Recommended Reading
If you do not want to use the Booking Site feature yet, read the Calendar Guide- How to set up the provider calendar article to learn how to set up the Elation Calendar instead.
Contents
The Patient Booking Site is a personalized web page, specific to your office, that patients can access remotely on any internet enabled devices to book an appointment with you. Patients can easily book an appointment with you from anywhere and at anytime. The Booking Site can be customized to your office's information and preferences and all booked appointments will appear on your Elation calendar in real time.
The Patient Booking Site is useful because it allows patients to book an appointment with you from anywhere in the world and at any time during the day. Your availability will be displayed on the Booking Site in real time and all appointments booked through the Booking Site will also appear on your Elation Calendar in real time. This helps reduce the administrative workload of your front office staff.
Use of the Booking Site will also grant patients access to
Appointment Reminders and
Patient Forms if you link all the features together.
1) Accessing the Calendar & Booking Site Settings
To access your Calendar & Booking Settings page:
- Click on your email in the top right corner and click "Settings"
- Under Practice Settings , Click "Calendar & Booking" on the left-hand menu
This is where you can make changes to your Appointment Types, surface them on the Booking Site and configure how they appear on the Booking Site.
To add an Appointment Type to the Booking Site:
- Click on the "Appointments" tab on the top menu.
- Click "Edit" in the top right hand corner of the Appointment Type you wish to add to the Booking Site.
- Scroll down to the Booking site section and check the box for "Show this appointment type on the booking site"
- Description
- Enter the description that you want to display on the Booking Site for that Appointment Type. This can let your patients know what to expect from this Appointment Type. For example, you can include details about what will happen during the appointment or indicate if the patient needs to arrive early for check-in.
- Providers
- Select all of the providers who are eligible to be booked for this appointment; even if there is only one provider in your practice. This will list them on the Booking Site for this appointment.
- Each provider must have their availability configured for the Booking Site to reflect available appointment times.
- Resource Links
- Add any resource links you wish for patients to access after booking their appointment online. You can click "+ Add another" to add multiple resources, or click the "x" button to remove them.
Click here for instructions about creating and managing appointment types.
User Tip: To allow a patient to book this type of appointment on the Booking Site, you must add the provider they are booking with to this appointment type, even if there is only one provider in the practice.
The Availability section is where you can set each provider's Practice Location(s) and availability for the Booking Site.
To store availability preferences for each Provider,
- Go to the Provider's specific section by scrolling through the page(s) or searching for their name
- Enter a Start time (ex. 9am) and End time (ex. 5pm) for each day.
- To enter multiple blocks of time (for example 9am-12pm, 1pm-5pm) on a single day for a Provider, click "+Add another" to add another time frame for that day.
- To remove a time frame, click the "X" button to the right of the time frame.
A) Booking Site Controls:
- To access your Booking Site settings, click on the Booking site tab at the top of the Calendar & Booking Settings page.
- To enable your Booking Site, click on the toggle to the right of the "Enable Booking site" Setting so that it switches from Off (grey) to On (green).
- Once the Booking Site is enabled, you must share the URL with patients in order for them to be able to book appointments for your practice.
- URL
- If you wish to customize your Booking Site URL link so that it is personalized for your practice (i.e. add your practice name to the end of the link), click the "Customize" button. Once you have entered your customized link text, make sure you click "Save" to save the new URL.
- Click "Copy" to copy the URL link and post it anywhere you like (i.e. on your business website, in a message/letter to your patients, or on a social media site). You can also embed your booking site link on your Google Business profile. This will make it easier for patients to access your booking site and self-schedule based on your availability.
User Tip: After customizing your URL, make sure you update any old links that were used publicly (i.e. on your website, in messages, or on social media).
- Site Message
- Information entered in the Site Message box will display at the top of the Booking Site. You can use the Site Message box to:
- notify patients of important information regarding your practice
- provide instructions for how to use the Booking Site
- Email
- The email address stored in the Email field will display at the top of the Booking Site.
- The email address will also be used for booking confirmation emails for your practice if you enable the Send treating provider and ...... an email after each online booking Setting under Preferences.
- Phone
- The phone number stored in the Phone field will display at the top of the Booking Site. This is usually your practice's main phone number.
- Address
- The address stored in the Address will display at the top of the Booking Site and is used to determine what map will display on your Booking Site.
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User Tips:
- If you do not wish to have your exact location on the map, you can simply enter the city and state.
- If you do not wish to have any map display on the Booking Site, enter dashes in the Address field.
- Show this address on booking site header
- Toggle this setting On (green) if you want the address entered in the Address field to appear at the top of your Booking Site.
- Show maps on booking site
- Toggle this setting On (green) if you want a map of your practice's location to appear on your Booking Site.
