and click Cancel. Under Cancel, choose:

• This appointment: only this date.
• This and following: this date and every later one. The series ends the day before.
• All future appointments: every upcoming date in the series.

Appointments that already happened, and those with a visit, stay as they are. Each cancelled date is recorded as a cancellation or, inside the late cancel window, a late cancel.