Visual Book: How to Limit Bookings to New and/or Existing Patients (Flex Only)

Visual Book: How to Limit Bookings to New and/or Existing Patients (Flex Only)

For Flex layout only, Visual Book practitioners can limit whether new and existing patients are allowed to book under their calendar. This setting provides control over patient booking permissions at the practitioner level.

Prerequisites

  • Visual Book Flex layout must be enabled
  • Access to Visual Care Admin Portal
  • Visual Book Module Active

Warning: If you change the Schedule Template layout from OPEN to FLEX, additional setup is required. You will be required to redo all appointment mapping and schedule templates for this clinic.

Enabling New and Existing Patient Options

  1. Open and log into Visual Care > Admin Portal. Log in.
  2. From the Visual Care Dashboard, navigate to Visual Book > Options > Schedule Template layout. Ensure it is set to Flex.
  3. Underneath the above option, ensure Include the 'New and/or Existing Patients' option in schedule templates is checked.
  4. Click Save Settings.

Configuring Practitioner Settings

  1. Navigate to Settings > Users & Accounts > Manage Practitioners.
  2. A new column should appear for New/Existing Patients.
    1. This setting will determine whether only new and/or existing patients can book appointments
      3. Configure the settings for each practitioner to specify whether they accept all patients, existing patients only, or new patients only.



Updating Schedule Templates

  1. Update existing templates or add new ones to accommodate the options of all, existing, and new patients.
    1. For detailed information on how to add or edit schedule templates for Visual Book, here is the link to the online course: Session 3: Appointment Mapping & Schedule Templates

Verifying Appointment Mapping

  1. Navigate to Visual Book > Appointment Mapping.
  2. Check to see if any configuration error messages appear. If you see this message, it means that the template used goes against the practitioner setting you just changed and will not be used.
  3. Remove any templates showing configuration errors, as they will not be used anymore.

Common Issues

Issue: New/Existing Patients section does not appear in Manage Practitioners.

Fix: Ensure that the Schedule Template layout is set to Flex and that the "Include the 'New and/or Existing Patients' option in schedule templates" checkbox is enabled and saved.

Issue: Configuration error messages appear in Appointment Mapping.

Fix: Review and remove templates that conflict with the new practitioner settings. Update or create new templates that align with the all, existing, or new patient options.

Tip: After enabling this feature and configuring practitioner settings, always verify Appointment Mapping for configuration errors. Remove any conflicting templates to ensure smooth online booking functionality.


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