Schedule a Visit

Booking a visit in DPC Pro takes three inputs: the patient, the visit type, and an available time slot on the provider’s calendar.

Staff members are the primary schedulers in most DPC practices. When a patient calls or messages to request an appointment, staff select the patient, choose the appropriate visit type, and pick from available time slots on the provider’s calendar. DPC Pro shows real-time availability and prevents double-booking.

This page walks through the visit booking process step by step, including how to search for a patient, select a visit type, and confirm the appointment. You will also learn how to add visit notes visible to the provider and how the patient receives their confirmation.

The scheduling workflow is designed for speed. Most visits can be booked in under a minute.

Find the Patient

Before booking a visit, you need to select the patient from your practice roster.

From the Schedule

1. Navigate to Schedule.
2. Select Create (or click an empty time slot on the calendar view).
3. In the Patient field, begin typing the patient’s name.
4. Select the correct patient from the search results.

The patient search matches against first and last names. Results are filtered to active patients at your current practice.

From the Patient Record

You can also start the booking process from a patient’s record:

1. Navigate to Patients and open the patient’s record.
2. Look for the scheduling option to book a new visit.
3. The patient is pre-selected, and you proceed directly to choosing a visit type and time.

Pre-Filled Patient

If you start from a patient record or follow a link that includes the patient, the patient field is pre-filled. You can change the patient if needed before confirming.

Select Visit Type and Provider

After selecting the patient, choose the visit type and provider:

1. Select the Visit Type from the dropdown. Options include:
   • New Patient, Follow Up, Annual Physical, Sick Visit, Procedure, Consultation, Telehealth, Phone Call, or Other.
2. Select the Provider from the list of providers at your current practice. Only providers with clinical roles (physicians, nurse practitioners, physician assistants) appear in this list.
3. Optionally select a Location if your practice has multiple offices.

Duration

The Duration field defaults to the provider’s standard visit length (typically 30 minutes). Adjust it based on the visit’s clinical needs:

• 15 minutes for brief check-ins
• 30 minutes for standard visits
• 45 minutes for extended evaluations
• 60 minutes for annual physicals or complex cases
• 90 minutes for comprehensive procedures

The duration determines the end time of the visit and how much of the provider’s calendar is blocked.

Choose a Time Slot

Selecting a Date and Time

1. Set the Start Time using the date and time picker.
2. Time slots are available in 5-minute increments.
3. DPC Pro validates the selected time against the provider’s availability.

Conflict Checking

When you select a time, DPC Pro automatically checks for conflicts:

• Existing visits: If the provider already has a visit scheduled that overlaps with the selected time, a conflict warning appears showing the conflicting visit details.
• Blocked time: If the selected time falls within a blocked period (lunch, meeting, or day off), a warning is shown.

If a conflict is detected, you have two options:

1. Choose a different time that does not conflict.
2. Override the conflict by proceeding with the booking. This is useful for intentional double-bookings, such as when a provider sees two patients during overlapping time slots.

Overriding Conflicts

Overriding a conflict does not remove the existing visit. Both visits remain on the schedule at the overlapping time. Use this option intentionally. Accidental double-bookings create confusion for your team and patients.

Booking from the Calendar View

You can also start a visit by clicking on an empty time slot in the calendar view. The start time and end time are pre-filled based on where you clicked. Select a patient and visit type to complete the booking.

Add Booking Notes

You can attach notes to a visit that are visible to the provider and staff:

• Reason for Visit: a brief description of why the patient is coming in. This appears on the schedule view and in the visit detail.
• Chief Complaint: the patient’s primary symptom or concern.
• Notes: internal notes visible to your team (for example, “patient requested morning slot” or “follow-up from ER visit last week”).

All three fields are optional. Notes do not appear in patient-facing notifications.

Confirm and Notify

After filling in all fields, review the visit details:

1. Verify the patient name, visit type, provider, date, time, and duration.
2. Select Save to confirm the booking.

When the visit is saved:

• The visit appears on the provider’s schedule with a status of Scheduled.
• A confirmation email is sent to the patient with the visit date, time, provider, and location.
• If calendar sync is enabled, the visit is pushed to the provider’s external calendar (Google Calendar or Outlook).
• An automatic reminder email is queued for 24 hours before the visit.

After Booking

After the visit is confirmed, you are taken to the visit detail page where you can:

• View the full visit details
• Update the visit status (confirm, check in, etc.)
• Edit the visit if changes are needed
• Cancel or reschedule the visit
• Begin writing visit notes once the visit is underway

Redirect to Calendar

If you started the booking from the calendar view, you can choose to return to the calendar after saving instead of going to the visit detail.

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Related Pages

• How Scheduling Works
• Set Up Provider Calendars
• Visit Types and Duration
• Patient Self-Scheduling
• Calendar Sync
• Reschedule or Cancel Visits
• Daily and Weekly Schedule Views

Need Help?

If you run into issues booking a visit, reach out to the DPC Pro support team at [email protected] or visit the scheduling troubleshooting guide.