A doctor appointment system from online booking to reminder
A doctor appointment system is not only a patient choosing a time; it is the chosen time actually being free, the patient coming, the slot being offered to someone else if they do not, and all of it showing correctly in the physician's diary. HekimBis works on one calendar from online booking on the patient portal to reminders, and from the waiting list to arrival check-in.
How a patient books an appointment
The flow has five steps from the patient's request to arrival at the clinic, and it includes two branches.
The patient chooses a service and a physician on the clinic's branded portal and sees the available times. The chosen time is held for a short while, and nobody else can take it in that period. The appointment is confirmed, and a reminder goes out on the channel the patient prefers, SMS, e-mail or WhatsApp. On arrival the patient checks in with a QR code and appears as waiting on the front-desk screen.
Two branches complete the flow. If the patient cancels, the freed slot is offered to someone on the waiting list for a limited time; if they accept, it returns to the confirmation step, and if not it moves to the next patient. If no confirmation comes, the hold expires and the slot is released, so half-finished appointments do not pile up in the calendar. Double booking is prevented by a database-level constraint: it is technically impossible for two patients to take the same slot at the same moment.
The appointment can also be managed on the patient's side: changing, canceling, confirming and filling in forms are done on the portal, and the front desk enters phone requests into the same calendar. See Appointments and calendar and Patient portal for details.
What happens before and after the appointment is part of the appointment too. When a patient books, they see and fill in the pre-visit form, the privacy notice, procedure consent if needed and preparation instructions, such as coming fasting, stopping a medicine or bringing a document, in the same flow, so less has to be asked again during the exam. After the appointment, care instructions, a follow-up suggestion and a quality feedback request visible only to the clinic go out. All reminders and forms follow the patient's language and channel preference. The front desk enters phone requests into the same calendar; whether the patient came through the portal or by phone, there is one appointment book. See Front desk and check-in.
A patient booking for the first time opens an account or links an existing one; thanks to identity verification, an appointment is never written to the wrong person. A parent or guardian can book for a child or dependent with proof of relationship and a stated duration and scope.
Check-in (QR)
- The process is complete here.
All steps
- 01 Booking request (portal) (Patient)
- 02 Slot held for a limited time (Calendar)
- 03 Confirmation (Portal)
- 04 Reminder (preferred channel) (Portal)
- 05 Check-in (QR) (Clinic)
Alternative path from 04 Reminder (preferred channel); it returns to the main flow at 03 Confirmation.
- 04a Cancellation (Patient)
- 04b Freed slot offered to the waitlist for a limited time (Calendar)
Alternative path from 02 Slot held for a limited time; it returns to the main flow at 01 Booking request (portal).
- 02a Hold expired: the slot is released (Calendar)
05 Check-in (QR)
Appointment types
In a real clinic there is never only one type of appointment. HekimBis defines these types.
Single appointment
One service, one physician, one time. Duration, preparation or cleaning allowance and the required room and device are calculated automatically from the service.
Recurring appointment
Regular visits such as weekly physiotherapy or a monthly check are planned in one action.
Multi-session plan
A treatment plan is split into sessions; each session takes a place in the calendar, and the progress of the plan shows on the patient card. See Finance and payments (package and session balance).
Group appointment
Events with several participants, such as training, group therapy or group exams.
Walk-in
Entered into the calendar afterwards and placed in the waiting queue.
Online consultation appointment
Planned together with the identity verification and consent steps for a remote exam. See Online consultation.
Eligibility rules can be defined too: new or existing patient, age range, specialty, service and branch. A long exam duration for a new patient or only pediatric hours for a child patient then decide the slots a patient can see from the start. Physicians who use a personal calendar can connect Google or Microsoft calendar; the HekimBis calendar stays the main source, only busy blocks are read from the outside calendar, and a generic entry without patient information is written to it. See Personal calendar connection.
How the calendar is set up also affects accuracy. Public holidays, shifts, leave and break blocks are applied to working hours, so a patient cannot choose an hour when you are closed. When service-specific durations and preparation allowances are defined, appointments do not run into each other at busy times. When a physician's delay shows up in the calendar, the next patient can be notified, which eases the waiting room and the worry of a long wait. It is also important to keep eligibility rules simple: too many rules narrow the slots more than needed, and the patient looks for another clinic with the impression that there is no room. It is healthier to start with basic services and add rules as needed.
Five mechanisms against patients who do not show up
A patient who does not come is both lost revenue for the clinic and a reason for another patient to wait. One measure is not enough; HekimBis runs five mechanisms together.
Confirmation and reminder
The appointment starts with a confirmation message; the reminder goes out on the patient's preferred channel and respects quiet hours. The reminder is a service message and contains a secure link without writing health information. See Patient messaging and reminders and SMS, WhatsApp and e-mail channels.
