This article covers frequently asked questions about setting up the appointment scheduler and managing appointments.
SETUP
Appointment hours are entered in Administration > Appointment Settings. You can set up different start and end times for different days of the week, to reflect your practice's business hours.
For more information, see Configure branch settings.
Add or edit appointment types in Administration > Appointment Settings.
For more information, see Configure appointment settings
Appointment columns are referred to as rooms in Neo. More columns can be added in Administration > Appointment Settings.
For more information, see Configure appointment settings.
Appointment columns (rooms) can be reordered from Administration > Appointment Settings.
Click the move icon and drag the room to the desired position.
For more information, see Configure appointment settings.
Yes. Appointment type colors can be changed from Administration > Appointment Settings.
Click the menu button on the row of the appointment type you want to change and select Edit. Then click the large circle to the left of the appointment name to select a new color.
For more information, see Configure appointment settings.
Yes. Appointment type font colors can be changed from Administration > Appointment Settings.
Click the menu button on the row of the appointment type you want to change and select Edit. Then click the small circle to the left of the appointment name to change the font color.
Note: Font colors can only be toggled to black or white.
For more information, see Configure appointment settings.
When you integrate IDEXX Neo and Deputy.com, the practice can enter the staff and doctor schedule at Deputy.com. A green line will be visible next to the times that individual is scheduled to be working, according to Deputy, when viewing appointments for that individual.
For more information, see Set up Deputy.com (Rostering).
USAGE
Appointments
Hover your mouse over details on the appointment card to view the patient name, notes, and more.
Appointments can be confirmed manually, directly from the appointment on the Schedule tab.
For more information, see Confirm an appointment.
To unconfirm an appointment, navigate to the existing appointment on the Schedule tab. Click the confirmation status button, and then select Unconfirmed. The appointment will now be unconfirmed.
To manually send appointment reminders to all clients with a scheduled appointment on a specific day, click the SMS button on the calendar. The clients must have a valid mobile phone number entered on their client record to receive the appointment reminder message.
For practices with Vello enabled only. You will receive an alert asking you to confirm sending the appointment reminders from the schedule. This may result in a duplicate reminder being sent. See Send and receive SMS (text messages) with Vello for more information.
To send an appointment reminder to a specific client with a scheduled appointment, click the appointment, so the appointment popover card displays. On the left side of the popover card, click the send SMS appointment reminder icon, and then click Create Message to send an SMS to the client.
There are three ways to view the day of the week when navigating the schedule.
-
Browser tab: The day of the week displays on the browser tab.
-
Calendar: Review the day of the week on the calendar when choosing the date to navigate to.
-
Currently viewed date: View the day of the week in the date currently being viewed.
Depending on when you want the new client to count toward your new client metrics, there are two options for scheduling new client and patient appointments. New clients are counted on the day they are added to the client list.
- Option1: If you prefer to add new clients and patients to your system when they arrive for their first visit at your practice, create "New Client" and "New Patient" records to use as a placeholder to make appointments. When scheduling the appointment, enter the client and patient names and phone number in the Notes box. Add the client and patient records when they arrive for their appointment.
- Option 2: Enter the client and patient in Neo before you schedule the appointment.
Find appointments scheduled for a client or patient on the Appointments tab of the client's record.
For more information, see View scheduled appointments for a client and patient.
You can also run the Appointments Summary report with the proper permission.
You can easily view all of a staff member's appointments for the week on the calendar by selecting the staff member’s name from the staff drop-down list. For example, if you want to see when the next available appointment is for a doctor or if a staff member wants to see how their schedule looks for the week.
For more information, see View a staff member’s appointments for the week.
When a patient arrives, click the appointment status (Not Arrived, Late, or No Show) to check them in. The appointment status will change to Arrived.
For more information, see Check a patient in.
There are six appointment statuses in Neo. For the appointment status to continue to update after checking a patient in, a consultation for the visit must be opened from the appointment.
| Status | Definition | Action to Update Status |
| Not Arrived | Patient has not arrived and is not late. | Click Not Arrived to change to Arrived. |
| Late | Patient is up to 60 minutes late for the appointment or has not been checked in before the arrival time. | Click Late to change to Arrived. |
| No Show | Patient is more than 60 minutes late for the appointment or has not been checked in before the arrival time. | Click No Show to change to Arrived. |
| Arrived | Patient has arrived and been checked in. |
Create a consultation using one of these work flows:
|
| In Progress | Consultation has been started. | Select the Is this invoice ready to be paid? check box. |
| Ready to Pay | Consultation/invoice is complete and has been marked ready to be paid. | Payment in full has been entered for the invoice. |
| Finalized | Client has been invoiced and paid for the visit in full. |
You can move appointments within the same day or to a different day.
Click and drag the appointment to move it to a new time, or double-click the appointment and then update the appointment time to move an appointment within the same day.
To move an appointment to a different day, double-click the appointment and then click Cut. Navigate to a different day, click the new time slot, and then click the paste icon.
For more information, see Change an appointment.
An appointment is considered rescheduled if the appointment start time is changed or the appointment is moved to another day.
For more information, see Change an appointment.
Click the Audit List button on the Schedule and then filter to view only rescheduled appointments.
Copy and paste appointments to efficiently schedule recurring appointments.
