Prevent Auto-Cancellations with the Right Booking Settings

If you plan to extend your Reply Time Guarantee, it’s important to adjust your booking cutoff accordingly.

If not properly set, patients may be able to book same-day appointments, even if your response might come after their intended visit date.

This can lead to missed expectations and auto-cancellations.

🕙 What is a Reply Time Guarantee?

Your Reply Time Guarantee (RTG) refers to how long patients can expect a response to their booking request (i.e., whether it is accepted or declined).

The RTG determines how long an appointment request will remain pending. If no action is taken within the set reply time, the request will automatically expire and be cancelled by the system.

⚠️ Example scenario

If your reply time guarantee is 72 hours, but your latest booking cutoff is set to 1 hour before the clinic starts, a patient may still be able to book today while your response may only come a day after their intended appointment.

✅ Recommended setup

A good practice is to align your settings like this:

• If your reply time guarantee is 72 hours, you may set your booking cutoff to:

• 72 hours before clinic starts, or
• 7 days in advance (or longer, depending on your preference)

This ensures you have enough time to respond while also setting clear expectations for your patients on when they can expect confirmation.

⚙️ Where to update my settings?

You can easily adjust your booking cutoff here by going to Clinics > Clinic Settings or by clicking:
👉 https://seriousmd.com/doctor/app/clinics/settings