Skip to main content

Appointments

Manage your practice schedule with a calendar that knows your services, your staff, and the materials each visit will consume.

A representative preview of the schedule interface. The sections below carry the full, readable detail.

Booking a New Appointment

1

Open the Appointments Page

From the sidebar, click Appointments. You will see the calendar view with day, week, and month tabs at the top. Today is highlighted.

2

Click an Empty Time Slot

Click any open slot on the calendar, or use the New Appointment button. The appointment form opens with the clicked date and time pre-filled.

3

Select the Patient

Search by name in the patient dropdown. You can only schedule for an existing patient - if they are new, use the link in the form to jump to the Patients page first, add them, then come back.

4

Pick the Service and Staff Member

Select an appointment type or a service from your service catalog. If you select a service, the fee and any default materials are pulled in automatically. Assign a staff member responsible for the visit - they will see this appointment on their personal calendar filter.

5

Set Date, Time, and Duration

Choose the start and end time. HM Praxis warns you if the slot collides with another appointment for the same staff member, but it does not block you - sometimes overlaps are intentional (double-booking, consultations during procedures).

6

Optional: Make it Recurring

For repeat visits (weekly therapy, monthly checkups), turn on Recurring and choose a pattern: daily, weekly, biweekly, or monthly. Set either an end date or a fixed number of occurrences. HM Praxis creates one row per occurrence, so cancelling one does not cancel the series.

7

Save the Appointment

Click Save. The appointment appears on the calendar in its scheduled color. The patient is notified if you have notifications configured.

Use the notes field

Add prep instructions, why the patient is coming in, or anything the staff member should know before the visit.

Staff Assignment

Every appointment can be assigned to a staff member. The calendar header has a filter dropdown that shows only that staff member's appointments, which is useful when reviewing tomorrow's roster or printing day sheets.

  • Choose a staff member when creating or editing the appointment
  • Track who assigned the appointment and when
  • Filter the calendar by staff to see one person's day
  • Leave staff blank for unassigned visits, then assign later

Materials: Planned vs. Used

HM Praxis tracks materials in two phases for each appointment:

Planned

When you attach a service to the appointment, its default materials are added as planned. This reserves the stock and shows up in the inventory reservations report.

Used

When you complete the appointment, you confirm or adjust the actual quantities used. HM Praxis decrements inventory based on used (not planned) so your stock counts stay accurate.

Completing an Appointment

When the visit is done, open the appointment and click Mark as Completed. HM Praxis walks you through:

  1. Reviewing planned materials and adjusting actual quantities used
  2. Adding any extra materials consumed during the visit
  3. Confirming the service fee
  4. Optionally creating an invoice immediately from the appointment
One-click invoice

The "Create invoice" step copies the service, materials, and fee straight into a new invoice for that patient. You can edit before sending.

Appointment Statuses

Each appointment moves through one of these states:

  • Scheduled - the default after booking
  • Confirmed - patient has acknowledged the visit
  • Completed - the visit happened, materials and invoice settled
  • Cancelled - patient or practice cancelled; the slot opens up again
  • No Show - patient did not arrive

Notifications

When you create or change an appointment, HM Praxis writes a notification to your local notification feed (top-right bell icon). This is an internal reminder for staff - HM Praxis does not send SMS or email to patients directly from the desktop app.