Introduction
Once your providers and visit purposes are set up in Online Scheduling, the next step is to control exactly when and how many of each appointment type can be booked. Proper configuration of provider hours, exceptions, and appointment grouping helps prevent overbooking, balances provider workload, and gives you precise control over your schedule.
This article explains how to manage provider availability, set up appointment groups, use the Weight Strategy, create Standalone groups, and apply advanced rules such as Prep Time and per-purpose hour overrides.
Audience: Office managers and administrators responsible for scheduling configuration.
Key Concepts
Before making changes, it is helpful to understand how TrackStat calculates availability:
Provider Availability Hours: The general days and times a provider is available.
Calculation (CALC): Set on the Visit Purpose tab. An appointment type must have CALC turned on to be included in availability calculation and to appear in each provider's appointment type list.
Avail or Change: Set per provider, per appointment type. Available means patients can book, reschedule, and cancel. Change Only means patients can reschedule and cancel but cannot book new appointments. Not Avail means nothing online.
Purpose Groups: Rules that limit how many appointments of certain types can be booked in the same time block.
Group Strategy (default): The default behavior. Appointments from different groups cannot share the same time block. There is no Group Strategy control in the app - this is simply what happens while Weight Strategy is Opted Out.
Weight Strategy: An opt-in toggle, set per provider and off by default. When it is on, appointments from different groups can share the same time block, based on each group's maximum.
Standalone Group: Ignores all appointment types outside the group when calculating availability. Useful for specific rooms, shared columns, or when you want one group to operate independently.
Prep Time: Extra time added before an appointment for setup or patient arrival. The system still shows realistic availability.
Max Appts / Block: Controls capacity at the provider level (overrides individual visit purpose settings when set).
Step 1: Edit Provider Availability Hours
To adjust a provider's regular online scheduling hours:
Go to Extras (3 dots icon) → Scheduling → Settings → Providers tab.
Select a provider from the drop-down list.
In the Provider Availability Hours section, click each day of the week and set the desired time blocks.
To remove a time range, click the red X next to it. This works on any range - the first one, one in the middle, or the last one.
To apply one day's hours across the whole week, check Copy to all days.
Click Save.
Note: Removing a time range takes effect when you click Save. If you remove one by mistake, close the window without saving and nothing changes.
Step 2: Block Time Off or Specific Days (Exceptions)
To prevent online bookings on specific days or times:
On the provider's settings, scroll to Set exceptions for specific days.
Click the date on the calendar.
Choose All day or enter specific Block From and Block To times.
Click Save.
This is useful for holidays, conferences, or provider time off. You can also create event blocks directly in your EHR (recommended for ChiroTouch Classic server users).
Tip: After removing a block, availability may take a few minutes to several hours to update due to background syncing (especially with server-based ChiroTouch). Refresh your browser and check again.
Step 3: Set Different Hours or Intervals for Specific Visit Purposes
Each appointment type in a provider's list can have its own hours and its own start-time intervals, set directly in the row.
To give an appointment type different hours than the provider's regular schedule:
Find the appointment type in the provider's list.
Turn on the Ovrd Avail toggle.
Open the hours editor from the Avail Hours cell. There is no Edit button — the hours themselves are the button:
No hours set yet? The cell shows Set hours…. Click that text.
Hours already set? They appear as one label per day, for example Wed 6:00 AM–10:00 PM. Click any one of those labels.
If more days exist than fit in the cell, click the +2 more label to see the rest.
Set the hours. Use Copy to all to apply one day across the week, and the red X to remove any time range.
Click Save.
This is commonly used for New Patient appointments that need longer or more limited windows than regular adjustments.
To give an appointment type different start times than the provider's default interval:
Turn on the Ovrd Int. toggle for that appointment type.
Select the intervals in the Intervals column.
Click Save.
A note on the arrows: some columns show their ⌄ arrow directly beside the value (Avail or Change), while columns that can hold several values show it at the far right edge of the column (Group, Intervals). If you can't find an arrow next to a value, look across to the right-hand edge of that column. Clicking elsewhere in the row does nothing - only the arrows, toggles, and hours labels respond.
Step 4: Create and Manage Appointment Groups
To control how many of each appointment type can be booked in the same time block:
On the provider's settings, find the Groups section.
Click + Add Group button
Give the group a clear name (e.g. commonly used are "New Patients" or "Existing Patients").
Set the maximum number of appointments allowed per time block. The limit appears next to the group name, for example Existing Patients (max 3).
(Optional) Check Standalone if you want this group to ignore all appointment types outside the group when calculating availability. Keep in mind this setting can lead to overbooking, but can also help with showing more availability to patients.
Assign appointment types to the group using the Group dropdown in each appointment type's row.
Set each appointment type's Avail or Change value so patients can see and book it.
Click Save.
You can filter the appointment type list by group using the Filter buttons above the table (All Groups, Unassigned, or a specific group).
