Scheduling Issues

Fix double bookings, missing availability slots, booking mode confusion, timezone mismatches, and appointment notification failures.

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Double Bookings and Appointment Conflicts

Two Patients Booked at the Same Time

Symptoms: Two or more appointments appear on the same provider’s calendar at overlapping times.

Cause: DPC Pro checks for conflicts when scheduling appointments by verifying that no other active appointment (with a status of Scheduled, Confirmed, Checked In, In Room, or In Progress) overlaps with the requested time for the same provider at the same practice. However, conflicts can occur if:

• Two staff members book appointments for the same provider simultaneously before either save completes.
• A group appointment slot has a max_patients value greater than 1, allowing multiple bookings in the same slot intentionally.
• The provider has appointments at different practices that overlap (cross-practice conflicts are not blocked automatically).

Solution:

1. Navigate to Schedule and identify the conflicting appointments.
2. Determine which appointment should keep the time slot.
3. Reschedule or cancel the other appointment: select the appointment → Actions → Reschedule or Cancel.
4. If this happens frequently, review your scheduling workflow to ensure only one staff member manages a given provider’s calendar at a time.

Preventing Future Conflicts

DPC Pro validates conflicts at the time of booking. To minimize race conditions, consider having one designated staff member manage each provider’s schedule, or use the Request & Approval booking mode so all bookings go through a single approval step.

If the problem persists, contact support.

Conflict Check Not Catching Overlapping Appointments

Symptoms: You expected DPC Pro to block a conflicting appointment, but it was allowed to be scheduled.

Cause: The conflict check only applies to appointments for the same provider at the same practice. It considers appointments with these active statuses: Scheduled, Confirmed, Checked In, In Room, and In Progress. Appointments that have been Cancelled, marked as No Show, Rescheduled, or Completed are not included in the conflict check.

Solution:

1. Verify that both appointments are assigned to the same provider assignment at the same practice.
2. Check the status of the existing appointment. If it was already cancelled or completed, it would not trigger a conflict.
3. If the overlapping appointment is at a different practice, note that cross-practice conflicts are not currently enforced. Providers working at multiple practices should coordinate their schedules manually.

If the problem persists, contact support.

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Missing or Unavailable Appointment Slots

Provider’s Availability Does Not Show Any Open Slots

Symptoms: The scheduling page shows no available slots for a provider, even though they should have open time.

Cause: Slots must be created before they appear as available. If the provider’s schedule template has not been applied, or if individual slots have not been published, no availability will show.

Solution:

1. Navigate to Schedule → Availability and select the provider.
2. Verify that a Schedule Template is assigned and active for the provider.
3. Check the date range. Templates may not have generated slots far enough into the future.
4. Confirm that the slots are marked as Open (not Blocked or Busy).
5. If using recurring slots, verify that the Recurrence End date has not passed.

If the problem persists, contact support.

Patients Cannot Self-Schedule: “No Available Times”

Symptoms: Patients see a “no available times” message on the self-scheduling page even though slots exist in the staff view.

Cause: The slot’s Booking Mode controls whether patients can book directly. Slots set to Request & Approval do not appear as directly bookable. Additionally, the slot’s Allowed Appointment Types may not include the type the patient is trying to book.

Solution:

1. Navigate to Schedule → Availability and select the slot in question.
2. Check the Booking Mode field:
   • Self-Schedule: Patients can book directly.
   • Request & Approval: Patients submit a request that staff must approve.
   • If the field is blank, the slot inherits the organization’s default booking mode. Check the default at Settings → Scheduling → Default Booking Mode.
3. Review the Allowed Appointment Types on the slot. If this list is set, only matching visit types will show the slot as available.
4. Verify the slot has not reached its Max Patients limit (relevant for group appointment slots).

If the problem persists, contact support.

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Timezone Issues

Appointment Times Appear Wrong for the Patient

Symptoms: An appointment is booked for 2:00 PM, but the patient’s confirmation shows a different time.

Cause: DPC Pro displays times based on the user’s timezone setting. If the practice timezone and the patient’s browser timezone differ, the displayed time will be adjusted. All appointment times are stored in UTC internally.

