Scheduling Manager allows a Scheduling Clerk to have a dialog with a Veteran so that appointment requests can be processed. The Clerk can book and cancel appointments.
Accessing Scheduling ManagerScheduling manager is a web based application and is accessed through the Launchpad. The LaunchPad provides access to a suite of VA applications. Each application has an icon. The icon for Scheduling Manager is labeled “Scheduling Manager Calendar Based Scheduling”. Selecting the icon will either open the app, if the user is currently logged on, or require the user to login. Preexisting DS logon credentials are required.
Main PageThe two primary focuses in Scheduling Manager are either a specific patient or at a facility level. Scheduling manager is divided into three areas of functionality, each with its own navigation button; Booking, Veteran Request and More. Booking allows the Clerk to select a specialty and clinic then book a specific patient into a time slot. Veteran Request is used for secure messaging with a Veteran. More allows the user to logout or return to the Launchpad
The booking screen has two tabs, Calendar and Patient. Calendar is used to view clinic availability and book appointments. The patient view tab displays a Veteran’s future appointments.
Selecting a PatientBy default the last Veteran that was in use will be in context.
Selecting a Specialty, Clinic and PatientPrior to viewing the calendar and booking an appointment the following must be selected; the specialty, between one and five associated clinics, and a patient. The “Service / Specialty” search bar will auto complete as text is typed. When the service is chosen a popup with all of clinics included in that service is displayed. Up to five clinics can be chosen. When the specialty and clinic(s) have been selected the “View Availability” button is displayed. When this button is selected the scheduling calendar is displayed. Days highlighted in yellow have available time slots.
Calendar Month ViewThe primary header above the calendar includes the Facility name that was used during login and a legend indicating which days have available time slots. The calendar header has navigation buttons to move forward or back a month at a time, a “today” button, the month and year that is being reviewed, and buttons to change to month, week or day view. These navigation buttons are date sensitive. Appointments cannot be scheduled in the past and these dates cannot be displayed. If the current month is February the navigation keys will not allow January to be displayed. Navigation keys are greyed out if their use would navigate into the past. These header elements are consistent across the month, week and day views of the calendar.
Days that are available are highlighted in yellow. The caveat is that at least one of the clinics chosen has appointments available, not necessarily all the clinics. If the selected patient has one or more appointment on a day a small icon will appear in the upper left hand corner of the day.
There are several ways to drill down from the month view. To view a week click the “week” button. When a day is selected the day detail is displayed. The “day” button will open the day detail of the current date.
Calendar Week ViewThe week view shows the days and hours that the clinics are available for scheduling. The primary header lists the clinics that were selected. A separate shading pattern is identified in the legend for each clinic.
Calendar Day ViewThe Day view is used to initiate booking an appointment. The legend in the primary header has the clinics and shading along with the number of appointments that can be overbooked for each clinic. These are the total overbooks allowed in a day, they are not tied to a specific time slot. A column is displayed for each clinic. Each slot has a number or character in it which is the number of appointments available or the number of existing overbooked appointments in that slot. The number of available appointments will decrement each time an appointment is made until the available number reaches zero. If a time slot is overbooked the number will be replaced with a letter. “A” equals one overbook in a slot, B is 2, C is 3 etc. Special characters in a slot indicates that the slot is not normally available for appointments but has been booked using an overbooking key. An asterisk (*) indicates 1 appointment overbooked, a dollar sign ($) indicates 2 appointments overbooked, an exclamation point (!) indicates 3 appointments overbooked, an “at” sign (@) indicates 4 appointments overbooked. The Clerk’s DS login determines if they have the ability of overbook or not.
Booking an AppointmentClicking in an available time slot on the Day view opens the Book Appointment screen. The patient’s name, date of birth, gender and full SSN are displayed on the left hand side of the header. The appointment details; clinic, date, time and duration of the appointment are shown on the right side. If the clerk determines that this is the incorrect patient or time slot they can select the “Cancel” button.
The clerk must select the purpose of the visit and the appointment type. Both of these are drop down selections. When these are complete the “Book Appointment” button becomes active. The clerk can optionally enter an appointment note of up to 160 characters. When the appointment is booked a confirmation screen is displayed.
Patient TabFrom the Patient tab the clerk can view a Veteran’s future appointments.
Future AppointmentsClicking in the Future appointments row opens the list of scheduled appointments. Selecting an appointment opens its details on the right pane of the screen. The clinic, date, time and other scheduling details are displayed. The appointment can be cancelled from the detail screen.
Canceling an AppointmentSelecting the Cancel Appointment button opens the Cancel detail screen. The patient and appointment detail are displayed in the header. The clerk must enter the status and reason for cancellation. An optional note can also be entered. When the status and reason are entered the Cancel Appointment button becomes active. If the clerk does not wish to cancel this appointment they can click on the Do Not Cancel button.
The Veteran Requests allows limited messaging between a Veteran and the Scheduling Clerk. The Veteran uses the VAR (Veteran Appointment Request) application to fill out an appointment request form and include short message with it. The Clerk can respond to the message and manage the request as appropriate.
The main Veteran Request screen displays a list of all VAR generated requests from Veterans. To narrow the list the Clerk can search for any text that appears in the columns. If the clerk wanted to work only on submitted requests they could type "submitted” and press enter. A clinic or patient name could also be entered. To clear a search the Clerk can click on the X icon and the full list is displayed. The list has Alerts, Patient Name, Facility, Type, Status and Last Activity (a date) listed. The list can be sorted by any of these. To reset to the default order the Clerk can select the Restore Default Sort Order button. There is also a refresh button to redisplay the list with the current search criteria.
Selecting an appointment request displays the request details on the right pane.
The dialog between the Veteran and Booking staff will be shown with the ability to create another message. The status of the request will determine the actions the Clerk can take. Statuses are; submitted, booked, cancelled and not booked. Additional details shown are Veteran demographics and contact information, requested facility, type of care, visit type, purpose of the visit and requested date and time for the appointment.
If the request status is submitted the Clerk can select the Process Request button. This starts the booking process. The request can be booked as an appointment, cancelled or marked as unavailable. When the request status is booked the request can be cancelled, which does not cancel the appointment. The appoint needs to be cancelled from the Future Appointments screen. When the status is Not Booked or Cancelled the clerk can continue the dialog with the Veteran but no further action can be taken on the request.
Selecting the More button displays two options, Launchpad and Logout. Choosing Launchpad returns the user to the Launchpad. The user remains logged in, may open another application and return to Scheduling Manager at any time. Logout will log the user out and return them to the Launchpad.