Easy cancellation and change
The harder it is to say they cannot come, the more a patient quietly does not show up. Canceling and changing on the portal is one step, and a canceled slot returns to the calendar at once.
Waiting list
A freed slot goes to the patient on the list as a timed offer, and if it is not accepted it moves to the next patient. A cancellation stops being a loss.
Deposit policy
For services the clinic chooses, a deposit can be taken to confirm the appointment, and the effect of cancellation and no-show is processed according to the policy. A payment provider connection is used for online collection, and card details never enter the HekimBis layer. See Online payment.
Reason record and recall
For every patient who does not come, a reason is recorded; repeating patterns show up in the report, and a rebooking task is opened for the patient. See Automation for automating the rules.
The order of the five mechanisms matters too. The cheapest and most effective step is the reminder; making cancellation easy comes next, because when a patient says in advance they cannot come, the slot can be reused and the waiting list fills it. A deposit makes sense for procedures with a high no-show risk and a long duration, such as long aesthetic or dental procedures; for short follow-up appointments a reminder and easy cancellation are often enough. The last link is the reason record: once a no-show is recorded, a repeating pattern, such as a particular day, hour or service, becomes visible in the report and the rule is adjusted accordingly.
The aim is to measure the no-show rate, see its reasons and put the freed slot to use. See Reporting for following the rate in reports.
Verified physician profile and a real calendar
An online appointment system answers two separate questions: how does your existing patient book, and how does a new patient find you? The HekimBis patient portal answers the first, and Hekimiz(opens in a new tab) the second.
Hekimiz is a separate discovery surface where patients see verified physicians and real availability and book appointments. A physician or clinic verified in HekimBis can publish a profile with the fields they choose; the availability shown on the profile is the live state of the HekimBis calendar. An open slot seen on Hekimiz is the same open slot the front desk sees; no second calendar is kept, and no stale profile problem arises. The appointment the patient takes is finalized in HekimBis, and clinical data is not copied to Hekimiz.
Trust is built with objective signals such as verification status, real availability and appointment reliability. Ranking does not depend on the package. For verified physicians without a HekimBis subscription there is a free Directory entitlement with a limited profile, calendar and appointment management; patient tracking, clinical records and CRM come with a HekimBis subscription.
See Doctor portal to learn the whole portal, the face of your appointment system that patients use.
The success of an appointment system is measured with reports. Occupancy rate, empty slots, no-show and cancellation rates, the rate at which canceled slots are refilled, average waiting and delay, the split between online and phone appointments and demand by service tell you after a few weeks whether the system is working. This data comes from the same records; no separate report preparation is needed. At the start choose a single goal, for example tracking the no-show rate, and compare after two weeks. The result takes shape from the clinic's patient mix, its services and its reminder habits. See Reporting.
Frequently asked questions
Do I need to add code to my website for online booking?
Appointments are booked through the clinic's branded portal; you can put the link to the portal on your website, social media or in messages. Details are shared during setup.
Can I also use it as an appointment tracking program?
Yes. Appointment tracking, meaning statuses, delays, no-shows and repeats, is at the center of the system; patient registration and exams are in the same program too. See Patient tracking software.
Is the appointment reminder SMS free?
Message use is a metered item; the unit price and included amount are stated in the plan catalog. See the Patient messaging page for reminder channels and rules.
Can two people take the same slot at once?
No. When a slot is selected it is held for a limited time, and double booking is prevented at database level.
Is it mandatory to be listed on Hekimiz?
No. Portal booking works independently of Hekimiz. Publishing on Hekimiz is optional and requires verification.
Is the appointment system priced separately?
Appointments and calendar are a core capability of the platform; see the Pricing page for package and price information.
Does the patient have to fill in a form when booking?
The pre-visit form and consents are offered in the booking flow; the patient fills them in before the appointment, so less has to be asked again in the exam. The clinic decides which forms are mandatory for each service.
Is the patient told when the physician runs late?
When the delay shows up in the calendar, the next patient can be notified; the patient learns how long to expect to wait and the crowd in the waiting room drops.
How does a patient change an appointment?
The patient changes or cancels the appointment on the portal; the canceled slot returns to the calendar at once and is offered to the next patient on the waiting list.
Related pages
Features
- Appointments and calendarPhysician, room, and device calendars with a waitlist and double-booking checks.
- Patient communicationSMS, email, and WhatsApp reminders with consent, İYS, and quiet-hour checks.
- Patient portalA clinic portal where patients follow appointments, forms, consent, results and payments.
Specialties
Solutions and process
Software guides