Managing the client waitlist

If your practice isn’t currently accepting new clients, you can add them to the waitlist. You can use the client waitlist to view and manage prospective clients who’re next in line to schedule an appointment with you or another clinician in your group practice.

In this guide, we'll cover:

• Using the waitlist
• Adding a client to the waitlist
• Scheduling a waitlist client
• Editing waitlist details
• Viewing waitlist activity
• Removing a client from the waitlist
• Accessing the client waitlist
• FAQs

Note: The client waitlist is only available on the Plus and Essential plans. While the waitlist can be viewed on the SimplePractice mobile app, you can only make adjustments from the web app.

Using the waitlist

To search the waitlist:

1. Navigate to Calendar > Waitlist

2. Type a name or phone number in the search bar

You can use the dropdown menus to filter the waitlist by clinician if you’re in a group practice, by location if you have multiple locations, or by clients who have been scheduled. 

To view more information about each client on the waitlist, click the 4 horizontal lines:

Adding a client to the waitlist

To add a client to the waitlist:

1. Navigate to the Calendar > Waitlist
2. Click Add client

3. Fill out the client information
   • If you’d like to add an existing client profile, click Add existing client

4. Click Continue
5. Add any additional waitlist details such as Reason for visit, Requested clinician(s), or Request times 
6. Click Save

If you’re adding a new client, you’ll be prompted to send the client intake paperwork. If you’d like to send intake paperwork at a later date, click the X in the top right corner. You can find the client on your waitlist by navigating back to Calendar > Waitlist to send intake paperwork at a later time.

Scheduling a waitlist client

To schedule a client from the waitlist:

1. Navigate to the Calendar > Waitlist
2. Search for the client you’d like to schedule
3. Next to the client’s name, click the 3 horizontal dots > Schedule appointment

4. Fill out the New Appointment flyout as needed
5. Click Done

To schedule a waitlist client from the Calendar:

1. Navigate to the Calendar
2. Click anywhere to create a new appointment
3. Select the dropdown menu to click Select from waitlist

4. Search for the client in question
5. Click Select

6. Update the rest of the appointment details as needed
7. Click Done

Important: After scheduling the appointment, you’ll also want to remove the client from the waitlist. To learn how to do this, see Removing a client from the waitlist.

Editing waitlist details

You can update a client’s waitlist details, such as the date they were added, reason for visit, requested clinicians, or requested times at any time. To do this:

1. Navigate to the Calendar > Waitlist
2. Search for the client you’d like to schedule
3. Next to the client’s name, click the 3 horizontal dots > Edit waitlist details
4. Click the pencil icon to edit or the plus (+) icon to add additional details

5. Click Done

Viewing waitlist activity

The following waitlist activities are logged chronologically and automatically for each waitlist client under Activity:

• The time and date the client was added to the waitlist
• The reason for visit, if any
• Any waitlist notes added, if any

Waitlist activity logs will include the action, date, time, and team member who added the activity. You can view a client’s waitlist activity from the waitlist or from the client’s Overview page.

From the waitlist

To view a client’s waitlist activity from the waitlist:

1. Navigate to the Calendar > Waitlist
2. Next to the client in question, click Show details

From the client Overview page

To view a client’s waitlist activity from their Overview page:

1. Navigate to the client’s Overview page
2. Use the dropdown menu to select Waitlist activity

Removing a client from the waitlist

To remove a client from the waitlist:

1. Navigate to the Calendar > Waitlist
2. Search for the client you’d like to schedule
3. Next to the client’s name, click the 3 horizontal dots > Remove from waitlist
4. Click Remove

Note: Taking this action will remove the client from the waitlist, but keep their client profile. The reason for visit and waitlist activity will be saved. 

An additional flyout will appear letting you know if the client is currently active or inactive. You can click Close to exit or Make inactive to change the client’s status.

Note: For more information on inactive clients, see Making a client inactive. 

Accessing the client waitlist

Account Owners, practice managers, practice schedulers, clinicians with entire practice access, clinicians with full client list access can view and manage all clients on the waitlist.

Note: Supervisors aren’t able to add to the waitlist, but they can see clients that were added by clinicians they supervise.

Clinicians with basic access can add clients they’re assigned to as the Primary Clinician to their own waitlist. They can view and manage clients they’ve been granted access to at the client’s Overview page > Edit, under Clinicians > Clinicians granted access.

Practice billers aren’t able to add or remove clients from the waitlist, but they can view and/or add waitlist activity/notes. 

Note: If the team member can view a client on the waitlist, then they also can view their waitlist activity/notes. Similar to administrative notes, waitlist activity/notes aren’t included in the client’s medical record.

FAQs

• When I schedule an appointment with a client from the waitlist, do I need to also remove them from the waitlist? 
• Can I add a client to the waitlist from an appointment request?
• Can waitlist clients log into the Client Portal or receive Secure Messages?
• After adding a new client to the waitlist, do I have to send paperless intakes right away?
• Can I manage the client waitlist on the SimplePractice mobile app?

When I schedule an appointment with a client from the waitlist, do I need to also remove them from the waitlist?

Yes you’ll want to manually remove clients from the waitlist as you schedule them, as waitlist clients aren’t automatically removed from the waitlist after scheduling. To remove a client that’s been scheduled from the waitlist, see Removing a client from the waitlist.

Can I add a client to the waitlist from an appointment request?

No, there isn’t a way to add a client to the waitlist from the appointment request. Instead, you can decline the appointment request and customize the email message to let them know that you’ll add them to the waitlist. To do this:

1. Click Decline on the appointment request
2. Customize the email message to include a note about adding the client to the waitlist
3. Click Decline & Send Now

Can waitlist clients log into the Client Portal or receive Secure Messages?

Yes, clients on the waitlist will have a client profile just like any other client on your client list, and will be able to login to the Client Portal if you’ve granted them access. 

To check if the client has Client Portal access and Secure Messaging enabled:

1. Navigate to the client’s Overview page
2. Click Edit > Client Portal

If the client has Client Portal access under Client Portal access and has logged into the ​Client Portal at least once, their email address will be listed in the dropdown menu with their last login date and time directly below it.

If the client has Client Portal access, their Client Portal permissions will be listed under Client Portal permissions. Check the box for Use secure messaging to enable it for the client.

Note: For more information on granting Client Portal access and its permissions, see Setting up the Client Portal.

After adding a new client to the waitlist, do I have to send paperless intakes right away?

No, you can choose to send paperless intakes to a waitlist client at a later date. After adding a brand new client to the waitlist, click the X in the top right corner or Cancel in the bottom left to send intakes at a later date.

For more information, see Sharing documents with existing clients.

Can I manage the client waitlist on the SimplePractice mobile app?

On the SimplePractice mobile app, you can filter to view waitlist clients in the Client list, and schedule these clients.

To filter the Client list for waitlist clients:

1. Tap Clients
2. Select the filters icon on iOS, or Filter on Android
3. Under Type, tap Waitlist clients

4. Select Done

To learn how to schedule appointments in each version of the SimplePractice mobile app, see Managing appointments on iPhone/iPad and Managing appointments on Android.