What is the context?
The Eligibility-based Appointment and Service Design functionality brings the flexibility of module-based service types directly into appointment type configuration. Previously, length and included services had to be managed by attaching modules to appointments. Now, this same functionality can be managed directly within the Appointment Type itself.
Appointment types now have more configurable options on automatically included services, required attendees and patients' eligibility. With its adaptable features, Meddbase allows users to configure appointment types according to a patient's sex or age, as well as the ability to include specific services to be consumed within set appointment types.
This flexibility ensures that appointments are appropriate for each individual, streamlining administrative workflows and enhancing the overall patient experience by making sure that appointments are suited to the patient’s unique circumstances.
What is the purpose of the article?
This article will guide you through the process of configuring new appointment settings in Appointment Admin, providing step-by-step instructions on how to customise your chamber to ensure appointments and services are tailored to each patient's eligibility. It will also explain how these settings affect the booking process.
If you would like this feature enabled in your chamber, please speak to your account manager or raise a support ticket.
New options in Appointment Admin
Navigate to Start Page > Admin > Appointment Admin and either 'Edit' an existing appointment type or create a 'New' appointment type. The tabs 'Services & Attendees' and 'Patient Eligibility' will be available.
Once enabled, these tabs will be available for all appointment types.
Configuring Included Services & Structured Attendees
The 'Services & Attendees' tab allows you to automatically add individual services and attendee specifications to the appointment type as required.
To add a service:
- Start typing the name of the service under 'Search for services'.
- Services that have been created in Service Management will show in a list.
- Select the service you wish to add, and it will show in a table format to the right of the search.
Once a service has been added to the appointment type, you will then be able to set the Patient Eligibility criteria for that particular service.
Where a patient doesn't meet the criteria of a given service, it is simply removed from the appointment and not provided in.
Please note: Appointment types which utilise Services and Structured attendees are not able to be associated with Modules. Therefore, Module services cannot be added to the appointment type, therefore, none will be returned in the search bar.
Structure of attendees
Similarly to Modules, it is possible to add attendee specifications and multiple attendees to your appointment type.
- Click ‘Add Attendee’.
- Select a specifier; this will be either a role group or a specialism. Continue by selecting the required role or specialism, and repeat these steps as many times as required, depending on the number of attendees the module needs.
- Identify the primary attendee by using the radio button on the rightmost side.
- The primary attendee is who will be shown in the slot finder and who leads the appointment.
- Define the start time of an attendee by using the ‘Start Offset’ dropdown.
- Define the length of time the attendee must be present for by the ‘Length’ dropdown.
Please note: The sum of the times stated here will be added to the overall ‘Default Duration’ set for the appointment type.
Booking an Appointment Type with Services and Attendees
When an appointment type with Services & Attendees is configured, the booking must be facilitated through the Slot Finder.
Example appointment type "1 appointment B" configuration:
- Default duration of 0 minutes (as length will be determined via scheduled attendees)
- Primary attendee is based on the role group "Health Technician", where the start offset is 0 mins and the length of attendance is 30 minutes
- A 2nd attendee is based on the role group "Physician", where the start offset is 30 minutes and the length of attendance is 30 minutes.
The overall length of the appointment is 60 minutes.
When booking an appointment using Slot Finder, you might notice that the following options are greyed out:
- Add a Module
- Filter by Specialism Preference
- Filter by Role
- Filter by Duration
This is because the appointment type is acting as a module itself, rather than requiring an additional service to be selected as a module.
In this case:
- The appointment already includes the relevant service/module.
- The specialism and role of the attendee are already defined by the appointment setup.
- The appointment duration is also fixed.
Since all of this is pre-configured, the greyed-out options are no longer needed and cannot be changed.
When you select a slot and proceed to the booking confirmation page, you may notice that Meddbase has automatically selected a second attendee, based on the criteria we set in the appointment type.
Upon saving the booking, the option to add a module will be greyed out in the Slot Finder upon booking.
Configuring Patient Eligibility
The 'Patient Eligibility' tab allows you to configure eligibility criteria in order for a patient to be booked in for this appointment type.
This feature is also available for individual service types and can be configured in the same way, under Admin> Service Management.
| Field Name | Notes |
| Sex |
Drop-down Values:
|
| Minimum Age |
|
| Maximum Age |
|
FAQ
Q: When the appointment type has associated services, is it expected behaviour that you only see a breakdown of those services within the consultation?
A: Yes. The breakdown of services is not visible during the booking process or on the appointment home page. It is shown in the Appt Activity log though as 'Add service' log for each service. But otherwise you would only see it within the Consultation. This behaves the same as current Modules where the Billing Type is set to 'bill as a Single service'. The individual services added to make it a module do not appear during booking or on invoices.
Q: The cost listed on the invoice is only the appointment type, it ignores the amount set in billing rules for those services?
A: Yes. The way these new appointment types with associated services work is the same as a Module service in Meddbase. Once the appointment type has associated services or attendee settings assigned the system considers it to be a 'Module' and therefore acts the same way. However the difference here in regards to billing is that it acts as Module as 'bill as a single service' only (whereas the module has a few billing setting types) and therefore only the appointment type is charged, like how only the module cost is charged unless the billing type is set to 'Bill as individual services' (where each service is charged on the invoice).
Q: Patient Eligibility Hierarchy: Which service takes precedent? If each service has patient eligibility criteria/split attendees, and then they're added to an appointment that also has its own patient eligibility/split attendees, which one is followed?
A: In terms of Patient Eligibility (PE) hierarchy, the appointment type PE overrides the service management PE settings. Within an appointment type where the appointment type PE and the added associated services is individually set to different PEs, all that is eligible will apply to the patient.
Review date
This article was last updated on 7th May 2025.