Appointments types are used by appointments and authorizations; furthermore, they control the appearance of the appointment in the calendar. They help define and categorize appointments within the practice. They consist of the following fields:

· Name – This is the name of the appointment type and is displayed when selecting the appointment type on an appointment or authorization.

· Active – By default this will be checked. It should be deselected if the appointment type should no longer be a valid selection. Note that once an appointment type is used by an appointment or authorization, it may not be deleted.

· Scope – Select one of the following:

o Student (Therapy) – Used for scheduling student appointments. These are typically billed to an insurance company or directly to the student (private pay).

o Student (Non-Therapy) – Used to block off time for a student so conflicting appointments are not created. Some examples include a student’s vacation, sport practices/games, summer camp, etc.

o Non-Student – Used to schedule appointments that are not related to a student. Some examples include staff member time off, staff meetings, etc.

· Non-Billable – By default this will be unchecked. If checked, then appointments with this type cannot have a session created and they also cannot have an authorization selected. This will allow your practice to schedule Student (Therapy) appointments that should not be billed.

· Default Location - This optional field is used to set the location on a new appointment once the appointment type is selected. It will override the default location from the user’s schedule settings if they have made a selection.

· Require Authorization – By default this will be unchecked. If checked, then any appointments that use this appointment type must include an authorization in order to be saved.

· Default Billing Provider – This optional field is used to set the billing provider for new sessions.

The selected billing provider will be used for a new session, assuming the student does not already have a default billing provider and there is not an authorization for the appointment with a billing provider.

· Default Duration – This optional field is used to set the duration on a new appointment once the appointment type is selected. It may be populated if the all new appointments for this type typically are for the same amount of time. The value must be in minutes.

· Color – Click on this field to bring up the color chart and select a color for this appointment type.

This controls the background color or the appointment on the various calendars. It is suggested that darker colors are used here as the foreground text in the calendar will always be white.

· Color Description – Enter a color description for the selected color (e.g. Light Blue or Dark Red).

Since the color field only displays the hexadecimal representation of the color in the list views, this description may be helpful when comparing the appointment types in your practice.