Note: Descriptions are shown in the official language in which they were submitted.
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ONLINE APPOINTMENT BOOKING SYSTEM
Field of Invention
This invention relates to an online booking system and method relating to same
which
can be used by any user, person, business or professional. More particularly
this
invention relates to an on line calendar system and computer implemented
method for
online calendar appointments; embodiments of which can be used for example by,
doctors, dentists, restaurants, barber shops, and the like. The person,
business or
professional sets up the calendar(s) online and users can book appointments
online.
Background to the invention
Generally speaking every office or business requires a person to book
appointments,
which needs to be confirmed or verified. In today's society individuals are
generally on
the go and appointments are made, modified and confirmed at a rapid rate,
requiring
patience, time and cost. Furthermore there is generally a lag time between
requesting
an appointment time and having the time approved.
One such area where appointments are made is in the medical field where a
patient or
user needs to book appointment with a family doctor who may then subsequently
require the patient to book an appointment with a specialist, hospital, blood
lab, X-ray
clinic or other scanning facility. It is not unusual for the patient to repeat
basic
information all over again. There have been various attempts to improve this
scheduling
issue.
For example US 6345260 relates to a system and method for scheduling
appointments
at any time with a professional, such as a doctor, dentist, veterinarian, or
the like, or a
professional service, such as a medical testing facility and the like, even
when the office
of the professional or professional service is closed. The system and method
relate to
an asynchronous Internet, intranet, and extranet-compatible 24-hour
appointment
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scheduling interface for making such appointments. As such, they support open-
standards architecture, provide an interface for proprietary system
architecture, permit
off-line review and posting, permit access controls and virus protection,
allow central
scheduling without loss of distributed control, support encrypted messaging to
ensure
privacy, and include context-sensitive help. However such system requires
booking
agents and does not exhibit seamless intemet booking.
Another arrangement is taught in US 2010/0070303 which shows a systems and
method for aggregating available healthcare appointment times across multiple
unaffiliated practitioner groups, including search and display algorithms. A
centralized
1o marketplace is provided for real time booking of healthcare appointments
which does
not require the patient to have a pre-existing relationship with the
practitioner. The
aggregated booking system enhances the number of available near term and
conveniently located appointment options while the search and display
algorithms
reduce the complexity of the patient and practitioner information required to
maintain
accurate and synchronized database booking records. However this system is
only a
patient and client booking system with a dentist group.
Other arrangements are found in US 767449, US 7590550, US 7188073, US
2010/0076810.
It is an object of this invention to provide an improved online booking system
and
computer implemented method relating to same. It is a further object of the
invention to
provide a single centralised booking service for patients, clients, doctors,
person,
business or professional, facilities or clinics to make medical or general
appointments
in a registered facility, clinic, professional's, business's or doctor's
office.
It is an aspect of this invention to provide A computer implemented method for
booking
appointments on line, comprising : generating a calendar identifying selected
available
appointment time periods; registering a user on line , with selected profile
identifiers for
accessing said calendar for booking an appointment.
Another aspect of this invention relates to an on line booking system,
comprising: a
server computer linked to the internet ; a server application linked to the
server
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computer , the server application being operable to provide instructions to
the server
computer that : receives profile information from a user for storage in global
data base;
permits registration by said user; receives profile information from a person,
business or
professional for storage in global data base; permits registration by said
person,
business or professional; receives information from a facility; permits
registration by the
facility; permits the facility to generate a calendar for appointment
purposes; permits the
registered user to access the calendar to make an appointment.
These and other objects and features of the invention shall now be described
in relation
to the following drawings. The drawings are for illustration purposes and show
several
1o embodiments of the invention.
Description of the Drawings
Fig. 1 illustrates a general flowchart for Facility, Doctors, Patients, and
Calendars.
Fig. 2 illustrates a Patients Flowchart with Each Facility.
Fig. 3 illustrates Patient Booking Appointments.
Fig. 4 shows Doctor A appointment for Patient D with Doctor A.
Fig. 5 illustrates Doctor C Booking Appointment for Patient E with Doctor A in
the same
Facility 2.