Examples of effective grouping:
New Patients Group - limit to 1 per time block (includes New Patient, Re-Exam, ROF/Day 2).
Existing Patients Group - allow 2–3 per time block (includes Adjustment, Wellness, Maintenance, Therapy).
You can also add internal-only appointment types to a group so the system still accounts for them when calculating open slots. To do this, make sure CALC is on for that appointment type on the Visit Purpose tab (so it appears in the provider's list), assign it to the group, and set Avail or Change to Not Avail so patients never see it.
Note: When a group is set as Standalone, a star (★) appears before the group name to indicate its Standalone status.
Step 5: Enable Weight Strategy So Different Groups Can Share a Time Block
By default, appointments from different groups cannot be booked into the same time block. Weight Strategy changes that. When it is on, groups share a block, and booking into one group reduces the room left for the others.
Weight Strategy is off by default and must be turned on manually for each provider.
To enable it:
On the provider's settings, slide the toggle to turn on Weight Strategy (it will show as Opted In).
Create your groups as usual and set the number of appointments allowed per time block for each.
Save your changes.
How the calculation works:
Each group's maximum sets how much of a time block one appointment in that group uses. A group with a maximum of 2 uses half a block per appointment; a group with a maximum of 4 uses a quarter. The block is full once those fractions add up to one.
Group A (New Patients) = 2 visits per block
Group B (Existing Patients) = 4 visits per block
If 1 visit from Group A is already booked in a time block, the system treats it as equivalent to 2 Group B visits, allowing 2 visits from Group B to still fit.
Important: While Weight Strategy is Opted Out - the default - appointments from different groups cannot share the same time block, no matter how you set each group's maximum.
Example of weighted groups without Standalone setting.
New Patient group = maximum 1 per block
Existing Patient group = maximum of 3 per block
Example of same New Patient and Existing Patient groups to demonstrate Standalone setting functionality for New Patient group.
Step 6: Enable and Use Prep Time
Prep Time is set per appointment type in the Prep Time column on the Visit Purpose tab.
⚠️ ClinicMind users - required before enabling Prep Time.
Overlapping appointments must be permitted in ClinicMind. Prep Time reserves a block alongside the appointment, which ClinicMind reads as a conflict unless overlaps are allowed. If they are not, the booking fails and the patient receives a message like:
"Hi [Patient First Name], We were unable to schedule the requested appt with Dr. [Provider] due to a scheduling conflict."
Enable overlapping appointments in ClinicMind before turning on Prep Time.
Best Practices & Common Use Cases
Use Standalone Groups when you have multiple providers in one column or specific resources that should only consider certain appointment types.
Add non-online appointment types (such as ROF/Day 2) to the same group as New Patients to act as natural blockers and prevent double-booking. Remember these need CALC on to appear in the provider's list at all.
For multi-provider clinics, consider creating slightly different provider display names or location-specific visit purposes to improve clarity for patients.
Avoid very broad availability windows. Explicit, limited hours usually produce better patient experiences and fewer scheduling conflicts.
Combination appointments (using multiple visit purposes for one appointment in your EHR) can interfere with accurate availability calculations. Use dedicated single-purpose types instead.
Remember that appointment type settings are specific to each provider. Changing one provider's configuration never affects another's.
Troubleshooting Availability Issues
Provider still shows as unavailable after removing an Event block
This is usually caused by background sync delays (especially with server-based ChiroTouch). Wait a few minutes to an hour, refresh the browser, and try again.
A provider shows a red dot
The status dot is green only when a provider has at least one appointment type set to Available. A provider whose appointment types are all Change Only or Not Avail shows red, because patients cannot book a new appointment with them - even though they can still reschedule and cancel Change Only appointments. Check the provider's list and set at least one appointment type to Available.
An appointment type is missing from a provider's list
The appointment type's CALC toggle is off on the Visit Purpose tab. Turn CALC on and it will reappear under every provider, with its previous settings intact.
Availability not updating correctly
Confirm Ovrd Avail is turned on when you're using per-appointment-type hours.
Verify the appointment type's Avail or Change value is set to Available (not Change Only or Not Avail) for that provider.
Check that the appointment duration and time interval in TrackStat match your EHR settings.
Too many or too few slots showing
Review your group limits, Weight Strategy setting, and whether any internal (not visible to patients) appointment types should be added to groups for accurate calculations.
My group maximums aren't producing the availability I expect
Check whether Weight Strategy is Opted In for that provider, at the top of the Providers tab. It is off by default and has to be turned on manually. While it is off, each time block holds appointments from one group only, so raising a group's maximum will not let a different group book into the same block.
Also review whether any internal appointment types should be added to groups so they are counted in availability calculations.
Keywords: provider availability, appointment grouping, weight strategy online scheduling, standalone group, prep time scheduling, manage provider hours, prevent overbooking, remove provider hours, override availability hours