After scheduling and saving an appointment, double-click the appointment and click Copy. Navigate to the day where you need to schedule the next appointment, click the new time slot, and then click the paste icon. Repeat pasting the copied appointment in additional time slots, as needed.
Note: Neo will remember the copied appointment up to an hour or until another appointment is copied in the same session.
For more information, see Change an appointment.
You will be prompted to mark the appointment as Cancelled or Deleted when you delete the appointment.
When you mark an appointment as Cancelled, you have the option to record a cancellation reason that will display on the Audit list on the Schedule and the Appointment Timeline on the client Appointments tab.
An appointment’s status will automatically change from Late to No Show 60 minutes after the scheduled appointment time if it has not been marked as Arrived.
Appointments with a Late or No Show status can still be checked-in.
A client’s cancelled, deleted, and rescheduled appointments can be included in the list of appointments in client’s Appointments tab if you click one or more of the applicable check boxes – Included Cancelled, Include Deleted, or Include Rescheduled.
Click the Audit List button on the Schedule to view a list of appointments that were cancelled, deleted, or rescheduled for the day(s) you are viewing. The list can be filtered to view a date range and specific appointment status, if needed.
The total number of cancelled appointments can be found in two places:
- the Appointments section on the Practice Dashboard or
- the Audit List button
on the Schedule filtered to view cancelled appointments
The Appointment Timeline tab on the appointment popover card includes details on who and when an appointment was created, updated, rescheduled, or the confirmation status was changed.
Note: Appointments scheduled prior to [day after release date] or converted from previous PIMS may not have full audit history available.
Click the Expand button to view the Appointment Timeline for an appointment in the client’s Appointment tab. You can view the details on who and when an appointment was created, updated, rescheduled, cancelled, deleted, or the confirmation status was changed.
Note: Appointments scheduled prior to November 23, 2021 or converted from previous PIMS may not have full audit history available.
Appointments scheduled prior to November 23, 2021 or converted from previous PIMS may not have full audit history available.
Any Provider will display as the provider in the Appointment Timeline on the appointment popover card and client’s Appointment tab if the pet owner does not select a provider when scheduling an appointment through the client portal.
- Click the plus sign
next to the +Add button on the Appointments tab.
- Click the list view
next to the SMS button on the Appointments tab.
When you integrate IDEXX Neo and Deputy.com, the practice can view a staff member’s availability on the Appointments tab. A green line will be visible next to the times that individual is scheduled to be working, according to Deputy.
For more information, see Set up Deputy.com (Rostering).
Blocks
Block time on your schedule for a single or recurring event by clicking the Block button after opening a new appointment window.
For more information, see Block appointments.
We recommend the following administrative tasks before you begin using block appointments:
- Review and update, as needed, your appointment times in Administration > Company Settings.
- Review and update your staff list and their permissions, as needed, in Administration > User Management. By default, all users are assigned the Edit Block Appointments permission: if you do not want a user to edit and delete existing block appointment, deselect the permission from their user profile and save your changes.
Otherwise, no setup is necessary to begin using block appointments.
To change a block appointment's recurrence after saving, the block must be deleted from the scheduler and then re-added.
Block appointments serve as a visual guide but still allow appointments to be scheduled during the same time slot to allow flexibility in the case of emergencies.
Copy/paste behavior is consistent between regular appointments and blocks: after pasting, you must repeat copy to subsequently paste to additional time slots or rooms.
TROUBLESHOOTING
To view who scheduled an appointment, click on the appointment to view the appointment details. The Created By staff is determined by logged in staff when the appointment was saved.
To edit an appointment type color or font color, you must first click the action menu and select Edit.
In Edit mode, you can update the appointment type color, font color, or name.
For more information, see Configure appointment settings.
No. If you change the name of an appointment room, all appointments will be available under the new room name on the Schedule.
Only one set of appointment hours can be entered in the Branch Settings.
For more information, see Configure branch settings.
Start and end times can vary day-to-day on your schedule to reflect your practice's business hours based on the Appointment Hours configured in Administration > Appointment Settings.
For more information, see Configure branch settings.
If a day of the week does not have hours set up, it will display as closed in Administration > Appointment Settings.
If your practice has business hours on a day that is not displaying on your schedule, go to Administration > Appointment Settings to review and update your Appointment Hours.
For more information, see Configure branch settings.
To ensure the appointment status updates from Arrived to In Progress, create the consultation by starting the consultation from the appointment. Single-click the appointment to display the popover card, then click Create Consultation.
For more information, see a Start consultation and record patient information.
Note: Creating an estimate from an appointment will not update the appointment status until the estimate has been converted to a consultation.
The appointment status will only update to Finalized if the consultation for this visit is paid in full. If the client partially pays or doesn’t pay the balance, the status will remain Ready to Pay until the balance is paid.
You can designate a user as a provider in Administration > User Management.
To learn more, see Add and manage users.
Switch from the list view to the calendar view on the appointment schedule using the list view button
If your practice uses Vetstoria to allow your clients to schedule online appointment and Vetstoria was unable to match the client and /or patient to an existing record in Neo, the following functionality will not be available from the appointment until the client and patient are matched to a record:
- links to the client and patient
- Create Consultation and Create Estimate buttons
- appointment confirmation
- Send SMS
To learn how to match to a client and patient records, see Review and update Vetstoria appointments in Neo.