Fig. 6 illustrates Doctor B Facility 3 Booking appointment for Patient D with
Doctor C in
another Facility 2.
Fig. 7 illustrates that when a patient arrives at a clinic the patient can
check in with the
receptionist or check in on a self serve basis using the patient kiosk.
Fig. 8 illustrates Walk in Appointments.
Fig 9 illustrates messaging.
Fig. 10 illustrates Build/Edit Calendar
Fig. 11 shows a Kiosk Home page.
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Fig. 12 shows a Kiosk page after patient login.
Fig. 13 shows message settings.
Fig. 14 shows a template to manage doctors.
Fig. 15 illustrates a Linking of a Facility to another facility.
Fig. 16 shows a Build/Edit/Delete time slot template for a Calendar.
Fig. 17 shows a Manage Employees template.
Fig. 18 shows an off days template.
Fig. 19a illustrates a recall Patients template.
Fig. 19b illustrates a Result codes.
Fig. 20 shows a Facility registration
Fig. 21 comprising Fig. 21 a, 21b shows a Doctor registration template.
Fig. 22 comprising Fig. 22a, 22b, 22c illustrates a Patient's Registration
template.
Fig. 23 comprising Fig. 23a, 23b shows a Facility registering a new patient.
Fig. 24 shows a template for a Patient to add a new family member.
Fig. 25 shows a Patient/Client (User) switching to book appointments with
different
categories or types of business.
Fig. 26 shows Editing Family Members
Fig. 27 shows Building Appointment Types for Time Slots
Fig. 28 comprising Fig. 28a, 28b shows multiple calendars automatically
displayed with
the calendars in use for the day chosen
Fig. 29 shows when a patient arrives in the clinic for an appointment, the
receptionist or
the patient can check in with the time recorded.
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Fig. 30 shows a flow chart for a Patient registration on line.
Fig. 31 shows a flow chart for a Facility Registration on line.
Fig. 32 shows a flow chart for a Doctor Registration on line.
Fig. 33 illustrates a flow chart for a Patient booking Appointment on line.
Fig. 34 illustrates a Facility Booking Appointment for Patient on line.
Fig. 35 depicts a flow chart for a Doctor Booking Appointment for Patient on
line.
Fig. 36 shows a flow chart for adding a patient to a facility's local patient
data base.
Fig. 37 depicts a flow chart for linking one facility to another facility.
Fig 38 illustrates a flow chart for a doctor adding his account to a facility
to be a
provider.
Detailed Description of the Invention
The invention shall now be described in the context of the drawings.
Registration:
1. Facility registration - Figure 31:
One embodiment of the facilities registration component is shown in fig 31. A
facility such as a business or professional or hospital or clinic can register
on line.
The person, business or professional first registers online. The person,
business
or professional can first set up a facility such as a clinic or business as
shown
Figure 20. Additional facilities such as clinics or businesses can be set up
to take
into account a person, business, professional or doctor having more than one
clinic. Any facility can be linked to other facilities to link for example
franchise
businesses or a person having more than one business. Other facilities can set
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up on their own and be linked to other facilities. Facilities can also be
unlinked
from other facilities. A facility only can change its own private profile
information.
2. Person, Business, Professional or Doctor registration - Figure 32:
One embodiment of a person, business, professional or doctor registration is
shown in Fig 32. A person, business or professional can also can register
online
an example of which is shown in Fig 21 and join or be linked to one or more
facility such as a clinic or business as shown in Figure 14. For example, a
doctor
can register and then he can join or be linked to one or more facilities where
the
works. The person, business or professional can also be unlinked from a
facility
such as a clinic or business. A person, business or professional can change
its
own private profile information.
3. Patient/client registration - Figure 22 & 30:
Both Fig. 22 and 30 illustrate a patient or client registration. A user who
registers
and sets up an account will enter their account into the Global Patient/
Client
(User) database such as a Global Patient/Client (User) account. A user who
books an appointment with a facility (clinic or business) with its people,
business
or professional, adds their Global Patient/Client (User) account ( Figure 22)
to the
facility's list of users/client/patients (Local Patient/Client (User) data
base). A
user can be enrolled in one or more facilities. The patient/client (user)
account
will be entered into each facility's Local Patient/Client (User) data base.
