The waitlist allows you to fill openings in your schedule by offering available slots to patients so they can book appointments with just one tap. The waitlist uses the NexHealth Synchronizer to insert appointments into your calendar, preventing double bookings.
Select the time slot you want to fill
1. When provider availability is configured, available openings will be displayed. Select the slot you’d like to fill from the displayed openings or choose New waitlist request to enter the available opening details.
2. The slot selection filters allow you to match availability with patients who want to come in sooner, using the provider, operatory, and even appointment type needed.
Add patients
You can add patients to a waitlist request from four different groups:
Your practice management system ASAP list
Patients overdue for Continuing Care
Patients who missed or canceled appointments
Manually
3. Add patients to your request by choosing from the ASAP* and Continuing Care* lists from your health record system, choosing patients who have missed or canceled an appointment and not rescheduled, or hand-select patients using the search bar.
*ASAP and Continuing Care lists are dependent on your EHR (see below for more details).
Click on a tile to select the desired patients and adjust the filters as needed:
*ASAP, Continuing Care, and Missed/Cancelled appointments vary by practice management system. See below for more specifics.
Continuing Care depends on your system and how it has been configured in NexHealth
Eaglesoft = Next Recall
Other systems generally rely on the recorded due date for Prophy, Perio, etc.
Missed/Cancelled depends on how you mark those appointments in your practice management system and what we read in NexHealth. A good check is whether or not we send the Missed and Cancelled templates to patients.
Send the request
4. Click Send. NexHealth will send your Waitlist template.
Smart send
For larger selections of patients, Smart send will send out your Waitlist request in batches of 10 patients every 5 minutes, prioritizing patients who have not recently received a Waitlist request. This ensures patients are not frustrated by "never" being able to claim a Waitlist spot, while still keeping your schedule full.
Waitlist FAQs
What does the Waitlist patient experience look like?
Patients receive your Waitlist request via text and/or email, according to your template and their communication preferences.
Patients tap “Book now” in their message. The NexHealth 1-Click booking experience will match the patient with their profile in NexHealth, which means they don’t need any additional information to confirm.
What happens if a patient tries to book a slot that has already been claimed?
If a patient selects a slot that has already been booked by another patient or through your Online Booking, they will receive a message that says “The time you have selected is no longer available.” They are redirected to your Online Booking and offered any upcoming open appointments.
What happens when a patient selects their appointment?
After a patient successfully selects their appointment from your Waitlist request, three things happen:
The appointment is inserted in your health record system calendar.
You receive a notification on the Activity page indicating that the patient has booked a Waitlist appointment.
The appointment slot no longer shows as available in the Waitlist request or Online Booking.
For patients selected from your ASAP list, you must cancel their original appointment.
Can I add more than one slot to my Waitlist request?
Yes! You can add up to 5 slots to each Waitlist request using the +Add slot button after selecting the initial slot you would like to fill.
How do I edit the default template wording?
There are two templates for Waitlist requests:
Waitlist ASAP Appointment, which is sent when you choose from your ASAP list, for patients who have missed or canceled appointments, and hand-selected patients
Waitlist Continuing Care, which is sent to patients chosen from your continuing care list
Want to edit your templates? Learn how here.
*ASAP list depends on the health record system
Dentrix, Dentrix Ascend, Dentrix Enterprise, OpenDental = ASAP
Eaglesoft = Sooner if possible (not Quickfill)
Curve, Denticon = Short notice list
ModMed, Athena = Waitlist