← Back to catalogue
Published

Appointment and care schedule

EM-HCP-02 · em-hcp-02

Keep a reliable record of who is booked with whom, where and when, and of changes to bookings, so that access and capacity can be managed fairly.

Enterprise profiles Enterprise subject EnterpriseHCP
Bundle → Layer → Finding → QuestionsClassifiersWhat it isWhy it existsDistinguishing featuresWhat robots and AI may and may not doMoral aspectsOwnersLinks to other meta-modelsIdentity and identifiersDirect propertiesRecognitionCapabilities and actionsHazards and failure modesStandards and interfacesContext of useSources

Bundle → Layer → Finding → Questions Filled

2 bundles · 2 layers · 4 findings · 8 questions

Schedules and slots Bookable time of practitioners, rooms and devices.

Availability

Schedules, slots and capacity rules.

Schedules

Which resource a schedule covers and its slots.

  1. Which practitioner, room or device does this schedule cover, and for which period?
  2. Which slots in this schedule are free, booked or blocked?

Capacity rules

Booking capacity, overbooking and reserves.

  1. What booking capacity applies to this slot, including any overbooking or emergency reserve?
Appointments Bookings and what happened to them.

Booking history

Booking details, changes and outcome.

Appointment

Patient, service, participants and changes.

  1. Which patient, service and participants are on this appointment?
  2. Who booked, moved or cancelled this appointment, when and with what reason?

Outcome

Attendance and links to the encounter and referral.

  1. Was this appointment attended, cancelled or a no-show?
  2. Which encounter followed this appointment, if any?
  3. Which referral or order is this appointment based on?

Classifiers Filled

Family
Enterprise profiles
Category
Enterprise subject
Entry kind
subject
Domain
EnterpriseHCP
Industry
Healthcare provider
Tags
EM-HCP-02W-INDsubjectScheduleSlotAppointmentAppointmentParticipantCancellation

What it is Filled

Bookable schedules of practitioners, rooms and devices, slots, appointments, reschedules, cancellations and no-shows. The visit itself is recorded as a patient encounter.

Why it exists Filled

Keep a reliable record of who is booked with whom, where and when, and of changes to bookings, so that access and capacity can be managed fairly.

Distinguishing features Filled

  • An appointment is a booking, not proof that care took place.
  • Schedules cover practitioners, rooms and devices.
  • Changes to bookings keep who acted and why.
  • The visit itself is recorded in the encounter contour.

What robots and AI may and may not do Filled

Must not

  • Cancel or move appointments without the authority of the patient or staff.
  • Use no-show history to refuse care without a human decision.
  • Reveal appointment details to unauthorized persons.

Only with a human decision

  • Decisions about priority and urgent access are made by clinical staff.
  • Removal from a waiting list requires a responsible staff member.

May

  • Find free slots that match a booking request.
  • Send appointment reminders through approved channels.
  • Flag overbooked slots and repeated no-shows for staff review.

Moral aspects Filled

  • Scheduling rules can create unequal access to care.
  • Appointment data can reveal sensitive health information.

Who is affected

  • Patients
  • Practitioners
  • Front desk staff

Owners Filled

Steward

The head of outpatient services who answers for schedules and bookings.

Master systems

  • Patient administration system
  • Scheduling system
  • Electronic health record system

Links to other meta-models Filled

neighbor

  • EM-HCP-01
  • EM-HCP-03
  • EM-HCP-05
  • EM-PEO-07
  • EM-FAC-01

references

  • WM-ACT-026 - conceptual-candidate

What else AI and robots need to interact with it Filled

Identity and identifiers required Filled

  • An appointment has an identifier unique within the provider.
  • A slot has a distinct identifier within its issuing system and references its schedule, because overlapping slots can share a start time.

Direct properties not applicable Not applicable

Not applicable

Enterprise record contour: physical properties belong to referenced world models.

Recognition required Filled

  • Records show a time slot, a patient, a service and participants with a booking status.
  • An appointment must be distinguished from an encounter and from a billing event.

Capabilities and actions required Filled

  • The contour supports booking, waiting list management and capacity analysis.

Hazards and failure modes required Filled

  • Lost bookings can delay necessary care.
  • Disclosure of appointments can reveal health conditions.

Standards and interfaces optional Filled

  • HL7 International publishes the FHIR Schedule, Slot and Appointment resources.

Context of use required Filled

  • The contour is used in outpatient clinics, diagnostics and day care.
  • Rules on waiting times may apply in public health systems.

Sources Filled

  1. HL7 FHIR: Schedule, Slot and Appointment resources
  2. IHE profiles for scheduling exchange
  3. Outpatient scheduling and waiting list practice
  4. HL7 FHIR R4 Appointment resource - Checked live (HTTP 200) on 2026-10-21.
  5. HL7 FHIR R4 Schedule resource - Checked live (HTTP 200) on 2026-10-21.
  6. HL7 FHIR R4 Slot resource - Checked live (HTTP 200) on 2026-10-21.

Open questions

  • How is an appointment linked to the encounter that follows it?
  • Who may book, move or cancel an appointment, and how is the reason kept?
  • How are overbooking and emergency reserve slots represented?
  • Settle the boundary and the reuse, extend or new decision against the current specifications.
  • Confirm the semantic crosswalk, rights and source mastership.
  • Choose immutable references and run fixture checks before claiming publication readiness.

Machine files

Card as JSON Source Card backlog vercy.card/1

Provenance

enterprise research programme · published-partial

Built from: enterprise/models/em-hcp-02/brief.json, ver-cy/world-models/card-supplements/em-hcp-02.json