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An email is the unique identifier for the patient's or client's (user's)
account when
he or she registers. A password is also needed. The account is entered into
the
Global Patient/Client (User) data base.
Registration information can include name, address, telephone number, cellular
number, fax number, email address, languages, skills, access codes to allow
changes to the registration information by others or for ease of joining
another
online facility (clinic or business) or for enrolment in a facility (clinic or
business)
to allow them to access information such as date of birth, gender and/or other
personal information such as local government health identification, health
insurance company, health insurance policy number, credit card number, social
insurance number etc.
4. Family dependent registration -Figure 30:
As shown in Fig 30 and 24 a user can add or register family members to their
account or profile by providing the necessary information. A family member can
be edited, deleted, or released as an independent as referred to in Figure 26.
When a family member is released as an independent, all past information is
not
seen by the independent. All future information for the independent is not
seen
by anyone except by the independent.
5. Facility registering patient/client with unique email -Figure 36:
A facility or a person, business or professional can register a user as shown
in
Fig 23. An email for each patient/client (user) is the unique identifier for
the
patient's global patient/client (user) account. An email, text or other means
of
contact is sent to the user. The user can activate his or her account, assign
a
password and user access code. Once a user activates his account, only the
user can change his email address, unless he gives his user access code to a
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facility, person, business or professional to change his email. All other
registration information may be changed by the user, and user linked facility,
person, business or professional. An email or text is sent to the user
whenever
there are changes to the registration information. Before activation of the
account, a facility, person, business or professional who has the user's
registration information can change the registration information.
Registration information can include name, address, telephone number, cellular
number, fax number, email address, languages, skills, access codes to allow
changes to the registration information by others or for ease of joining
another
online facility (clinic or business) or for enrolment in a facility (clinic or
business)
to allow them to access information such as date of birth, gender and/or other
personal information such as local government health identification, health
insurance company, health insurance policy number, credit card number, social
insurance number and the like.
6. Facility registering patient/client with no email - Figure 36:
If a patient/client (user) does not have a personal email, a facility or a
person,
business or professional can still register a user. In this case with respect
to Fig
23 the patient's or client's (user's) account or profile stays only in the
facility's
Local Patient/Client (User) data base. When the patient/client (user) obtains
an
email, then the email can be given to the facility to update the patient's or
client's
(user's) Local Patient/Client (User) account and an email, text or other means
of
contact is sent to the user. The user can activate his or her account, assign
a
password and user access code. Once a user activates his account, only the
user can change his email address, unless he gives the user access code to a
facility, person, business or professional to change his email. All other
registration information may be changed by the user, and user linked facility,
person, business or professional. An email or text is sent to the user
whenever
there are changes to the registration information. Before activation of the
account, a facility, person, business or professional who has the user's
registration information can change the registration information.
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If the patient/client (user) registers and creates a Global Patient/Client
(User)
account, then he provides the email to the facility to merge his facility's
Local
patient/ client (user) account into the Global Patient/Client (User) account.
s 7. Facility adding patient/client (user) with Global Patient/Client (User)
account -
Figure 36:
If the patient/client (user) registers and creates a Global Patient/Client
(User)
account, then he provides the Global Patient/Client (User) account to the
facility
to add his Global Patient/Client (User) account to the facility's list of
patients or
clients (Users) (Local Patient/Client (User) data base).
Calendar -Figure 10:
The facility, person, business or professional can set up the calendars by
assigning a
title or name for each calendar assigned for appointment booking. The title or
name can
be changed at any time. The calendar name can be set to be visible or not
visible to the
users. A calendar is done for a specific business booking and can be linked to
specific
facility (clinics or businesses). For each calendar, the business can change
appointment
booking settings of whether the business wants to confirm whether or not an
appointment booking needs to be approved first. The business can also block
access
to book appointments by the general users, outside businesses or inside the
business
itself. So for example if a doctor wants to block appointment booking by
patients, he
would click on "Blocked" for patients and patients cannot book appointments
with him.