C) Practice Hours:
Update the
Practice Hours section to display your business hours at the top of your Booking Site. This is like hanging a sign on your door displaying the open hours.
Important Note: The times listed in
Practice Hours only display as business hours on your Booking Site. They
do not determine what times patients can book appointments- the source of truth for available appointment times is determined by each
provider's availability.
- The amount of minimum notice required for booking online
- Enter the amount of minimum notice required for booking online. For example, if you select 2 days as the minimum notice timeframe, then a patient viewing the Booking Site on a Monday would see the first available appointment on the coming Wednesday.
- The amount of future availability shown on the booking site
- Enter the amount of future availability shown on the booking site. For example, if you select 2 weeks, patients will only see up to 2 weeks of appointments in the future and nothing more.
- Send treating provider and ... an email after each online booking
- Select whether you wish an email to be sent to the treating provider and your practice's email (the practice's email is designated by the Email field of your Practice Info Settings above) when a patient books an appointment by toggling this button On (green) or Off (grey).
- For HIPAA compliant reasons, the patient’s full name will not be displayed in this confirmation email sent to the treating provider and practice email. The confirmation email sent to the treating provider and practice email will only list the patient’s initials, the type of appointment they booked, the name of the provider they are seeing and the date and time of that appointment.
- Automatically send patients an email invitation to join Elation Patient Passport after they book online (if they don't already have a Passport account)
- By default, Elation sends patients an invite to join patient passport after they book an appointment online (if they don't already have a passport account). However, If you would prefer patients do not automatically receive this invitation please toggle this setting from On (green) to Off (grey).
E) Cancellations:
Enter a cancellation policy to ensure patients understand your policy in case they ever need to cancel. Please note, Elation does not enforce your practice's cancellation policy, we only display the policy to the patient.
User Tip: Now that your Booking Site is enabled,
you can send patients a direct URL for specific Appointment Types if preferred. For example, you may wish to send a patient a Patient Letter with the link to book an Annual Wellness Exam. To do this:
- Go to the Appointments tab at the top of the Calendar & Booking Settings page.
- Find the Appointment Type you wish to share with the patient
- Click "Copy" to the right of the Direct URL that is displayed at the bottom of the Appointment Type details.
After you enable your Booking Site, you may also want to configure several additional settings tied to your calendar view and patient appointment reminders through the Calendar view, Reminders and Rooms tabs at the top of the Calendar & Booking Settings page.
Click here for instructions on how to set up your Elation calendar view, schedule appointment reminders for patients and manage the rooms in your practice.
You can speed up your patient intake process by using Elation's Patient Forms feature along with the Booking Site. For more information on setting this up, watch our video walkthroughs or read Patient Forms Introduction.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
Use these links below to navigate the Frequently Asked Questions.
Appointment types have to be configured in order for them to appear in the Booking Site for each provider. To configure the different types of appointments, follow the steps in the
Appointments section of this article.
What is the difference between practice hours and physician hours?The practice hours will be displayed at the top of the Booking Site for patients to reference the regular business hours for the office.
Each provider will also be able to select their own availability under the “Availability” section of the Calendar & Booking settings page. The provider’s availability will determine the timeframe patients can select from when booking an appointment. This means that each provider’s availability can fall within or out of normal practice hours if they choose.
- If a provider is already booked for another appointment or other event, the availability for that provider will be automatically updated on the Booking Site to avoid double booking.
There is a feature you can turn on if you want an email notification to be sent to providers and staff when a patient books an appointment. This feature is located in the “Calendar & Booking” Settings page under the "Booking Site" ->
Preferences section.
For HIPAA compliant reasons, the patient’s full name will not be displayed in this email. We will display the patient’s initials, the type of appointment they booked, the name of the provider they are seeing and the date and time of that appointment. This email notification will go to the provider’s Elation email as well as the email listed in the “Email” section of the Booking Site section.
Yes, you can turn off notifications about booked appointments or changes. To turn notifications off, go to the “Calendar & Booking” section of the Settings page in Elation under the "Booking Site" ->
Preferences section. You will need to turn off the “Send treating provider….” setting.
Patients do not need to register for a Passport account in order to book an appointment through the Booking Site. Patients who continue as a "Guest" will be prompted to enter their chart information to allow Elation to try to connect their appointment to their chart.
If the Patient has a Passport account, they may log in to connect their appointment to their account or they can continue as a guest to book appointments. We suggest recommending patients sign in to their Passport account when booking an appointment as this ensures the chart will guaranteed be tied to their Elation chart.
People can book appointments on behalf of their children, significant other or family member. There are two options:
- Log in to that person's Passport account to link the appointment to their chart.
- Book the appointment as a "Guest" for their child, significant other or family member. Enter their information as it is listed in their chart so that Elation can try to map the appointment to their chart.
