Patient Appointment Type Setup

Overview

Appointment Types categorize appointments (e.g., "Consultation", "Follow Up", "Emergency", "Dental Checkup"). Each type defines default duration, calendar color, booking scope, and billing items with OP/IP pricing.

Navigate to: Healthcare workspace > Appointment Type > New

Fields

Basic Configuration

Field	Type	Description
appointment_type	Data	Unique name (e.g., "Consultation", "Follow Up")
default_duration	Int	Duration in minutes. Used to calculate slot intervals.
color	Color	Calendar display color (hex, e.g., #4CAF50)
allow_booking_for	Select	Practitioner (default), Department, or Service Unit — determines what the user selects when booking

Billing Items

The items child table (Appointment Type Service Item) lets you define different billing items for different departments or service units:

Field	Type	Description
dt	Link → DocType	Scope: "Medical Department" or "Healthcare Service Unit" (blank = generic/default)
dn	Dynamic Link	The specific department or service unit
op_consulting_charge_item	Link → Item	ERPNext Item for outpatient charge
op_consulting_charge	Currency	Outpatient fee amount
inpatient_visit_charge_item	Link → Item	ERPNext Item for inpatient charge
inpatient_visit_charge	Currency	Inpatient fee amount

Example configuration:

Scope	OP Item	OP Charge	IP Item	IP Charge
(generic)	Consultation Fee	₹500	IP Visit Fee	₹300
Cardiology Dept	Cardio Consultation	₹800	Cardio IP Visit	₹500
Ortho Dept	Ortho Consultation	₹700	Ortho IP Visit	₹450

Medical Coding

Field	Type	Description
codification_table	Table (Codification Table)	Medical codes linked to this appointment type (e.g., CPT codes)

Price List Integration

Field	Type	Description
price_list	Link → Price List	ERPNext Price List for auto-creating Item Prices

Billing Lookup Logic

When an appointment is booked, get_billing_details() (appointment_type.py line 41) resolves the correct charges:

1. Check department-specific items first: If the practitioner's department matches an entry in the items table with dt = "Medical Department", use those items
2. Fall back to generic items: If no department match, use entries where dt is blank
3. Final fallback: If no items defined on the appointment type, use Practitioner-level charges, then Healthcare Settings defaults

Auto Item Price Creation

On validate() (appointment_type.py line 10):

• If price_list is set and items have charges configured
• Calls make_item_price() (line 75) for each charge item
• Creates/updates Item Price documents in the specified Price List
• This ensures appointment charges appear correctly in billing

The "Unavailable" Type

The system auto-creates a special "Unavailable" appointment type for blocking time:

• Created by setup_appointment_type_for_unavailability()
• default_duration: 60 minutes
• color: #ff5858 (red)
• price: 0
• See Appointment Unavailability

Related Code

• DocType: healthcare/healthcare/doctype/appointment_type/appointment_type.json
• Python: healthcare/healthcare/doctype/appointment_type/appointment_type.py
  • validate() — line 10
  • get_billing_details() — line 41
  • make_item_price() — line 75
• Child table: healthcare/healthcare/doctype/appointment_type_service_item/appointment_type_service_item.json