Furthermore, if the doctor decides to take appointments from patients, he can
decide if
the appointment first must be approved "Approval Needed" by the doctor or if
not "No
Approval Needed"as shown in Fig 10. If the doctor chooses "Approval Needed",
then
the appointment chosen by a patient is not booked until it is confirmed by the
doctor. If
the doctor chooses "No Approval Needed", then the appointment chosen by a
patient is
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booked automatically when chosen by the patient and no approval is needed by
the
doctor.
The facility, person, business or professional can set up a calendar to take
walk in
appointments. The walk in appointments are based on first come first serve
basis. The
walk in calendar can be set to be displayed on the patient/client (user)
access kiosk.
The display may be on a computer screen or digital screen or the like.
Building a calendar -Figure 16:
A calendar can be built with the following:
1. Time slots - Figure 27 and 16:
Time slots can be assigned "appointment type name", "highlight description",
background color, font color, duration. The start time and duration for each
time
slot is specified. A time slot or time period can be set for taking
appointments on
a walk in first come first serve basis. Time slots can be prepared for any
desirable time interval such as for example 3 minute time slots.
2. Templates:
Once time slots have been built to create a template, a template name can be
assigned. The templates can be saved for later use. A saved template can be
edited and saved under another template name. A template with its time slots
can be added to existing calendar time slots or the existing calendar time
slots
can be deleted and the new template applied. Times slots can be added to a
calendar without creating a template or assigning a template name.
The templates can be applied to a specified single day, multiple days or
repeating days with a start date and end date.
3. Viewing Calendar:
The calendar can be viewed with
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1. Multiple calendars displayed at once. The multiple calendars are assigned a
name to define each multiple calendars set.
2. Multiple calendars automatically displayed with the calendars in use for
the
day chosen -Fig. 28.
3. By the month
4. By the week
5. By the day
Add Users - Figure 1:
1. A user can register and create an online account and profile which are
stored at
the central computer (Global Patient/Client (User) profile) Figure 30. When a
user desires to add the users Global Patient/Client (User) profile to a
facility's
(clinic or business) list of local users (Local Patient/Client (User) data
base), the
user can provide the facility (person, clinic or business) with the user's
email
address and user access code. The facility (person, clinic or business) can
then
access the user's profile at anytime. Once a user's profile is in the Global
Patient/Client (User) profile, it can be edited or updated only by the user. A
facility (person, clinic or business) can edit or update certain information
in a
user's global profile only if the user gives the facility (person, clinic or
business)
the user's access code. The user may restrict what information can be changed
by others even with the access code.
2. A facility (clinic or business), person, business, or professional can
register and
create an online account and profile for a user by filling the registration
form for
the user. An email is sent to the user at his email address. The user
activates the
account when he opens his email and activates the account. The user can then
add an access code. Once a user's profile is activated, it is in the Global
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Patient/Client (User) database, certain registration information can be edited
or
updated only by the user and no one else. A facility (clinic or business),
person,
business or professional can edit or update certain aspects of information in
the
user's Global Patient/Client (User) profile only if the user gives the
facility (clinic
or business,) person, business or professional the user's access code. A
facility
(clinic or business), person, business or professional can edit or update
certain
aspects of information in the user's Global Patient/Client (User) profile
without
the user's access code.
3. The facility (clinic or business), person, business or professional keeps a
list of
users who are its customers (Facility Local Patients/Clients) (User). The
facility
(clinic or business), person, business or professional cannot access users who
are not its customers in the Global Patient/Client (User) data base.
Add Facilities (clinics or businesses) - Figures 1, 15 & 37):
1. A facility "2" (clinic or business) can register and create an online
account and
profile which are stored at the central computer (Global Facility data base).
When a facility "2" (clinic or business) wants to be linked its Global
Facility profile
to another facility "1 "'s (clinic or business) list, the facility "2" (clinic
or business)
can provide the facility "1" (clinic or business) with its email address and
facility
access code. The facility "1" (clinic or business) can then be linked to
facility "2"
(clinic or business) and to its list of providers. Other additional facilities
can be
added.