Solution:

1. Check the practice’s timezone setting at Settings → Practice Profile → Time Zone.
2. Verify the provider’s individual timezone (if set) at Settings → Staff → select the provider → Timezone.
3. Ask the patient what timezone their browser is set to. Appointment times in the patient portal are displayed in the patient’s local time.
4. Confirm the actual stored time by checking the appointment details in the staff view, which displays in the practice timezone.

How Timezone Display Works

Staff members see appointment times in the practice’s timezone (or their personal timezone override if set). Patients see times converted to their browser’s detected timezone. The underlying UTC time is always the same; only the display differs.

If the problem persists, contact support.

Provider Works Across Multiple Timezones

Symptoms: A provider who serves patients at practices in different timezones sees confusing appointment times.

Cause: Each practice has its own timezone setting. When a provider is assigned to practices in different timezones, appointment times are displayed relative to each practice’s timezone.

Solution:

1. The provider can set a personal timezone override at Settings → My Profile → Timezone. This controls how times display in the staff interface for that provider.
2. Alternatively, encourage the provider to check the practice name on each appointment to orient themselves to the correct timezone context.
3. When booking cross-practice appointments, always confirm the time in the target practice’s timezone.

If the problem persists, contact support.

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Appointment Notifications

Patient Did Not Receive an Appointment Reminder

Symptoms: A patient reports they did not receive a reminder before their appointment.

Cause: Appointment reminders are sent automatically before scheduled appointments. If the patient’s email is missing, the reminder cannot be delivered. Reminders are also only sent once per appointment.

Solution:

1. Check the appointment details: navigate to Schedule → select the appointment.
2. Look at the Reminder Sent field. If it shows Yes with a timestamp, the reminder was sent. Ask the patient to check their spam/junk folder.
3. If the reminder was not sent, verify the patient has a valid email address in Patients → select the patient → Contact Information.
4. If the appointment was rescheduled after the reminder was already sent, a new reminder may not be generated automatically.

If the problem persists, contact support.

Appointment Status Not Updating

Symptoms: An appointment remains in Scheduled status even after the patient has arrived or been seen.

Cause: Appointment statuses follow a defined workflow. Each status can only transition to specific next statuses:

• Scheduled can move to Confirmed, Cancelled, or Rescheduled
• Confirmed can move to Checked In, Cancelled, No Show, or Rescheduled
• Checked In can move to In Room or Cancelled
• In Room can move to In Progress or Cancelled
• In Progress can move to Completed or Cancelled

Completed, Cancelled, No Show, and Rescheduled are terminal states. They cannot be changed further.

Solution:

1. Navigate to Schedule → select the appointment.
2. Check the current status and verify the desired transition is valid using the workflow above.
3. Update the status step by step if needed (for example, you cannot jump directly from Scheduled to Completed; you would need to move through the intermediate statuses).
4. If the appointment is stuck in a terminal state that was set in error, you may need to create a new appointment instead.

If the problem persists, contact support.

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Waitlist Issues

Patient Added to Waitlist but Never Contacted

Symptoms: A patient was added to the waitlist for a specific appointment type or provider, but was never notified when a slot opened up.

Cause: The waitlist feature notifies patients when matching slots become available. If the patient’s preferences (provider, appointment type, preferred times) do not match any newly opened slots, they will not be notified.

Solution:

1. Navigate to Schedule → Waitlist and find the patient’s entry.
2. Review the patient’s waitlist preferences (provider, appointment type, date range).
3. Verify that matching slots have actually become available since the patient was added.
4. If a matching slot did open but the patient was not notified, confirm their email address is valid.

If the problem persists, contact support.

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Related Pages

• Common Issues: Quick solutions for the most frequent problems
• Calendar Sync Troubleshooting: External calendar sync errors and duplicate events
• Payment Problems: Failed payments and billing issues
• Getting Help: How to contact DPC Pro support

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Need Help?

If your scheduling issue is not covered here, review How Scheduling Works for an overview of scheduling concepts, or contact DPC Pro support. Include the provider name, appointment date and time, and a description of what you expected to happen.