The HotDoc Sidebar, used in conjunction with the HotDoc Appointment Calendar, will assist with accepting and placing appointments into your calendar while making sure patient details are entered correctly.

Please read the following guide and view the training video to learn more about processing appointments in the HotDoc Sidebar. 

Training Video

What is the HotDoc Sidebar?

The HotDoc Sidebar is an application that allows you to review all online appointment requests before they are entered into your Appointment Calendar.

When a patient books an appointment through HotDoc, the Sidebar will look at the following details to determine whether the patient already exists in your HotDoc database:

• First Name
• Last Name
• DOB
• Gender

As patients make an appointment, they will be sent to the HotDoc Sidebar with a call to action so that your Reception team can easily process the request.

• The Sidebar can be accessed via the HotDoc Dashboard using the Open Sidebar button:
  
  
  
  
• If running a Windows environment, you also have the option to install the HotDoc Sidebar application on your workstation.
  

• When accessing the Sidebar for the first time, you will need to log in using the same clinic user details used to access the HotDoc Dashboard.
  
  
• If opening the HotDoc Sidebar from the Dashboard, you may need to Enable Notifications. You should receive a prompt at the top of the window as shown below:
  
  
  
  

How Does the HotDoc Sidebar work?

For practices who use the HotDoc Appointment Calendar, by default you must process all online booking requests for your practice using the HotDoc Sidebar. Please use the steps below to learn how to action a booking request:

1. When a request is made, you should see an alert notifying you of the appointment that requires attention:
   
   
   
   If using the Sidebar opened from the Dashboard, and notifications are allowed, an in-browser alert will appear when an appointment has been requested:
   
   
   
   
2. Clicking into the alert will take you to the Sidebar to inspect the appointment details. Reception can action the booking by choosing an option such as confirming the booking, rejecting the booking, creating a new patient file, or choosing a different patient to add into the calendar:
   
   

   Example of a Sidebar call to action for a patient who has booked via HotDoc for your practice (existing patient)

   Example of a Sidebar call to action for a patient who has has not booked via HotDoc for your practice (new patient)

   
   
3. During this time, we will insert a placeholder into the appointment book that says Check HotDoc Sidebar to reserve the spot for any request made until the appointment request has been actioned:
   
   
   

Verifying Patient Details in the Sidebar

While below are the most common reasons you may need to validate a patient's details in the Sidebar, there may be other scenarios. In most cases, reading the heading in the Sidebar alert will let you know what's occurred so you can choose the appropriate action.

Existing Patient booked as New

In some cases, the patient may have made an appointment with your practice using HotDoc before, but has accidentally booked as a 'new patient' to your practice.

Alternatively, sometimes the patient's name in their HotDoc account does not match your HotDoc patient records exactly and you may also see this error:

In this instance, you can:

• Select Confirm patient to place the request into the Appointment Calendar based upon the patient we found in the HotDoc patient database.
• Reject or dismiss the booking.
• Create a new patient record based upon the patient's HotDoc account details (not recommended as this may cause double ups).
• Select a different right match at the bottom of the window (if HotDoc is able to find more possible matches).

New Patient booked as Existing

In some cases, the patient is considered 'new' to your practice (has never booked via HotDoc before for your practice), but has selected that they are an existing patient. In this case you will see this error:

In this instance, you can:

• Reject or dismiss the booking.
• Create a new patient record based upon the patient's HotDoc account details to accept the booking.
• Select a different patient match at the bottom of the window (if HotDoc is able to find more possible matches).

Dismissing appointments 

If there are discrepancies in the patient's details, you may prefer to choose some other options to confirm the appointment. In the event of a discrepancy, receptionists may also elect to dismiss the appointment.

Dismissing an appointment will send an email to the patient to let them know that their booking has been unsuccessful and inform them to contact the practice directly.

Example of the email sent after an appointment is dismissed