2. A facility "1" (clinic or business) can register and create an online
account and
profile for facility "2" (clinic or business) by filling the registration form
for the
facility "2" (clinic or business). An email is sent to the facility "2"
(clinic or
business) at its email address. The facility "2" (clinic or business)
activates the
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account when it opens its email and activates the account. The facility "2"
can
then add its facility access code.
3. A facility can be unlinked from another facility at any time.
Add person, business or professional -Figures 1, 14 & 38:
1. A person, business or professional e.g. (A, B, C) can add its account to a
facility
or multiple facilities.
2. A person, business or professional can register and create an online
account and
profile which are stored at the central computer (Global Person, Business,
Professional, or Doctor profile). When a person, business or professional
wants
to add its Global Person, Business, Professional or Doctor profile to a
facility
(clinic or business), it can provide the facility with its email address and
Person,
Business, Professional or Doctor access code. The facility (clinic or
business)
can then add the person, business or professional to its list of providers
(Local
Person, Business, Professional or Doctor data list).
3. A facility (clinic or business) can register and create an online account
and profile
for person, business or professional by filling the registration form for the
person,
business or professional. An email is sent to the person, business or
professional at its email address. The person, business or professional
activates
the account when it opens its email and activates the account. The person,
business or professional can then add a Person, Business, Professional or
doctor access code.
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4. Appointment calendars for the person, business or professional are then
listed
under the facility or facilities which the person, business or professional
are
enrolled in. Users can then search and access the calendars and make
appointment online.
5. The facility and person, business or professional can be unlinked from each
other
at any time.
Appointments:
1. Booking appointments:
A) Users booking appointments (Figure 3 &33):
A user can book appointment with a facility (clinic or business) and its
associated person, business or professional and a specific calendar by
searching for the calendar (person, business or professional)/facility by
name,
telephone number, address, gender, languages, skill or professional and
other clinic or business information. Search preference can be by
international, country, region or local area. The user search for an available
time slot is based on the user's choice of type of appointment date and time.
If a time slot is available on the calendar (person, business or
professional)/facility then the user can book the appointment. The user can
add attachments, letters, description or notes. The attachment, letters and
description are sent to the clinic or business, the notes are not. Notes are
viewed by the user only. A confirmation ticket is generated with "approved" or
"waiting approval" status. Standard templates can be created for the
description and used at another time. A printout in the form of a letter can
be
generated with the names of the referring person, the referred to person and
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demographics of the user. Emails are generated to inform the user and
facility of the appointment. Reminder emails or texts are sent at a
predetermined time to tell the user of his upcoming appointment or if there
are
any changes to the appointments. Notes about each appointment can be
added and viewed by the user only.
Users can search for and book appointments with different categories or
types of businesses. For example, a user can book with a doctor or switch to
book with a barber shop or switch to book with a lawyer.
Appointment list:
A user can view his past or current appointment.
B) Facility (clinic or business) booking appointments - Figure 34:
A facility (clinic or business) can book an appointment for a user with the
same facility or outside facility, with the same person, business or
professional or with an outside person, business or professional or person,
business or professional/facility combination by searching for the person,
business or professional, facility name, calendar name, telephone number,
address, gender, languages, skill or professional and other person, business
or professional/facility information. Search preference can be by
international,
country, region or local area. The facility (clinic or business, person,
business
or professional searches for an available time slot based on the user's choice
of type of appointment date and time. If a time slot is available on the
(person,
business or professional)/facility calendar then the facility can then book
the
appointment for the user. The facility (clinic or business), person, business
or
professional can add attachments, letter, description or notes. The
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attachments, letters, and description are sent to the facility (clinic or
business), the notes are not. Notes are viewed by the referring facility
(clinic
or business), person, business or professional only. A confirmation ticket is
generated with "approved" or "waiting approval" status. Standard templates
can be created for the description and used at another time. A printout in the
form of a letter can be generated with the names of the referring person,
referred to person and demographics of the user. Emails are generated to
inform the user and facility of the appointment. Reminder emails or text are
sent at a predetermined time to tell the user and facility of his upcoming
appointment or if there are changes to the appointments. Notes about each
appointment can be added and viewed by the referring facility (clinic or
business) only.
A facility can search for and book appointments for a user with different
categories or types of businesses. For example, a facility can book
appointment for a user with a doctor or switch to book appointment for a user
with a barber shop or switch to book appointment for a user with a lawyer.
From the calendar, a referred to person can generate a reply letter to the
referring person or the user with the referred to person, referred from person
and user names generated automatically and the standard templates inserted
to form a letter.
C) Person, business or professional booking appointments - Fig. 4, 5, 6 & 35:
A person, business or professional can book appointment for a user with the
same facility or outside facility, with the same person, business or
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professional or with an outside person, business or professional or person,
business or professional/facility combination by searching for the person,
business or professional, facility name, calendar name, telephone number,
address, gender, languages, skill or professional and other person, business
or professional/facility information. Search preference can be by
international,
country, region or local area. The person, business or professional searches
for an available time slot based on the user's choice of type of appointment
date and time. If a time slot is available on the (person, business or
professional)/facility calendar then the person, business or professional can
then book the appointment for the user. The person, business or professional
can add attachments, letters, description or notes. The attachments, letters,
and description are sent to the facility (clinic or business), person,
business or
professional, the notes are not. Notes are viewed by the referring facility
(clinic or business), person, business or professional only. A confirmation
ticket is generated with "approved" or `Waiting approval" status. Standard
templates can be created for the description and used at another time. A
printout in the form of a letter can be generated with the names of the
referring person, referred to person and demographics of the user. Emails
are generated to inform the user and facility of the appointment. Reminder
emails or text are sent at a predetermined time to tell the user and facility
of
his upcoming appointment or if there are changes to the appointments. Notes
about each appointment can be added and viewed by the referring person,
business or professional only.
A person, business or professional can search for and book appointments for
a user with different categories or types of businesses. For example, a
person, business or professional can book appointment for a user with a
doctor or switch to book appointment for a user with a barber shop or switch
to book appointment for a user with a lawyer. From the calendar, a referred to
person can generate a reply letter to the referring person or the user with
the
referred to person, referred from person and user names generated
automatically and the standard templates inserted to form a letter.
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Appointment list:
A person, business, professional or facility (clinic or business) can view its
past or current appointments
List of appointment to be approved:
A list is kept for the person, business, professional, or facility (clinic or
business) to approve.
2. Booking Permission - Figure 10:
For each calendar, the business can change appointment booking settings of
whether the business wants to confirm whether or not an appointment booking
needs to be approved first. The business can also block access to book
appointments by the general users, outside businesses or inside the business
itself.
3. Walk in clinic - Figure 8 :
Calendars can be set to take users on a walk in and first come first serve
basis.
It can also be set to be displayed or not be displayed on the patient kiosk's
main page as shown in Fig 10. A walk in basis calendar can be set to certain
time basis when walk in appointment s are available. The person, business,
professional or doctor in the clinic can choose to be displayed on the kiosk
for
patients to see whether or not he is available. When a patient/client (user)
checks in with the receptionist or self check in with the kiosk, he can select
to
see a particular person, business, professional or doctor or be randomly
assigned to see a person, business, professional or doctor working in the
clinic
at that time.- Again this is all on a first come first serve basis. The clinic
may
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select to give the patient/client (user) a numerical number so that the
patient/client (user) knows his number in the waitlist queue as shown in Fig.
12.
4. Rebooking appointments;
An appointment can be rebooked. Emails and texts are sent out to let users,
person, business, professional and facility know of the changes. Reasons for
the rebooking may be also included.
5. Cancelling appointments:
An appointment can be cancelled. Emails and texts are sent out to let users,
person, business, professional and facility know of the cancellation. Reasons
for the cancellation may be also included and rebooking of appointment may
be included.
6. Rejecting appointments:
An appointment can be rejected. Emails and texts are sent out to let users,
person, business, professional and facility know of the rejection. Reasons for
the rejection may be also included and rebooking of appointment may be
included.
7. Results of appointments -Figure 19b:
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Results from an appointment can be recorded as shown in Fig 19b.
8. Check in -Figure 7, 19b and 29:
When a patient arrives in the clinic for an appointment, the receptionist or
the
patient can check in with the time recorded.
