Google Profile Scheduling

Updated: 06/22/2023 | Views: 1589

Google Profile Scheduling provides patients with an opportunity to request appointments earlier in their online search for a provider by surfacing your practice’s appointment availability directly on Google Search, Google Maps, and the Google Assistant. This integration between Tebra and Google Healthcare will pull appointment types provided by your practice and display them with the soonest date your practice has an available appointment time. After selecting an appointment type, the patient will be automatically redirected to the appointment scheduling calendar on your practice’s website to complete their request.

What’s included in this release?

Google Profile Scheduling surfaces provider availability per practice location on each provider’s Tebra managed Google Business Profiles
- Availability is listed by the appointment types that the provider accepts appointment requests
- Each appointment type will show the soonest date that this type of appointment is available
Availability on Google Business Profiles will be included on Google Maps, in Google Search results, and through the Google Assistant
Feature will initially be available for Practice Growth practices only

What’s not included in this release?

Practices that do not have online booking enabled will not be included in initial release, but will be targeted in a future release

Who is eligible for this feature?

Google Profile Scheduling is only available for providers with Practice Growth foundation licenses.
Providers must have an Online Booking calendar enabled to take advantage of this feature.

Main features to highlight

Appointment availability is surfaced on a Google Business Profile, once selected, a patient will be deep linked directly into the practices online booking tool to finalize the appointment request

Does this need to be enabled by the customer?

No, this feature will by default be enabled for Practice Growth practices

Can this be disabled?

Yes, this feature can be disabled (if desired) via the PP Admin
- Practice > Feature Testing > Reserve with Google

How it works

For your practice:

Appointment types, and the soonest date that kind of appointment is available, will surface on the Google Business Profiles for each provider in relevant searches on Google Search, Google Maps, or the Google Assistant.
- Note: Appointment types and availability will only surface for providers with an online booking calendar established.
Appointment types that are surfaced on your Google Business Profiles will be pulled from the same settings for the Online Booking calendars on your website. The appointment types that apply to all Practice Growth scheduling interfaces can be added or edited in the Practice Growth Portal:
- Navigate to Settings > Schedule > Appointment types
- At the top, select the calendar from the drop down menu that you would like to edit:
  - To create a new appointment type, click + Add Type
    - Establish the patient-facing name of the appointment type in the Assign a Title textbox
    - Under Patient Type, you can designate this appointment type as available to all patients or make it so only New or Returning patients can request this type of appointment.
  - To edit an existing appointment type, select the pencil icon at the far right of the appointment type row
  - To publish appointment types move the toggle under the column, Active, to the On position
    - Note: Appointment types that apply to more than one calendar must be marked active for each calendar individually

For your patients:

Patient navigates to Google Search, and searches for providers near them
Applicable Tebra providers & locations are displayed within search results (specifically Google Business Profiles)
The patient will be able to view available appointment types and the soonest availability for each type
Patient selects “Book” next to their desired appointment type
Patient gets navigated (deep linked) directly into the online booking workflow on your practice’s website, with the provider, location, and appointment type pre-selected
Patient is able to submit their appointment request

FAQs for Customers

What value does this feature provide?

Google is a significant resource for patients looking for new practices or providers. This release simplifies patient appointment scheduling by surfacing availability information directly into Google search results to drive additional appointment volume for your practice.

Do I need to do anything to enable this feature?

No. This feature will be automatically available for all providers who have Practice Growth foundation licenses and have enabled an online booking calendar.

Where is Google pulling the list of appointment types for my Google Business Profile?

The surfaced appointment types are pulled directly from the appointment types your practice set up for each provider. To learn how to edit appointment types, click here.

How do I enable an Online Booking calendar for a provider?

Review Online Booking Tool to learn more.