Quick Reference — To apply a schedule template to a provider's schedule

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Important: This article refers to a legacy schedule building workflow related to the Build & Apply Templates page. For information on the new Schedule Builder, released in Spring 2023, refer to this user guide.

 

At this time, you can still use the legacy Build & Apply templates page to manage your practice’s calendars. Anything applied using the Schedule Builder will also be visible and editable from Build & Apply templates. All the templates you apply using the legacy admin pages will appear in the Schedule Builder. Expect communication from athenahealth before these legacy workflows are deprecated.

  1. Display the Build & Apply Templates: Existing Templates page: On the Main Menu, click Settings > Schedule. In the left menu, under Practice Links — Scheduling, click Build & Apply Templates.
  2. In the list of templates at the bottom of the page, locate the template that you want to apply to a provider's schedule.
  3. Click the apply link to the right of the template. The Build & Apply Templates: Set Recurrence page appears.
  1. Department — Select the department where the template will be applied.
  2. Date Range — Select the date range for which the template applies. (The date range may not span more than 12 months.)
  3. Schedule On Holidays — Select "Yes" if you want holidays that fall during this date range to appear available for scheduling; or select "No" to skip holidays.
  4. Recurrence Type — Click the desired options. Based on your selections (daily, weekly, monthly, yearly), additional options appear.
    Note: To build schedules day-by-day, select a one-month time Range, select Monthly for the Recurrence Type, and then select the specific days of the month. Hold down the Ctrl button on your keyboard to select more than one day. It is possible to apply a template in a random pattern on either a monthly or daily basis.
  5. Click Preview to view the result of your selections. When you do, the Build & Apply Templates: Preview Schedule page appears. Be sure to scroll down to see the resulting calendar.
  6. Examine the preview results carefully. The preview includes information at the top of the page about the number of days affected, number of slots to be created and the number of overlapping slots.
    If the preview indicates overlapping slots, that means that some appointment slots already exist for that provider, in that department, on the days you've selected. If you click Apply, the new slots will be "waved" with the existing slots (in other words, both slots will appear in the schedule).
  7. Click Apply to apply the template in the pattern you've defined; or click Cancel to return to the Build & Apply Templates: Preview Schedule page without applying the template.
    When you click Apply, the appointment slots are created. A message appears confirming that the slots were successfully created.

When you apply a template to a schedule, the template acts like a scheduling "stamp," applied to the selected dates on a calendar. This process creates the available appointment slots that can be booked for patient appointments.