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Introduction

Waitlist management is a system designed to allow patients to queue for availability slots with a provider. It ensures that patients are notified of an availability slot with their provider of interest for their preferred time, visit type, and reasons as soon as an opening becomes available, easing appointment scheduling.

Patients Can Join a Provider's Waitlist in Two Ways:​

  1. Through the patient-facing side (BookADoc)
  2. Through the clinic admin side – requires visiting or calling the hospital.

1. Patient-Facing Waitlist Process​

Patients can search for a provider or a visit reason. If the provider has no open availability for the week, a "Join Waitlist" button appears on the provider's card.

Waitlist Form Submission​

When patients click the "Join Waitlist" button, they are presented with a form to enter the following details:

Bio Data (Pre-filled if the user is signed in)​
  • First Name
  • Last Name
  • Date of Birth
  • Gender
  • Email
  • Phone Number
Waitlist Information​
  • Visit Type
  • Visit Reason
  • Preferred Time
  • Acceptance of Terms and Conditions

After submitting the form:

  • If the patient is not signed in, a guest account is created.
  • The patient is added to the waitlist for that provider with a status of "Active".

Waitlist Confirmation​

Once added to the provider's waitlist, the patient receives both an email and an SMS notification containing the following details:

  • Provider Name
  • Provider Department/Specialty
  • Visit Reason
  • Preferred Time

Additionally:

  • The email contains a button to leave the waitlist.
  • The SMS includes an option to reply "LEAVEWAITLIST" to be removed.

Availability Notification & Booking​

  • Patients are not notified until an available slot matches their visit type and preferred time.
  • When a matching slot opens, the patient receives an email with a booking button.
  • Clicking the button redirects them to BookADoc to complete the appointment booking and redirects to workflows.

2. Clinic Admin Waitlist Process​

This method requires hospital visit or phone call to the clinic admin.

The clinic admin logs into the Alethian EHR software, navigates to the Waitlist section, and opens the Dashboard.
The dashboard displays providers in cards or list view with search, sort, and filter options.

Adding a Patient to a Waitlist​

The clinic admin can add a patient in two ways:

  1. Clicking the "Add Patient" icon on a provider card.
  2. Clicking on a provider card to open a detailed view, then clicking the "Add Patient" button.
Side Drawer - [Existing | New] Patient Tabs​

A side drawer appears with two tabs:

  • Existing Patients (default)
  • New Patients

1. Existing Patient Tab​

  • Used to search for existing patients in the clinic database.
  • The search box is active by default and allows searching by:
    • First Name
    • Last Name
    • Email
    • Date of Birth
Process​
  1. The clinic admin searches for an existing patient.
  2. Search results appear in list radio select cards.
  3. The admin selects a patient, enabling the "Add Patient" button in the drawer footer.
  4. Clicking "Add Patient" pre-fills the Bio Data section of the waitlist form.
  5. The admin fills out the remaining Waitlist Preferences.
  6. Clicking "Submit" adds the patient to the provider's waitlist.

2. New Patient Tab​

  • The clinic admin manually fills out both the Bio Data and Waitlist Preferences sections for a new patient.
  • On submission:
    • A guest account is created.
    • The patient is added to the provider's waitlist.
  • The process then follows the same notification and slot booking steps as described earlier.

Final Steps for Patients​

  • Patients wait for an availability slot.
  • They receive an email notification and SMS notification when a matching slot opens.
  • They can then confirm their appointment via the email link.

Key Notes​

  • A patient receives only one availability notification per provider per day.
  • The available slot must match the patient’s waitlist preferences, including preferred time and visit type.

How Availability Slots Are Created​

  1. Manually – The clinic admin creates a new availability slot.
  2. By Cancellation – A patient cancels an appointment, freeing up a slot with the provider.