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Every home care visit starts as a booking in the system. The booking records who the patient is, which caregiver is going, when the visit is, and what type of care is needed. From this booking, everything else follows: the caregiver knows their schedule, the patient gets an automatic reminder, and billing knows which visits to invoice at the end of the day.

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Before You Start

  • The patient must already be registered. See Patient Management.
  • Each caregiver must have a Healthcare Practitioner record.
  • Each caregiver must have a schedule set up showing when they are available.
  • An appointment type called “Home Consultation” must exist (this is already set up in the system).

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Setting Up Caregiver Schedules

Before you can book visits, each doctor and nurse needs a schedule that defines the days and hours they are available.
  1. Go to Home Care workspace → Masters section → Practitioner Schedule → New
  2. Give the schedule a name (e.g., “Dr Menon - Mon to Sat”, “Nurse Raji - Mornings”)
  3. Add time slots for each day they are working
  4. Link this schedule to the caregiver’s Healthcare Practitioner record
Once a schedule is set up, the booking system will only offer time slots when the caregiver is actually available.

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Booking a Home Visit

  1. Go to Home Care workspace → Consultation section → Patient Appointment → New
New Patient Appointment form for a home visit showing patient name, appointment type (Home Consultation), practitioner assigned, date, time, department (Home Care), and notes field
  1. Fill in the visit details:
  1. Click Save.
As soon as the booking is saved, a confirmation SMS is automatically sent to the patient’s mobile number. The message includes the date, time, and the name of the caregiver who will visit.

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Managing the Day’s Visit Schedule

To see all visits for today:
  1. Go to Home Care workspace → Consultation section → Patient Appointment
  2. Filter by today’s date and status = Scheduled
This gives you the full list of visits for the day. You can see which caregiver is doing which visit and at what time.
Patient Appointment list filtered to today showing all visits with patient name, time, caregiver name, status, and department columns

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When the Caregiver Arrives at the Patient’s Home

When the nurse or doctor arrives at the patient’s home and starts the visit:
  1. Open the Patient Appointment record (or have the caregiver open it on their device)
  2. Click Check In
  3. The status changes from Scheduled to Checked In
This records the actual arrival time and signals the start of the visit.

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Visit Status Flow

Every visit moves through these statuses: A visit moves from Scheduled to Open when the caregiver starts the Patient Encounter. It moves to Closed when they submit it. These changes happen automatically.

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Visit Reminders

The system automatically sends a reminder SMS to the patient before each visit. This happens without any manual action. The reminder timing is set in Care Settings (for example, 2 hours before the visit). Why this matters: Many home care patients are elderly and may forget about a visit. A reminder helps them or their family prepare - open the door, have documents ready, make sure someone is home.

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Booking Recurring Visits

For patients who need regular visits (e.g., wound dressing twice a week for four weeks), book each visit individually. The easiest way is to:
  1. Book the first visit and save it
  2. Open it again and use the Duplicate option (from the menu)
  3. Change only the date to the next visit date
  4. Save the duplicate
Repeat for each visit in the series. This ensures each visit appears separately in the schedule and each one generates its own visit record, invoice, and documentation.

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Handling Cancellations

When a patient cancels a visit:
  1. Open the Patient Appointment record
  2. Click Cancel
  3. Select the reason (Patient Requested, Caregiver Unavailable, Rescheduled)
The slot becomes free and can be used for another patient. For a no-show (the caregiver arrived but the patient was not home):
  1. Open the appointment
  2. Change the status to No Show
  3. Add a note about what happened (tried calling, patient did not answer, etc.)
  4. If the visit fee is charged for no-shows per your policy, the coordinator should still create an invoice

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Field Guide: Patient Appointment

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Best Practices

  • Always add clear address notes and any special access instructions in the Notes field when booking - “third floor, no lift, doorbell does not work, call patient on mobile when outside” saves the caregiver from getting stuck
  • Book the next visit before ending the current one - while the caregiver is with the patient and the patient is engaged, that is the best time to confirm the next date
  • If a patient repeatedly cancels or is not home, flag this in their record notes and discuss with the family - it may mean the care plan needs to change or there is a safety concern
  • For patients who need visits on a fixed schedule (every Monday and Thursday), book all visits for the next month in one session each month rather than booking one at a time

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Troubleshooting

No available time slots showing for a caregiver on a specific day Check that the caregiver has a Practitioner Schedule linked to their record and that the schedule includes the day being booked. Also check that all slots for that day are not already filled. Confirmation SMS was not sent to the patient Check that the patient’s mobile number is recorded on their Patient record. Also check in Care Settings that Appointment Confirmation is turned ON and the message text is filled in. The visit is showing as Open but the caregiver has already finished The caregiver has not yet submitted their Patient Encounter. Ask them to open the visit record on their device and click Submit.