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Plans and Stages

Plans and Stages are InSched's mechanism for tracking a patient's journey through the practice. Originally developed for the Inform & Enhance CRM integration, this system ensures that appropriate follow-up actions are taken at each step.

What Is a Plan?​

A Plan represents a treatment plan for a patient. Each patient can have one or more plans. A plan includes:

  • Plan Name/Type - The type of treatment (e.g., "Rhinoplasty", "Breast Augmentation", "Botox")
  • Time Frame - Start and end dates for the plan
  • Next Appointment Date - The next scheduled follow-up
  • Procedure Date - The date of the associated surgery or procedure
  • Plan Status - The overall state of the plan (e.g., In Progress, Completed, Discontinued)
  • Interest Level - The patient's current interest/engagement level

What Are Stages?​

Stages represent sequential steps within a plan. For a cosmetic surgery practice, the typical stages are:

  1. Inquiry - Patient has expressed interest
  2. Appointment Made - Consultation appointment is scheduled
  3. Consultation - Patient has been seen for consultation
  4. Surgery Scheduled - Patient has scheduled their procedure
  5. Surgery Completed - Procedure has been performed
  6. Follow-up - Post-procedure follow-up phase

Each stage has a completion status, and stages are tracked in order.

Automatic Stage Processing​

One of InSched's key strengths is its ability to automatically prompt for stage changes based on scheduling actions. This is configured through Event Type Trigger Types during setup.

When certain actions occur in the schedule, InSched can:

  • Prompt to create a plan when a new patient's first appointment is made
  • Advance to Consultation stage when a patient checks in for a consultation appointment
  • Advance to Surgery Scheduled when a surgery event is created
  • Advance to Surgery Completed when a surgery event is checked out
  • Prompt for follow-up when an appointment is marked as No Show or Canceled

These prompts can be configured in Preferences:

  • Check Changes Immediately - Process stage changes as soon as events change
  • Prompt Before Immediate Stage Changes - Ask for confirmation before auto-advancing stages
  • Require Manual Plan Selection - Require the user to manually select which plan to advance

Managing Plans​

From the Edit Appointment Dialog​

Press F7 to edit the plan associated with the current event. The Plan dropdown lets you select which plan this event is associated with. InSched automatically picks the most recent plan.

Plan Editor Fields​

  • Plan Type - Select from a lookup list of treatment types
  • From/To Dates - The plan's active date range
  • Next Appointment Date - Scheduled follow-up
  • Procedure Date - Associated procedure date
  • Plan Status - Overall plan status
  • Interest Level - Patient's interest/engagement level

Plan Status Log​

InSched maintains a complete history of plan status changes. Each log entry records:

  • The date and time of the change
  • Who made the change
  • The old and new status values

Access the Plan Status Log from the plan editor to review the full history of a plan's progression.

Interest Level Log​

Similarly, interest level changes are logged over time. This is useful for tracking how a patient's engagement changes throughout their treatment journey.

Why Plans and Stages Matter​

Before InSched's plan integration:

  • Staff would forget to create CRM records when appointments were made
  • Stage updates were often missed until the CRM was needed for a specific task
  • No-shows and cancellations were never communicated to the CRM
  • Follow-up actions were frequently missed

By integrating scheduling actions with plan stage management, InSched ensures that:

  • Patient records are created at the right time
  • Stage updates happen automatically
  • No-shows and cancellations trigger appropriate follow-up
  • The practice has a complete picture of every patient's journey