Some clients need to be kept apart, for example separated parents, or where there's a protection order. Until now, that relied on staff remembering. Family Safety puts that check in the system: when a rule is on, people in the same family are kept apart at booking and assignment, and a block never names the other person.
Watch the walkthrough below, or keep reading for the details.
Group related clients into a family
Open the client's profile and click Family in the profile header.
Click Start a family (or + New family if the client already belongs to one).
Give the family a name, then add up to nine people.
Give each person an optional role, such as parent, child or partner.
Click Create family.
A client can belong to more than one family. Each family stays separate.
The two rules
Family Safety has two rules. You'll find them in Control Panel, under Family Safety.
Practitioner rule: keeps family members with different practitioners.
Same-day location rule: keeps family members at different locations on the same day. Telehealth appointments aren't affected.
Turning a rule on
Both rules are off until an administrator turns them on, so nothing changes for your practice until you're ready. When you turn a rule on, you'll be asked to confirm first.
Existing conflicts are checked and listed, so you can see which families already break the rule.
Nothing is cancelled, rescheduled or reassigned.
From then on, new bookings and assignments that break the rule are blocked.
When a booking or assignment breaks a rule
Rules apply to booking, rescheduling, assigning, groups and events. If an action breaks a rule, it isn't saved. Staff see a clear message, A family safety rule prevents this, with your escalation contact. The message never names the other person.
For the same-day location rule, once you pick a location, times where a family member is already booked that day are marked as restricted.
Escalation contact
In Control Panel, under Family Safety, set who staff should contact when a rule blocks a booking or assignment, for example your practice manager and their phone number. You'll see a preview of the message staff will see. It never names the other client.
Overriding a rule (superusers)
A superuser can override a block. Click Override, enter a reason, and confirm. The appointment is booked despite the rule, and the reason is saved to the Family Safety change history.
In the client portal
If a client books online and the booking would break a rule, the booking isn't made and the client is asked to pick another time. For the practitioner rule, they also see your escalation contact.
Existing conflicts
Each rule has an Existing conflicts list showing families that already break it. For the same-day location rule, Check for conflicts checks every future booking. Clashes allowed with an override are tagged Overridden.
Excluding clients with certain tags
Each rule can exclude clients with certain tags. A client with an excluded tag isn't kept apart by that rule, but everyone else in the family is still protected. Only administrators and receptionists can add or remove these tags.
Change history
The Family Safety change history records who did what, and when, including every override and its reason.
Good to know
Both rules are off by default. Nothing changes for your practice until an administrator turns a rule on.
Turning a rule on never cancels, reschedules or reassigns existing appointments.
Blocked messages never name the other person.
Telehealth appointments aren't affected by the same-day location rule.
Find it in Control Panel, under Family Safety.