Appointments are considered fully booked when a patient books an appointment on the Booking Site. If you would like patients to confirm their appointments prior to the date of the appointment, utilize our appointment reminder feature which offers the patient an option to confirm their appointment.
Appointment reminders can be set in the “Settings” -> “Calendar & Booking” -> “Reminders” section of Elation. You can select up to 3 reminders to go out for each appointment. The reminders will be sent via the patient's preferred contact method found in the patient's chart under their demographics information. If the patient does not have a preferred contact method selected, the reminders will be sent via the first method listed below according to what information is available in the patient’s chart:
- Patient Passport Contact Settings (the default setting is email). If they do not have an active Patient Passport account, then:
- SMS Text to the “Mobile” phone number. If they do not have a “Mobile” number, then:
- Email notification to the email address. If there is no Email address on file, then:
- Phone call to the “Home” or “Main” phone number.
- If no phone numbers or email are available then the patient will not receive any appointment reminders.
Appointment reminders can be set in the “Settings” -> “Calendar & Booking” -> “Reminders” section of Elation. You can select up to 3 reminders to go out for each appointment. The reminders will be sent via the patient's preferred contact method found in the patient's chart under their demographics information. If the patient does not have a preferred contact method selected, the reminders will be sent via the first method listed below according to what information is available in the patient’s chart:
- Patient Passport Contact Settings (the default setting is email). If they do not have an active Patient Passport account, then:
- SMS Text to the “Mobile” phone number. If they do not have a “Mobile” number, then:
- Email notification to the email address. If there is no Email address on file, then:
- Phone call to the “Home” or “Main” phone number.
- If no phone numbers or email are available then the patient will not receive any appointment reminders.
Patients can confirm, reschedule and cancel appointments via the appointment reminder they are sent. Options to confirm and cancel are displayed for the patient to select in the appointment reminder. If the patient cancels an appointment, they will be prompted to reschedule. If the patient needs to reschedule or cancel the appointment before they receive the appointment reminder, they will need to call the office.
If you do not want to allow patients to cancel their appointment, turn off the "
Allow patients to cancel their appointments online" feature under “Settings” -> “Calendar & Booking” -> “Reminders”.
Yes, you can see what the patient sees when they try to book an appointment with you by copying the booking site URL and opening it in Google Chrome or Mozilla Firefox. To find the URL, go to “Settings” -> “Calendar & Booking” -> “Booking Site”. The URL is at the top of this page. You can customize it to your preference by clicking the “Customize” button to the right.
If you try to save a customized URL and it does not let you save, this means another Elation user is using that URL and you will need to choose a different one.
Please search Elation and see if you see another chart for this patient. A new chart might have been created for this patient when they booked an appointment because we could not match the patient to their existing Elation chart based on the information they entered when booking an appointment. (See the patient's booking options
here).
To merge the new chart to the patient’s existing chart, you can follow these steps:
- Open the new chart
- Click on the patient’s name to open their Demographics
- Click on the “Merge Chart” button at the bottom right hand corner
- Find the patient’s other chart and then click “Merge Chart”
- Click “Yes, merge chart” when the Confirm box pops up
Resource links are website addresses that you can share with patients when they book an appointment with you. These links will direct a patient to where you want them to go to take a specific actions prior to their appointment. Feel free to utilize resource links to share any web based content with patients.
- Some customers link the patient to an intake form the customer can fill out online. Some customers link the patient to a folder of paperwork they want the patient to fill out and bring to the office.
Appointments booked through the booking site will appear in your practice management system if the integration is set up for Elation to push appointment information from the Elation Calendar to the practice management system.
If appointment information is only pushed from the practice management system to the Elation Calendar, then you will need to manually add the patient’s appointment to your practice management system.
Yes, patients will be able to access the Booking Site on their phone. The Booking Site is visible and formatted for all mobile devices of all sizes.
The Booking Site Settings page is default accessible to all users. There is a feature on the Settings page that allows you to set the page as “Admin Only”. You will see the option at the top right corner of the “Calendar & Booking” page.
- Once the “Admin Only” option is selected, then only Admin level users will be able to adjust the Calendar and Booking Site settings.
Are there text limits for the Calendar & Booking Site text boxes?Yes, the text limit for the different boxes are as follows:
- Site Message= 255 characters
- Address= 255 characters
- Cancellation Policy= 255 characters
- Appointment Type Description= 280 characters
The Booking Site will automatically display availability based on the Time Zone of your practice.
Each appointment slot can only be booked by one patient. Elation does not allow for double booking the same time slot.
When a patient cancels an appointment, the time slot will become available for other patients to book.
Next Step
Set up your Patient Booking Site today and start seeing the advantages of online booking!
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