Updated 4/27/2020
What would you do if your office pipes froze and burst, your office is flooded, and you needed to shut down the practice until the damage is repaired? You would need to cancel patient appointments by either breaking them or setting them as Wait/Will Call appointments. Understanding what happens to these appointments, when you use either option, will help you find them again when it’s time to reschedule them.
- Breaking Appointments—Breaking an appointment adds it to the Unscheduled List. All appointment information (provider, procedures, appointment length, etc.) is preserved in the Unscheduled List, and the broken appointment counter in the Family File is updated.
- Wait/Will Call Appointments—Marking an appointment as Wait/Will Call in the Appointment Information dialog box also adds it to the Unscheduled List. The appointment information is preserved in the Unscheduled List, but the broken appointment counter in the Family File is NOT updated. This method is generally used when a patient cancels their appointment with plenty of advance notice but doesn’t want to (or can’t) reschedule right away.
You can access the Unscheduled List from the Appointment Book by clicking Appt List on the toolbar. Then click Select List, and from the options in that appear, select Unscheduled List.
The Unscheduled List is broken down into two types of appointments: Broken and Wait/Will Call. This should be your “go-to” list to find those patients who previously had an appointment on your schedule, but had their appointment cancelled.
Included in the list of patients is all the information you need to call and reschedule their appointment: phone number(s), appointment length, appointment reason/procedures, etc. Plus, the Office Journal button built into the Unscheduled List toolbar can be used to document the conversation you have with your patients.
If the patient is ready to reschedule their appointment, you can click and drag the appointment to an open spot in the Appointment Book, or onto the Pinboard. You can also double-click the information on the Unscheduled List to open the Appointment Information dialog box and manually make changes to the date, time, operatory, provider, etc. as needed.
As a cleanup measure, you should delete appointments that will never be rescheduled from the list. Appointments should be deleted when:
- You have tried to contact a patient on the list several times with no response.
- The patient has declined to receive the treatment listed on the broken appointment.
- The patient has moved or left your practice.
Delete the appointment from the Unscheduled List by right-clicking the appointment in the list and then selecting Delete Appointment.
Use the Unscheduled List to find and reschedule appointments. Take time when you are less busy, to clean up your list by deleting those appointments that will never be rescheduled, so your Unscheduled List remains relevant and useful.
For more information, read the Opening the Unscheduled List and Rescheduling from the Unscheduled List topics in Dentrix Help.