Cancellations and no-shows

Every clinic deals with cancellations. ApexMentum gives you tools to manage them without losing track of what happened or who owes what.

Patient-initiated cancellations

When a patient cancels from their portal:

• The appointment slot opens back up immediately.
• The patient and the provider both get a notification.
• The appointment record stays in the patient's timeline with a "Cancelled" status.

You can set a cancellation window in Portal Settings — for example, "cancellations require at least 24 hours' notice." Inside that window, the portal still allows the cancellation but flags the appointment for a possible late-cancel fee.

Reschedules

Reschedules from the portal show up in your Schedule as the appointment moving to a new slot. The original slot opens up. Both events are logged so you can see the full history.

To reschedule on a patient's behalf:

1. Open the appointment in the Schedule.
2. Click Reschedule.
3. Pick a new slot. Save.

The patient is notified by email.

Marking a no-show

If a patient doesn't show up, mark the appointment as a no-show from the Schedule:

1. Click the appointment.
2. Set status to No-show.
3. Add a note (optional).

This:

• Updates the appointment record
• Triggers your configured no-show fee if you've set one (see below)
• Updates the patient's no-show count in their profile

Charging a no-show or late-cancel fee

If you've connected Stripe (see Connect your Stripe account), you can configure automatic fees:

1. From Settings → Cancellation policy, set the late-cancel and no-show fee amounts.
2. Decide whether fees are charged automatically to a stored payment method, or invoiced manually.

When a fee triggers, the patient gets an email with the charge and a link to pay (if manual). If you've stored a card via Stripe, the charge runs automatically and a receipt is emailed.

Repeat offenders

Each patient profile shows their lifetime no-show count. Many clinics set an internal policy like "after three no-shows, this patient must pre-pay to book." You can enforce that by:

• Setting a required deposit on appointment types for individual patients
• Tagging the patient (we'll add structured tags soon)

Reminders to reduce no-shows

By default, ApexMentum sends:

• A 24-hour-before email reminder
• A 1-hour-before email reminder
• A portal notification at the same intervals

You can customize the templates from Settings → Reminders to match your tone of voice.

Related

• Calendar setup
• Taking patient payments