Online Scheduling and Inquiries

How PracticeRunner handles public inquiry scheduling, provider booking links, locations, services, and follow-up in Conversations.

PracticeRunner includes public scheduling pages that let prospective clients contact your practice, choose a provider when appropriate, and request an available time.

Scheduling works best when it reflects how your practice actually sees clients: which providers are available, which services can be requested online, which locations are offered, and which session formats are appropriate.

For a deeper setup guide, see Setting Availability by Location and Session Format.

Scheduling links

There are two common public links:

Practice link: Shows the practice page, where a visitor can send a general inquiry or choose a specific provider.
Provider link: Opens one provider's scheduling page directly.

Use the practice link when you want visitors to choose among multiple clinicians or begin with a general inquiry. Use a provider link when a clinician is sharing their own page from a bio, directory profile, or email signature.

Examples:

Practice page: https://portal.practicerunner.com/o/harbor-therapy/schedule
Specific provider page: https://portal.practicerunner.com/o/harbor-therapy/schedule/jane-smith

Some older links may use /schedule/[practice-link-name] or /scheduler/[practice-link-name]. PracticeRunner redirects those links to the practice-specific portal path, such as /o/harbor-therapy/schedule. When you publish a new link on a website, directory profile, or email signature, use the /o/[practice-link-name]/schedule version.

What clients can do

Depending on your practice settings, visitors can:

send a general practice inquiry
choose a provider from the practice page
select a service that is available online
choose a location when more than one option applies
choose which kind of case the request is for
request an available appointment time
complete the inquiry or booking form

PracticeRunner only shows providers, services, locations, and times that are configured for public scheduling.

Client type and representative settings

The scheduler can be limited to the client types your practice accepts online. In Settings -> Scheduling, choose which request types should appear on the public scheduler, such as individual, couple, family, or group requests.

When couple, family, or group requests are enabled, the scheduler collects the information needed to create or match the right clients and case. For two-person requests, the scheduler asks how the second person is related to the first so the relationship can be stored correctly.

There is a separate setting for third-party scheduling. When representative scheduling is enabled, the scheduler can show options for:

A child or dependent adult I represent
Someone I am helping schedule

Turn this on only when your practice is prepared to review relationship claims and decide what access the requester should have. A person helping schedule may be an appropriate message recipient, but that does not automatically mean they should receive forms, portal access, appointment details, or client records.

Requests from someone helping schedule

If third-party scheduling is enabled, visitors may be able to say they are scheduling for:

a child or dependent adult they represent
someone they are helping schedule

In that case, PracticeRunner collects the scheduler's information separately from the client or prospective client's information. The request is not treated the same as a verified client acting for themselves.

When a requester claims they are helping or representing the client, PracticeRunner records a pending relationship claim. The claim appears with the inquiry in Conversations and can also be reviewed from the client's relationship section. Staff should verify the relationship before granting forms, scheduling, appointment, or portal access to the requester.

If the relationship is verified, the practice can decide what access that person should have, such as receiving intake forms for the client or helping manage scheduling. If the relationship is not verified, keep access limited and handle the inquiry as a staff-reviewed request.

What controls available times

Available times are shaped by several settings working together:

provider visibility for public scheduling
service visibility for online booking
location visibility for scheduling
provider availability blocks
service duration
location and session format
minimum notice, advance booking window, and scheduling buffers
existing appointments that already block the calendar

Availability blocks can be limited to a location and service, so an office visit does not need to use the same schedule as telehealth or phone sessions.

How Inquiry Scheduling Reaches Conversations

Online inquiries and appointment requests appear in Conversations. Each request becomes part of a conversation, so clinicians or staff can review the request and keep follow-up messages in one place.

There are two common request types:

General inquiry: Created when a visitor sends a message without requesting a specific time.
Appointment request: Created when a visitor chooses a provider, service, location, and time.

Appointment requests can include:

the requested date and time
the assigned provider
the requested service
the requested location, when one was selected
the inquiry details the prospective client entered
relationship claim details when someone else is helping schedule or representing the client

From Conversations, staff can reply, accept a request, decline it, reassign it, archive it, or mark the prospect as Active when appropriate.

When a request includes a pending relationship claim, Conversations shows a relationship warning and links staff to the client record to review it. Acceptance, decline, and follow-up messages can be sent to the client, the scheduler, or both, depending on the request and the recipients selected by staff.

Linking from your website

Clinicians can place scheduling links on a website, directory profile, contact page, email signature, or intake follow-up. On a website, the link is usually best as a clear call to action, such as Book a Session Now, Request a Consultation, or Make an Inquiry.

Common placements include:

a Request a Consultation button on the homepage
a Book a Session Now or Make an Inquiry button near a provider bio
a link on a provider bio page
a contact page CTA
a link in a follow-up email after a phone inquiry

Before publishing a link, open it in a private browser window and test it as a client would see it.

Recommended setup order

Confirm your practice scheduling page is enabled and the practice link name is correct.
Mark the services that should appear online.
Mark the locations that should be offered for scheduling.
Confirm which providers should appear publicly.
Create provider availability blocks for the right locations, session formats, services, and audiences.
Review minimum notice, advance booking window, and scheduling buffers.
Test the practice link and any provider links before adding them to your website.