Did you know that Open Dental has eServices that allow your patients to schedule their appointments online? It’s true! Whether it’s a new patient scheduling their first visit, an existing patient with an urgent need, automated recall, or quickly filling a hole in your schedule, Web Sched allows your patients the ability to schedule their own appointments online, anytime. These services are available as part of the eServices Bundle or separately if your practice only needs one or some of the services.

New Patient & Existing Patient

Web Sched New Patient & Web Sched Existing Patient allows you to set up specific Appointment Types (e.g., emergency, new patient cleaning, etc.) that patients can schedule on their own without being due for an appointment (i.e., Recall).

You will provide patients with a link (sent through email or embedded on your website). Patients will answer prompts to determine if they are new or existing patients. Based on their answers, they can choose the type of appointment they would like to schedule, and search available openings before scheduling. You can also allow patients to input their insurance information when scheduling.

The procedures attached to the appointment and time length are predetermined by the Appointment Type the patient selects when scheduling, but staff can make edits as needed after the appointment is scheduled.

If the patient who scheduled is brand new to your office, a patient record is automatically created for them in your Open Dental database with the contact information the patient entered when they scheduled.

Recall

If you want to allow your patients to schedule their Recall appointments online, in comes Web Sched Recall. Determine the types of Recall appointments your patients can schedule online, what times/operatories are available, and if you want to automatically send patients scheduling links from Web Sched Recall Setup. You can also manually send the link via text or email to your patients from the Recall List.

When sending patients a Web Sched Recall reminder, they’ll get a unique link that allows them to schedule their Recall appointment. Once they choose a time slot and book an appointment, the appointment is automatically created with any necessary Recall procedures already attached.

ASAP

If a patient scheduled an appointment but wants to come in sooner, their appointment can be marked ASAP to add the appointment to the ASAP List. This is a great way to fill last-minute openings in the schedule and help patients who want to be seen sooner. To allow patients on the ASAP List to easily schedule an open appointment slot, use Web Sched ASAP.

Staff can contact patients on the ASAP List to notify them of an opening with a link to reserve the opening. This can happen in two ways:

1. In the Appointments Schedule, right-click on the opening and select Text ASAP List. This will take you to the ASAP List where you can text*/email patients a link to claim the opening using the Send button in the Web Sched ASAP area. The Appointments Module will display a note of how many recipients received the link.
2. In the Appointments Module toolbar, click Lists, then ASAP. From the ASAP list, select patients to send a link to.

Patients who receive the link can click the link to accept or decline the new appointment time. For the first patient who accepts that appointment time, their appointment is moved to that slot and is no longer marked as ASAP.

* Must be signed up for Integrated Texting to text patients.

Advanced Setup

When setting up Web Sched for new and existing patients, your office can customize the Web Sched URL. In eServices Setup, Advanced, you can do the following:

• Allow children to schedule (i.e., patients under 18)
• Set up Patient Authentication options
• Set up a Web Form link to launch after a patient finishes scheduling
• Find the scheduling URL

The scheduling URL can also be customized. From eServices Advanced Setup, you can copy the scheduling URL:

• Change the interface color by adding the code &TCP=color to the end of the URL. Replace color with the color name or hex value. If using a hex value, replace the hash (#) with a period (.)
• Redirect the patient to a specific URL after scheduling by adding &ReturnURL=http://www.site.com. Replace http://www.site.com with your specific web page URL.
• Track where patients are clicking links using UTM tracking. Campaign, source, and medium parameters can be added as needed for each unique link. A query can be used to track clicks.

More detailed information on Other URL Options can be found in our manual.

We hope you’ve enjoyed learning a bit more about Web Sched. As always if you ever have questions, reach out to our helpful Support Team.