Setting up practice hours

From the Appointment Book, you can customize your practice hours, some appointment defaults, and the time block size used throughout the system. Setup information is stored on the file server and that information is available to all computers on the network with the exception of default appointment settings, screen color, and button bar orientation. These options are specific to each computer on your network. You can schedule your appointments in 5-, 10-, 15-, 20-, or 30-minute intervals.

To set up practice hours

1.   In the Appointment Book, click Setup, and then click Practice Appointment Setup.

The Practice Appointment Setup dialog box appears.

 

2.   To modify the Default Schedule, do the following:

·        Select the days of the week your practice is open.

·        Clear the days of the week your practice is closed.

3.   To set working hours for each day your practice is open, do the following:

·        Click the search button to the right of the day.

The Set Time Limits dialog box appears.

 

Note: The Appointment Book allows you to break each day into three time ranges. The default for each day is 8:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m. and 1:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m.

·        Click the Start Time or End Time search button to change the range of a time block.

The Select Time dialog box appears.

·        Click the left arrow to decrease or the right arrow to increase the time by intervals of 10 minutes.

·        Click OK to finish.

4.   Select the time block size that fits the scheduling needs of your practice.

Notes:

·        Changing the time block size after you have scheduled appointments may make the appointment times invalid until you edit and move each appointment manually.

·        Time block size is used during Procedure Code Setup to indicate how long a procedure will take to complete. The Procedure Code Editor stores this information in units, not actual time. As a result, changing the time block size can change your procedure time settings. For example, if your original Procedure Code Setup used 10-minute time blocks, Dentrix would enter a procedure that required 60 minutes as six units. If you change the time block size to 15 minutes, the Procedure Code Editor still reads six units for that procedure, but the procedure will default to 90 minutes instead of 60.

5.   Under Appointment Amount, select one of the following options.

·        Always Calculate - To recalculate appointment amounts by default according to provider and fee changes. When you select this option, you cannot edit the amount when you make an appointment.

·        Allow Amount to be entered/fixed - To enter an appointment amount when you schedule the appointment.

Note: This option still automatically calculates the appointment amount according to the procedures and provider selected; however, you can edit the amount when you schedule the appointment.

6.   To have the time bar in the Appointment Book show on the right and left sides of the window, select View Time at Right.

7.   To customize the information that appears in the Hover window, click Hover Detail Setup.

8.   To save your changes and return to the Appointment Book, click OK.