Appointments: Double Bookings

MediRecords allows more than one appointment to be booked into the same time slot for a provider, known as double booking. This article covers how double booking works and what to expect across the different ways appointments can be made.

Contents:

1. Double Booking via the Appointment Calendar
2. Connect API
3. Online Appointment Widget
4. Common Causes of Unwanted Double Bookings

Double Booking via the Appointment Calendar

Users can double book an appointment slot directly from the Appointment Calendar:

1. Locate the existing appointment slot on the calendar.
2. Click the empty space next to the current appointment slot
3. Enter the details for the new appointment as normal.

This creates a second, separate appointment in the same slot. Both appointments remain independently visible and manageable on the calendar.

Connect API

The Connect API has two parameters to permit double booking when creating an appointment: allowDoubleBookingForPatient and allowDoubleBookingForProvider.

If you're integrating with the Connect API and expecting to allow double bookings, test the specific scenario you need directly against your environment rather than relying on the flags alone.

Online Appointment Widget

The Appointment Widget removes a time slot from availability once it's booked, so it does not offer an already-booked slot to a new patient in the same way the internal Appointment Calendar allows.

Common Causes of Unwanted Double Bookings

Not every double booking is intentional. If you're seeing double bookings you didn't expect, the cause is usually one of the following:

• No system warning by design, MediRecords does not warn or block when two different patients are booked into the same provider slot. The only built-in notification is for the same patient booked twice on the same day, it does not cover different patients overlapping on the same slot by design.
   
• A booking made via Engage isn't reflected in time in Care, Engage does not allow a patient to book into an already-taken slot, but Care does allow it by design. If a patient books through Engage at nearly the same time a staff member is booking the same slot in Care, the Care booking can still go through without a warning.
   
• Delay between an API action and the UI updating, if an appointment is cancelled via the Connect API, there can be a delay before this is reflected in the Appointment Calendar. Booking into that slot before the cancellation has visibly updated can result in an apparent double booking.
   
• Third-party or integration issues reading stale availability, if a connected system incorrectly reads which slots are already booked (for example, due to a faulty date filter or an integration only checking a limited set of results), it may offer or book a slot that's already taken.
   
• Appointment Widget configuration issues, an invalid provider ID in the Widget's configuration, or an expired session, can cause the same slot to appear available to multiple patients.
   
• Overlapping or duplicate provider sessions, if a provider has two regular sessions configured that overlap, the Available Times list can show duplicate time entries, making it easier to select and book a time that's already taken.
   
• Accidental duplicate submissions, a patient double-clicking a booking button (particularly on an online booking platform) can occasionally create two bookings for the same slot in quick succession.