Appointments Topics

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Blocking Off Time in HuBERT Appointment Scheduling - Updated July 2022
While reviewing some data for reports, one of our epidemiologists found a small number of fake participants that had been added to the database to block time on calendars. We readily acknowledge there is a need to be able to block time on the appointment scheduling calendar.

In October 2016, we provided the following work-around for blocking time on the calendars in order to ensure a consistent process for all agencies and so that participants created for this work-around could be easily identified for reporting purposes.

This work-around should be used when short notice has been provided, such as if the resource is sick or no longer available as scheduled due to an emergency, and some or the rest of the resource’s availability needs to be blocked on the current calendar. It should not be used to block off multiple resources for meeting or other scheduled functions. In these instances, use Build Clinic Calendar to adjust the resources schedules.

If you need to block time on your calendar, please use the following process:

• Create one prescreened participant with the first name of TIME and last name of BLOCK-AGENCY NAME (example: Name = TIME BLOCK-HENNEPIN).
• If an agency feels it needs more than one TIME BLOCK participant, they can choose to create one TIME BLOCK for each clinic. In that case, the name should be the same and initials added to identify the clinic.
• Example: Name of participant for NorthPoint Clinic = TIME BLOCK-AGENCYNP

April 2022 HuBERT Hints #2
October 2016 HuBERT Hints #1 and #2

Reminder – Manually Mark Appointments as Kept for Participants Not Issued Benefits
This is just a reminder that HuBERT automatically marks appointments as kept as long as benefits are issued on the same date as the appointment. For participants that are not issued benefits, such as fully breastfed infants less than 6 months old and some-breastfeeding women more than 6 months postpartum, you will need to remember to manually mark the appointments as kept.

Doing this ensures the accuracy of any reports that provide information on appointment no-shows. Getting into the habit of doing this will also ensure that when the reminder message component is added to the current Food Finder app, the reminder messages will display appropriately for those participants who choose to use this feature.

July 2016 HuBERT Hints #2</p>

Remember to Delete Appointments at Other Agencies when Participant Transfers to Your Agency
When a participant transfers to a different agency/clinic any appointments they may have scheduled at their previous agency/clinic are NOT automatically deleted by the system.

It is best practice when performing an in-state transfer to always delete appointments scheduled at another agency.

If a participant has an appointment scheduled, it will display in the Show Details panel on the Participant Search/List screen.

You can delete the scheduled appointments by opening the Appointments tab in the Participant Folder and clicking the View All button in order to display any appointments scheduled at another agency.

Clicking the View All button will do two things: display all appointments scheduled for household members and enable the Delete Appointment button.

By deleting appointments scheduled at the participant’s previous agency, you will help to ensure that the no-show rate won't be inadvertently inflated by participants who have transferred out of an agency and that those appointments will be made available for other participants still receiving services from that agency.

May 2015 HuBERT Hints #2

General Information about Using Appointment Reminder E-Mails in HuBERT
If your agency uses the HuBERT appointment scheduler, an automated appointment reminder message can be sent via e-mail for those participants with an e-mail address entered into the E-mail field in Demographics.

In order for the system to know whether or not your agency elects to send e-mail reminders, a return e-mail address for your Local Agency WIC Program has to be entered into the back-end of HuBERT. This must be a valid e-mail address and can be either generic for your WIC program or to a specific individual. (Keep in mind this e-mail can be responded to even though the reminder message states "This is a system generated email. Please do not reply.")

You can send your agency’s return e-mail address to Nicole Danberry at nicole.danberry@state.mn.us. Please allow 5 business days for her to enter it into the HuBERT back-end. She will contact you via e-mail once this has been completed.

The Reminder Interval field in the Edit Appointment Type window is where you can specify how many days before each Appointment Type the reminder e-mail should be sent; the default is 7.

The following is an example of the Appointment Reminder E-Mail Message. (NOTE: This message will be sent in Spanish if Spanish is selected in the Correspondence Preference field in the AdditionalInfo2 tab.)

Some agencies have indicated that they would like to use this feature to remind participants of Nutrition Ed contacts/benefit pick-ups. In order to do this, these contacts would have to be scheduled using the HuBERT appointment scheduler.

Also, the reminder message template, which is the same for all local agencies, would have to be modified by the State since it is currently specific to certification appointments. The State is willing to modify this template based on feedback we receive from Local Agencies about wanting to use this message to remind participants of other scheduled contact appointments. If you are interested in doing this, please contact your State Program/Regional Consultant.

May 2013 HuBERT Hints #1

Reminder Interval
The Reminder Interval text box for system-defined Appointment Types has been enabled and can now be changed from the default of 7.

2.17.07 Release Document

Color of Date Changes when Appointment Slots Full
The date on the calendar in the Schedule Appointments for Household and the View Appointments for Date screens will turn aqua blue if there aren’t any appointments slots open for the date.

2.16.06 Release Document

WIC Category Field in Schedule Appointments for Household
The WIC Category drop-down list has been changed to a disabled text field that displays the participant's current WIC Category as saved in the Demographics screen (MEMBER.WICStatus). This change was made because the WIC Category is not and has never been saved to the APPOINTMENT table and this was causing confusion when staff were able to select from the field.

2.16.06 Release Document

Using the Missed Appointment Follow-up Function to Identify Participants Who Have Missed An Appointment during a Specified Time Frame
The Missed Appointment Follow-up function is available in the Activities menu on the Participant Search/List screen.

You can use this to identify participants who have missed their scheduled appointment. To generate a list of participants, filter for a specific date (enter the same date in the From and To fields) or date range, select which WIC Categories you want to display, and then click the Apply Criteria button. The report results are records that do not have the Kept checkbox selected in the View Appointments for Dates screen (remember, the Kept checkbox is automatically selected by the system if benefits are issued for the participant on the same date as their appointment).

November 2011 HuBERT Hints #3

Scheduling Appointments for Participants Purged to Agency 88
Description: Participants transferred from Agency 88 for whom an appointment is then scheduled are transferred back to Agency 88 during the End-of-Day process.

• Explanation: The EOD process automatically purges records by changing the Agency ID to 88 in the Member table to indicate the participant’s record has been archived. The archive rules are based on the current certification status of the participant.
• Prescreened > 60 days ago and not certified
• Terminated > 6 months ago, not certified and currently not in a new cert attempt
• Determined ineligible > 6 months ago and not certified

When a participant is transferred from Agency 88 and only updates are made to the Participant Folder, such as scheduling an appointment, the system automatically re-archives the record during the next EOD process.

What You Should Do: Continue to transfer the participant into your local agency and schedule the appointment. When the participant returns, you will have to search for them in Statewide. However, their appointment is maintained in their Participant Folder and on the appointment screens.

September 2011 HuBERT Hints #2

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