Build & Apply Templates: Add
athenaOne for Hospitals & Health Systems
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.
This page allows you to create a new schedule template from scratch.
Note: Templates can be applied across departments. If a provider uses the same template across multiple departments, you can create one template, leave the Department selection blank, and then use that template across all applicable departments.
On the Main Menu, click Settings > Schedule. In the left menu, under Practice Links — Scheduling, click Build & Apply Templates > click add new template
You must have the Schedule admin user permission.
Note: Changes to appointment types and schedule templates may have unintended effects on the Live Operator and Web Scheduling features. If your practice uses the Live Operator or Web Scheduling feature, create a case for the CSC (by selecting Support > Create Case or Call in the Main Menu) before you make changes to appointment types or schedule templates.
- 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. Next, click add new template link. The Build & Apply Templates: Add page appears.
- Provider — Select the provider for the template.
- Department — Select the department where the template will be applied. If you want to apply the template in more than one department, leave this selection blank.
- Name — Enter a short, descriptive, and unique name for the template.
Note: Because the provider name, department (if used), and start/end times will be shown in the template list, you do not need to include those. We recommend naming the template in a way that you will recognize it best in a list. Many use a combination of the days on which it will be applied and the nature of the slots. For example, if you built a template using a slot type called "Open," you could call it "Open, MWF." - Start: and End: menus — Select the start and end times to show the duration for the entire template. (The Start and End date may not span more than 12 months.) When you do, the Schedule Grid at right adjusts to show the corresponding 15-minute time slots. If you use appointment types with 5-minute or 20-minute durations, the schedule grid will change to 5-minute intervals the first time you drag an appointment type onto the grid.
Note: You do not need to fill in all of the gray space on the schedule grid. Think of the grid as your workspace. You can design a template to start or end at any time, with any number of gaps between appointment slots. For example, if the first appointment of the day begins at 7:30am, choose 7:00am as the start time for the schedule grid and drag your first appointment into the 7:30am slot. You do not have to fill the slots prior to 7:30am. - Select Appointment Type: — Select the appointment type for an individual appointment slot you want to create. When you do, the appointment type appears in the blue box under the Click and Drag to Schedule Grid >> label.
- Click the blue box and drag it to the schedule grid. When you see the red outline, drop the box in the desired time slot. You can do this any number of times to add multiple time slots with the same appointment type. If you are going to add several slots in a row of the same type, you can click in the blue box in the bottom right corner of the appointment slot and drag down to the appropriate end time.
- Select Appointment Type: — To add time slots with different appointment types, select the desired appointment type and drag it to the correct time on the schedule grid.
Note: You cannot drop an appointment type before the start time or after the end time. You must use the Start: and End: menus to define the duration of the template. - After you complete your template, you can either:
- Click Save to save the template to display the Build & Apply Templates: Existing Templates page with the new template listed; or
- Click Save and Apply to proceed to the Build & Apply Templates: Set Recurrence page, where you can select options to apply the template to a provider schedule.
- 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.
- In the list of templates at the bottom of the page, locate the template that you want to apply to a provider's schedule.
- Click the apply link to the right of the template. The Build & Apply Templates: Set Recurrence page appears.
- Department — Select the department where the template will be applied.
- Date Range — Select the date range for which the template applies. (The date range may not span more than 12 months.)
- 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.
- 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. - 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.
- 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). - 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.
Important: Updating a template does not automatically change the provider schedule where the template is used. Any slots you created using the former version of the template still exist. To modify the provider's schedule, use the Manage Applied Templates page.
- 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.
- In the list of templates at the bottom of the page, locate the template that you want to apply to a provider's schedule. You can use the Department and Provider multi-select filters to limit the list. To view templates not associated with a specific department, select "Any" from the Department filter.
- Click the edit link to the left of the template. The Build & Apply Templates: Edit page appears.
- You can make changes using a drag-and-drop method to add new slots, remove slots, or rearrange slots. You can also change the provider, department, or name of the template using the fields provided.
- To remove a slot, click and drag it off the schedule grid.
- To add a new slot, select an appointment type from the Select Appointment Type: list, and then drag the box surrounded in blue onto the schedule grid.
Note: If you need to add slots to the beginning or end of the day, you must change the start and end times to display open space on the schedule grid. - To add a "waved" slot (that is, two or more appointment slots in a single time slot), drag an appointment type into the small gray shaded area to the right of the existing slot until a red outline appears. Drop the slot next to the existing one.
The copy link allows you to copy a template for one provider and save it under another provider's name.
- 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.
- In the list of templates at the bottom of the page, locate the template that you want to copy for another provider's schedule.
- Click the copy link to the right of the template. The Build & Apply Templates: Copy page appears.
- Provider — Select the new provider for the template.
- Name — Enter a short, descriptive, unique name for the template.
Note: Because the provider name, department (if used), and start/end times will be shown in the template list, you do not need to include them. We recommend naming the template in a way that you will recognize it best in a list. You can use a combination of the days on which the template will be applied and the nature of the slots. For example, if you built a template using a slot type called "Open," you could call it "Open, MWF." - Make any additional changes, if desired.
- To remove a slot, click and drag it off of the schedule grid.
- To add a new slot, select an appointment type from the Select Appointment Type: menu, and then drag the box surrounded in blue onto the schedule grid.
Note: If you need to add slots to the beginning or end of the day, you need to change the start and end times to display open space on the schedule grid. - To add a "waved" slot (that is, two or more appointment slots in a single time slot), drag an appointment type into the small gray shaded area to the right of the existing slot until a red outline appears. Drop the slot next to the existing one.
You can make changes to the pre-filled appointment slots using a drag-and-drop method:
After you drag an appointment type instance to the schedule grid, there are several handy options available:
- Click the blue box at the lower right corner to drag the appointment type down to fill the empty time slot below with the same appointment type.
- Add any number of appointment slots to the same time slot. This is called a "waved" schedule. The "click and drag down function" noted above also works for waved slots.
- Remove a slot using the drag-and-drop method: drag the blue box off the schedule grid and drop it anywhere outside the grid (so that it disappears).
Filter Templates | |
---|---|
Department |
Select one or more departments to include in the list of templates at the bottom of the page. To view templates not associated with a specific department, select "Any-" from the Department filter. |
Provider |
Select one or more providers to include in the list of templates at the bottom of the page. |
Existing Templates | |
Action |
Links to apply, edit, and copy the template |
Name |
The name of the template. |
Provider |
The username of the provider who used the template |
Department |
The name of the department where the schedule template is applied to the schedule. Providers may see patients in different departments, so this is the department of the appointment slots in the schedule, and not necessarily the provider's home department. |
Start |
The start time of the first appointment slot in the template. (The start and end time may not span more than 12 months.) |
End |
The end time of the last appointment slot in the template. (The start and end time may not span more than 12 months.) |
Created |
The date that the template was created. |