Daily Treatment
What are the Appointment Book rules and ink colors?
Organization ApprovedSource Verified
Summary
Existing patients are written in black ink and new patients in red. The book stays at the front desk by the phone, and the CA controls scheduling — never pencil, erasable ink, or whiteout.
- 1Every patient with a doctor's appointment is written in the Appointment Book in black ink for existing patients or red ink for new patients.
- 2No appointment may ever be written on anything other than the Appointment Book — no post-it notes or other surfaces.
- 3The Appointment Book must remain at the front desk by the phone.
- 4Write the day of the week, month, day, and year at the top of both pages, e.g. “Monday, 06/15/xx.”
- 5Treatment hours are 9:00 AM–1:00 PM and 2:00 PM–6:00 PM. Existing patients are scheduled up to and including 5:30 PM; new patients may be scheduled anytime 9:00 AM–6:00 PM daily, including lunch hours.
- 6Block appointments so ample times are set aside for new patients; appointments are scheduled across then down. Highlight patients requiring transportation in yellow.
- 7Once 6 patients are scheduled at a time, stop offering that time, but never turn away a patient who can only come then. Avoid opening a new time slot until 2–3 people are already in an existing slot.
- 8Control the book with choices: “You need to see the doctor Wednesday, would you prefer morning or afternoon?” → “Early or late morning?” → “I have 9:30 or 10:30 available, which do you prefer?”
- 9All new patients are written in red pen with NP noted and circled in the upper-left of the name box, the referral source to the right of the name, and first name, last name, and contact phone number in red ink.
Important
Never use pencil, erasable ink, or whiteout in the Appointment Book. Never turn a new patient away.
Citation
CA Manual, Appointment Book Policy, Purpose, and Procedure, p. Appointment Book · Revised 2/9/26Answers source the CA Manual first; the Medisoft guide is used only where the CA Manual does not cover the task.