The HotDoc Sidebar is where you can manage patient bookings that are unable to be automatically confirmed by HotDoc.

1. Accessing the Sidebar

Now that your Dashboard is configured, you can start processing appointments through the HotDoc Sidebar. 

You can access this through your Dashboard by clicking on the Open Sidebar at the top of the Dashboard or using this URL:

• When accessing the Sidebar for the first time, you will need to log in using the same credentials used to access the Dashboard.
  
  
• Once you have logged in, ensure that you allow notifications on the web browser. You should receive a prompt at the top of the window as shown below:
  
  
  
  
• Once you click Enable Notifications, you should be able to enable them directly from within your browser as shown:
  
  
  
  

2. Processing appointments

Once Genie and HotDoc are configured correctly, your appointments will automatically sync from the HotDoc system directly into your Genie Appointment Book.

There are, however, a few instances where you may need to manually approve appointments that patients request. Processing and approving these appointments can be done easily utilising the HotDoc Sidebar.

When a patient books an appointment through HotDoc, the Sidebar will look at the following details and try to match it against a patient in your Genie patient list (Open > Patients):

• First Name
• Last Name
• DOB
• Gender

If there are discrepancies in these details, you will need to manually confirm the appointment in your Sidebar.

• If you have set up your Sidebar notifications correctly, you should receive a notification from your web browser to explain that there is an appointment you need to action. In this window you can usually choose from the following options for each patient appointment.
  
  
  
  
• Once in the Sidebar, you can confirm or reject the patient appointment after reviewing the details provided:
  
  
  
  
• If the patient is existing but accidentally booked as a new patient, or if the patient's name in their HotDoc account does not match your Genie records exactly, you can either Reject the booking or select the right match at the bottom of the window.
  
  Alternatively, if the patient is new but booked as an existing patient, you can choose to either Reject the booking or Create New Patient. Creating a new patient will allow HotDoc to create a file for the patient in your Genie Software:
  
  

  An existing patient books as a 'New Patient' or multiple patient record matches found. In this case, you can choose the correct record by selecting 'other patient matches'

  A new patient books as an existing patient of the practice. In this case you can select Create New Patient and HotDoc will create a new practice patient in your database

  
  
  
• There may be other scenarios that are presented in the Sidebar. In most cases, reading the heading will let you know what's occurred so you can choose the appropriate action: