Before patients can request an appointment through the patient portal, your clinic has to open the departments, doctors, and services available for self-booking. This guide walks through setting up online booking availability and what patients can book, so you can get your clinic ready for online requests.
How appointment requests work in the patient portal
When a patient requests an appointment through the patient portal, they move through one step-by-step form: Clinic, Specialty, Doctor, Service, then Day and Time. It shows every field from the start, but each one stays inactive until the previous step is completed. Nothing pops in or disappears as the patient moves through it; fields simply go from inactive to active in order.
- Clinic: Patients choose from clinics where their email is confirmed. The selected clinic is where the appointment request is created.
- Specialty: Patients select from your clinic’s departments, shown as specialties in the patient portal.
- Doctor: Available doctors are based on the selected specialty and clinic.
- Service: Shows the selected doctor’s services with their price and currency.
- Day and Time: Shows available slots for the selected doctor and service, based on the same availability your team uses when scheduling visits in LinkHMS.
💡Notes
The booking form uses your clinic’s existing departments, doctor assignments, and services, so no separate setup is required. Patients see the same information your team already manages in Administration.
Managing what’s available for online booking
The Available for online bookings checkbox is available for three types of items:
- Departments (Specialties)
- Doctors
- Services
When the checkbox is selected, the department, doctor, or service can appear in the patient’s booking form. When it is left unchecked, that option is completely hidden from patients rather than shown as unavailable.
Making departments available
Start with the departments you want patients to see as specialties in the patient portal. Open each department and select the Available for online bookings checkbox.
Leave the checkbox unselected for departments that should not accept appointment requests through the patient portal.
Making doctors available
For each available department, select the Available for online bookings checkbox for the doctors you want patients to see.
💡Notes
A doctor only appears in the booking form when their department is also available for online booking. If the department is not available, patients will not see its doctors.
Leave the checkbox unselected for doctors who only accept referrals, require a consultation before scheduling, or should not receive appointment requests through the patient portal.
Making services available
For each available doctor, select the Available for online bookings checkbox for the services patients can request.
💡Notes
Online booking availability works across all three levels: Department, Doctor, and Service. A service appears in the patient portal only when the Available for online bookings checkbox is selected at every level. For example, even if a service is enabled, patients will not see it if its doctor or department is not available for online booking. This ensures patients only see services that belong to departments and doctors your clinic has made available for online appointment requests.
Leave the checkbox unselected for services that require triage, prior consultation, or staff involvement before scheduling.
Updating online booking availability
Review your departments, doctors, and services regularly to make sure the Available for online bookings checkboxes reflect what you currently want patients to see in the patient portal. This is especially useful after adding a new doctor or service, changing a doctor’s availability, or updating the services your clinic provides.
- Open an existing department, doctor, or service to update, or create a new one.
- Find the Available for online bookings checkbox.
- Select the checkbox to make the item available for online booking, or clear it to remove it from the patient portal booking form and save your changes.
- If needed, review the related department, doctor, and service to make sure online booking is enabled at all three levels.
You can update these checkboxes at any time, especially after adding a new doctor or service or changing what your clinic wants to make available for online appointment requests.