Premium Scheduling Introduction

Premium Scheduling gives schedulers tools to find the earliest available appointment across many providers and locations, book linked visits, and apply booking policy consistently. This article explains the concepts. The guides linked below cover each task step by step.

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What is Premium Scheduling?

Premium Scheduling is a set of scheduling tools built for practices with many providers, locations, or Elation practices. A centralized scheduling team can answer “When is the earliest anyone can see this patient?” without opening each provider’s calendar one at a time. Premium Scheduling includes:

• Find Open Slots: Search every provider’s availability at once, filter the results, and book directly from a result.
• Multi-encounter visits: Find days when a patient can complete several linked appointments back to back, then book them together.
• Scheduling alerts: Show schedulers an advisory message when a patient and search match conditions your practice defines.
• Slot capacity: Allow more than one patient in the same slot for appointment types that support it.
• Reschedule Worklist: Flag a provider’s appointments as Needs reschedule, then work through them from one list.

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Why is Premium Scheduling valuable?

Searching one provider calendar at a time is slow when a patient needs the first available time with any of several providers. Find Open Slots brings those openings into one list. Scheduling alerts keep booking policy visible at the moment a scheduler books, and the Reschedule Worklist keeps track of patients who still need a new time after a provider absence.

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How Premium Scheduling works

Schedulers open Find Open Slots from the Calendar toolbar and search for a patient. Schedulers can then specify specific search parameters, such as provider, appointment type, and location, or just run a broad search. Elation returns the open slots that match the search and the patient’s timezone. Selecting a slot opens the standard appointment dialog with the details filled in, so booking works the same way it does everywhere else in the Calendar. Admin Level Users configure the rest in Settings > Calendar & Booking:

• Appointment Types include a Slot capacity setting for how many patients a slot can hold.
• Scheduling alerts define the messages that appear while schedulers search and book.

Open slots come only from the availability each provider has configured. A provider with no availability set does not appear in search results. See Specifying Provider availability by Practice Location & Appointment Type for how to set it.

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Premium Scheduling guides

• Premium Scheduling Guide — Finding open slots
• Premium Scheduling Guide — Booking multi-encounter visits
• Premium Scheduling Guide — Creating scheduling alerts
• Premium Scheduling Guide — Setting slot capacity
• Premium Scheduling Guide — Using the Reschedule Worklist

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Frequently Asked Questions

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Does Premium Scheduling replace the Calendar?

No. The Calendar remains the place to view and manage appointments. Premium Scheduling adds search, booking, and rescheduling tools on top of it. Appointments you book from a search result appear on the Calendar like any other appointment.

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Who can use Find Open Slots?

Any user who can schedule appointments. Settings for scheduling alerts and slot capacity are available to users who can edit Calendar & Booking settings.

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Does Find Open Slots change how the Patient Booking Site works?

Find Open Slots is a tool for staff. Patients continue to book through the Patient Booking Site. Slot capacity does affect the Patient Booking Site. A slot that can hold more than one patient continues to appear on the Booking Site until all of its spots are filled.

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Related Articles

• Scheduling Capabilities Overview
• Calendar Guide — How to set up the provider calendar
• Calendar Guide — Using the Calendar for appointments & events
• Premium EHR Features Guide