Appointment types are one of the simplest setup steps in Healthquest, but they make a difference on every single booking. Once they’re in place, your front desk spends less time typing and your schedule runs a little more smoothly from the very first click.
What Appointment Types Do
An appointment type tells Healthquest everything it needs to know about a given visit before your staff even opens the schedule: how long it should take, which providers can perform it, and how it should behave in the patient portal.
To set one up, go to Appointments > Appointment Type Setup. From there you can add a new type, give it a name (like “First Prenatal”) and an abbreviation ID, and assign it a default length. The only other mandatory field is Available Practitioners — add every provider who offers this appointment type, and it’s ready to book.
Options Worth Turning On
Once the basics are in place, a few optional settings make appointment types even more useful:
- Method – flag the appointment as in-person, phone, or virtual.
- Online booking / video virtual – checking either of these makes the appointment type visible to patients in their portal by default. If neither is checked, you choose whether the type is visible.
- Minimum days between appointments – great for visit types that should only happen once a year (or a handful of times a year). If someone tries to book too soon, Healthquest throws a warning. Staff can still push through if there’s a good reason, but at least the flag is there.
- Maximum appointments per day – useful for longer or more demanding visit types. Set a limit per provider per day, and if someone tries to book past that limit, a warning pops up.
Retiring Old Appointment Types
Workflows change, and so do the appointment types you use. If a type has appeared on the schedule before, don’t delete it — set an end date instead, so history stays intact. If it’s never been used, you can safely delete it right from the setup screen.
The Payoff
A few minutes spent building out your appointment types means less typing for staff, clearer expectations for providers, and built-in guardrails around the appointments that need them. It’s a small setup task that pays off every time the phone rings.
FAQ
Where do I set up appointment types in Healthquest?
Go to Appointments > Appointment Type Setup. From there you can add, edit, or end-date any appointment type.
Can one appointment type be limited to certain providers?
Yes. The Available Practitioners field is mandatory when creating a new appointment type — add only the providers who actually offer that visit type.
How do I stop patients from booking an appointment type too frequently?
Use the Minimum Days Between Appointments setting. If someone tries to book sooner than that window, staff will see a warning before they can proceed.
What happens if I delete an appointment type that’s already been used on the schedule?
Don’t delete it — set an end date instead. Deleting is only for appointment types that have never been used, so historical scheduling data stays intact.
Next up in this series: automated appointment reminders — set the messaging once, and let Healthquest do the reminding for you.
Want to see it in action? Check out our webinar recording where we cover a live demo of our advanced basics.