Overview
Rescheduling gives patients a way to move their appointment from their reminder. The patient picks a new time from your real openings and confirms. NexHealth moves the appointment in your schedule and your EHR.
The appointment moves. It isn't cancelled and rebooked, so it keeps its history, reminders, and forms. The patient never gets a cancellation message.
You control rescheduling for each appointment type at each location:
Which appointment types patients can reschedule
How close to the appointment they can reschedule (the cutoff)
How far out they can move it (the booking window)
Whether they have to stay with the same provider
Note: Rescheduling is in beta. Your account manager can confirm whether it's on for your office.
Before you begin
Prerequisite: Your location uses one of these EHRs: Dentrix, Eaglesoft, Open Dental, Dentrix Enterprise, or Denticon. On another EHR? Ask your account manager about timing.
Prerequisite: The appointment type is available to book online. See How do I allow patients to book different types of care?
Prerequisite: The appointment type is mapped to at least one provider with availability. Patients can only reschedule into open times. See How do I set up providers and provider availability for online booking?
Turn on rescheduling for an appointment type
1. Open Settings.
Click your profile icon in the top right, then click Settings.
2. Navigate to Scheduling → Appointment types.
In the left menu, under Scheduling, click Appointment types. Make sure the location selector at the top shows the location you want to set up.
3. Select the appointment type.
Click the appointment type patients should be able to reschedule, like a cleaning or a checkup. The Edit appointment type window opens.
4. Turn on Allow patient to reschedule?
Click the Allow patient to reschedule? toggle. The reschedule settings appear below it.
5. Choose a reschedule cutoff.
Under Reschedule cutoff, choose how much notice you need, for example 72 hours before appointment. Inside this window, the reschedule link tells the patient to call your office instead of showing open times.
Important: Match the cutoff to your cancellation policy. If you ask for 72 hours' notice, set a 72-hour cutoff.
6. Choose a booking window.
Under Booking window for new time, choose how far out patients can move their appointment, for example Up to 8 weeks out. It can't be longer than your online booking window.
7. Choose whether patients stay with the same provider.
Turn on Same provider only? to show patients only the open times with the provider they're already booked with. Turn it off to show open times with any eligible provider.
8. Click Save.
Rescheduling is now on for this appointment type at this location.
9. Copy the settings to your other locations (optional).
On the Appointment types page, click Share next to Copy to other locations so you don't have to repeat these steps for each location.
Reschedule settings reference
Setting | What it does |
Allow patient to reschedule? | Lets patients reschedule this appointment type from their reminder |
Reschedule cutoff | Inside this window, the reschedule link shows "Call us" instead of open times |
Booking window for new time | How far out patients can move their appointment. Can't be longer than your online booking window. |
Same provider only? | Patients only see open times with the provider they're already booked with |
How patients reschedule
1. The patient opens their appointment reminder.
The link in their reminder opens the Confirm your appointment page. They don't need to log in.
2. The patient taps Reschedule.
Under their appointment, next to "Can't make it?", the patient taps Reschedule.
3. The patient picks a new time.
The Select a date and time page shows open times that fit your settings, grouped by provider.
4. The patient confirms the new time.
The Confirm your new appointment time page shows the New time above the Current time. The patient taps Confirm new time, and the appointment moves. They don't get a cancellation message.
Note: The reschedule link works for one month after the message is sent, as long as the appointment is still outside your cutoff.
Where rescheduled appointments appear
Notifications: your team is notified when a patient reschedules, the same way you're notified about cancellations.
Online booking feed: rescheduled appointments appear here with a badge in the appointment details.
Activity feed: an entry shows the patient rescheduled their appointment via online booking.
Your EHR: the appointment moves to the new time. There's nothing to re-enter.
What patients can't change
A reschedule is the same visit at a new time. Patients can't use it to:
Move to a different location. They can cancel and book at the new location, or call your office.
Change the appointment type. A cleaning stays a cleaning.
Move several family members at once. Each appointment reschedules on its own.
If a reschedule doesn't sync to your EHR
NexHealth retries the update automatically. If it still doesn't go through, your team gets an action-required notification. Update the appointment in your EHR before the patient arrives.
If NexHealth can't book the new time at all, the original appointment stays where it was, and the patient is asked to contact your office.
Note: If someone on your team changes the appointment in your EHR while the patient has the link open, the patient sees the updated appointment and reschedules from there. Their change won't overwrite yours.
Best practices
Start with hygiene. Turn on rescheduling for cleanings and checkups first. Add other appointment types once your team is comfortable.
Keep long procedures call-only. Leave rescheduling off for visits that need planning, like surgeries.
Loosen provider matching for hygiene. If any hygienist can see the patient, turn off Same provider only? to show more open times.
Tell patients it's there. A quick mention at checkout helps patients use the link instead of calling.
FAQ
Do patients need to log in to reschedule?
No. The link in their reminder works on its own, the same way cancelling does today.
Will the patient get a cancellation message?
No. They get an updated confirmation for the new time.
Can a patient reschedule the morning of their appointment?
Not if it's inside your cutoff. They'll see a message to call your office.
Can patients choose a different provider?
Only if you turn off Same provider only? for that appointment type.
Does rescheduling charge a fee?
No. Rescheduling doesn't charge patients.