Booking

Understanding Smart Scheduling

How Chimera Fills Your Schedule Efficiently

Chimera does more than show open slots. The booking engine uses several strategies to help patients book conveniently while keeping your providers’ schedules compact and productive.

When patients browse available times, some slots display a “Recommended” badge. These are time slots directly adjacent to an existing appointment on that provider’s schedule.

Why this matters: Without guidance, patients tend to pick isolated times (e.g., 2:00 PM when the only other appointment is at 9:00 AM). This creates gaps in the schedule that are too short for another appointment but too long to be useful.

By nudging patients toward adjacent slots, Chimera helps:

  • Reduce dead time between appointments
  • Keep providers busy during continuous blocks
  • Leave larger open windows that can fit additional bookings

Recommended badges are subtle suggestions, not restrictions. Patients can still pick any available slot.

First Available Path

The “First Available” booking path is the fastest way for patients to book and the most efficient for your schedule:

  1. The patient selects an appointment type
  2. Chimera scans all eligible providers’ availability
  3. The soonest available slots are presented across all providers
  4. The patient picks one and proceeds to confirmation

This path is ideal for:

  • New patients who have no provider preference
  • Urgent or routine visits where the date matters more than the provider
  • Maximizing utilization across your team

How “soonest” is calculated: The engine checks each provider’s next available slot (accounting for existing bookings, blocked times, time restrictions, and minimum advance hours) and ranks them chronologically.

15-Minute Slot Intervals

All availability is divided into 15-minute intervals. A 30-minute appointment occupies two consecutive slots; a 60-minute appointment occupies four.

This means:

  • A provider available 9:00 AM - 12:00 PM has 12 potential start times for a 15-minute appointment
  • A 45-minute appointment starting at 10:15 AM would occupy 10:15, 10:30, 10:45, and end at 11:00
  • Slots overlapping with existing bookings are automatically removed

Minimum Advance Hours

Each provider’s minimum advance hours setting prevents last-minute bookings:

  • 24 hours (common default): patients must book at least a day ahead
  • 2 hours: allows near-same-day booking for urgent visits
  • 48 hours: gives the office time to prepare for specialized appointments

The booking engine hides any slot that falls within the advance window.

Time Restriction Filtering

When appointment types have time restrictions, the engine only shows slots within those windows:

  • Cleanings restricted to mornings: a provider available until 5 PM will only show cleaning slots up to the restriction end time (e.g., 12:00 PM)
  • Per-provider overrides take precedence over clinic-wide defaults

How It All Works Together

When a patient selects a type and browses times, the engine runs through this sequence:

  1. Start with provider availability — weekly time blocks for the selected date
  2. Subtract blocked times — vacations, recurring blocks
  3. Subtract existing bookings — confirmed appointments already on the schedule
  4. Apply time restrictions — if the type has day/time windows, filter to those
  5. Apply minimum advance hours — remove slots too close to now
  6. Mark recommended slots — highlight slots adjacent to existing bookings
  7. Display to patient — available slots with recommended badges

This happens in real time for each date the patient views.

Timezone Handling

Patients see available times in their selected timezone. Chimera supports four US timezones:

  • Eastern (ET)
  • Central (CT)
  • Mountain (MT)
  • Pacific (PT)

The clinic’s timezone (set in Settings) is the source of truth. Slot calculations happen in the clinic’s timezone, then display in the patient’s chosen timezone.

Tip: The “First Available” path combined with recommended slot badges is the most schedule-efficient combination. Consider making it the default suggestion for new patients who do not have a provider preference.

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