A patient can receive a confirmation email of their appointment booked online by providing an email address after they have selected their appointment date and time slot. This confirmation email will include a button that allows the patient to cancel the appointment (prior to the appointment date and time). When a patient cancels their appointment, it will be removed from the EMR schedule immediately. In the Ocean Portal, the booking cancellation is denoted by a red strikethrough. Please note that the default cancellation is 0 hours.
To create a cancellation window for appointments booked online, you will need to add a formula item in your booking form. This formula item sets the cancellation window for the provider schedule its eForm is assigned to.
Add the ax_minHoursNoticeForCancellation item type in your booking form.
- Login to the Ocean Portal. Click the "Menu" button in the top left corner and select "Online Booking". Click the "Settings" button in the top right corner.
- Click Edit next to the provider's schedule you would like to edit.
- Scroll down to the bottom of the page and click Edit Advanced Settings. This will reveal your booking form and post booking form.
- Next to your booking form, click Edit. This will open the eForm editor.
- In the eForm editor, click the green plus icon Add Item. In the General tab, set the caption to ax_minHoursNoticeForCancellation:$$. Set the item type to Formula.
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- In the Note Formatting tab, for the field "Create a note for this item:" select Never.
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- In the Scripting and More tab, set the item reference to ax_minHoursNoticeForCancellation, set "Show this field if:" false and in the Formula field, enter the number of hours for your cancellation window (e.g. entering 24 will allow patients to cancel their appointments 24 hours prior to their scheduled appointment via their cancellation email).
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Warning:
If you switch to a different online booking eForm in the future, you will need to include this item type in your new booking form to retain the cancellation window.
If you decide to edit your online booking eForm, do not edit the items referenced "appointmentType", "appointmentDuration" or "reasonForVisit". These are special item types that set the appointment details in your EMR scheduler.
The appointment types configured from Step 1 will be generated in a section with the item reference “appointmentType” in this booking form.
The appointment durations configured from Step 1 will be generated in a section with the item reference “appointmentType” in this booking form.
The "reasonForVisit" item will populate the patients response in the details field of the appointment in your EMRs scheduler.
It’s highly recommended that you do not edit these items in the booking form.