Updated 9/16/2019

Do you have patients with flexible schedules who are willing to come in sooner than scheduled, or maybe even willing to be rescheduled to accommodate another patient? If so, you’re in luck. Dentrix has a special place for this kind of patient—the Open List.

To move a patient’s appointment to the Open List, in the Appointment Information dialog box, set their Schedule Type to OPEN.

This places the patient’s appointment on the Open List but does not remove it from the Appointment Book. Patients on the Open List are patients who you know ahead of time have a flexible schedule, and can be moved around. So when you have a patient who has limited flexibility and you’re having a difficult time finding an opening for them, you can check the Open List to see if you can create a space for that patient, by moving a more flexible patient.

The Open List is one of the lists found in the Appointment Book.

To find patients on the Open List:

1. Open the Appointment Book and select Appt Lists.
2. Click Setup > Appointment List View.
   
   
3. From the Appointment List Setup, select the provider(s), operatories, and appointment type(s) to include in the list.
4. Select the Span of Search options to include.
5. Click Close to generate the list.
   
6. When you contact the patient on the list and they agree to reschedule, you can drag the appointment from the OPEN List to the Appointment Book to fill a hole, or you can drag it to the Pinboard while you find an open spot. Dentrix will ask you to confirm that you want to move the appointment. Moving the appointment creates an opening in the Appointment Book, which you can then fill with an appointment for a less flexible patient.

For additional information on other Appointment Book Lists, see the Appointment Lists Overview topic in Dentrix Help, or read The New Dentrix Appointment List article in Dentrix Magazine.