9. Book off Day -Figure 18:
A period (date and time period) can be changed so that existing appointments
are cancelled and available appointment time slots are made not available.
Emails and texts are sent out to let users, person, business, professional
know of the cancellation. The time period that has been booked off can also be
rebooked again.
is
10. Recall of patient -Figure 19a:
The patient/client (user) can be recalled for a return appointment in the
future
e.g. in one year's time. The facility can type in a new or preformed message
for
emailing or texting to the patient/client (user) to remind him of a recall
appointment. This message will be sent at a predetermined time prior to the
recall appointment time to tell the patient/client (user) of the recall
appointment
and for him to book the appointment. If an appointment exists within a certain
time frame of the recall date, then a message will not be sent.
Messages -Figures 9 & 13:
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Messages can be sent by person, business, professional facility (clinic or
business) or users.
A) Facility (clinic or business) settings:
A facility (clinic or business) determines whether or not it will accept or
not
accept messages from users, person, business, or professional, or other
facilities (clinics or businesses).
B) Person, business, or professional settings:
A person, business, or professional determines whether or not it will accept
or
not accept messages from users, person, business, or professional, or other
facilities (clinics or businesses).
C) Users settings:
A user determines whether or not it will accept or not accept messages from
users, person, business, or professional, or other facilities (clinics or
businesses).
Messages:
Messages can be sent from a message icon or it can be sent from a booked
appointment in the calendar. If it is sent from a booked appointment in the
calendar then
the information regarding the sender, the receiver, the person, and the time
of the
appointment is inserted in the message automatically. Standard templates can
be
created for the description and used at another time. A printout in the form
of a letter
can be generated with the names of the referring person, referred to person
and
demographics of the user. Emails are generated to inform the user and facility
of the
messages.
Referral and consult letters:
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The referring and consult letters can be created at the messaging, calendar or
booking
appointment stage. The heading for the letter, the referring to, the referral
from and who
it is regarding can be automatically displayed and changed at any time. The
salutation
and the body of the letter can be typed new or stored as a template and used
for
another time. The appointment time and date of letter can be automatically
displayed
and changed at any time.
Staff access (Figure 17):
Staff can have various levels of access to the facility's account. Staff is
designated
whether he is a receptionist, manager or administrator. The administrator
assigns the
designations. A receptionist has certain level of access to the site, the
manager has
more access and the administrator has total access. The staff can sign into
the facility
with their email and a specific password assigned to them by the
administrator. The
staff access can be inactivated and activated at any time by the
administrator. The
staffs period and time of access can be assigned and changed by the
administrator.
Password and Access Code:
Password and access code can be changed at any time by the owner.
Data:
Data from the online booking can be shared with and linked to other booking
software
by sharing data.
Facility's Patient or Client (User) Kiosk (Figure 11):
An icon exists on the facility's screen. A facility staff member first logs in
with his email
and assigned staff password. By clicking on the icon, the facility's patients
or clients
(users) kiosk screen appears as shown in Fig. 11. With this, a staff member
can login
into the facility and assign a computer where it is made available for use by
the patient
or client (user). This screen allows patients or clients (users).to login and
check in. The
computer allows patients or clients (users) to register, book an appointment,
rebook an
appointment. Once a patient or client (user) logins, It takes him to his page
(Figure 12).
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The patient or client (user) cannot access the facility's information. The
patient or client
(user) can logout and returns the screen to the facility's patients or clients
(users)
access screen.
A staff member can log out of the facility's patients or clients (users) kiosk
screen by
entering his email and password.
Walk in appointments (Figure 8):
A user can book an appointment on a walk in first come first serve basis by
going to the
location or facility of the business. The user can go to the facility's user
access kiosk
and register or login and then see the professionals who are taking
appointments on a
1o walk in basis. The user can book the appointment with a specific
professional or be
assigned to a random professional who is taking walk in users. The user can
also
choose to let the computer assign him to the first available professional as
shown in Fig.
12.
The receptionist can also book an appointment for a user on a walk in basis.
The
receptionist can also record the result of the walk in appointment. That is,
whether or
not the user was seen, left or refused, etc.
25 We claim:
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