CR ScheduleAI’s new optimization feature, Employee cancellation coverage, allows users to automate the process of finding coverage for cancelled client events by providers. 

To find employee cancellation coverage:

1. Navigate to the Scheduling module and select ScheduleAI.
2. In the “Optimization type” dropdown select Employee cancellation coverage.
3. Under the “Step 1: Schedule Details” header, select the primary office location and a date range between 1 and 7 days to add cancellations.

4. Under the “Step 2: Cancellations” header, select up to 5 cancelling providers.
   • In the “Employee cancellation details” pop-up, complete the following fields:
     • Employee
     • Start date
     • End date
       • Please note, the “All day” checkbox is selected by default. Un-checking this box displays the time zone and allows users to add a start time and end time for cancellations.
     • Cancellation reason (select one)
       • Options in this drop-down are auto-populated from the organization’s existing list of cancellation reasons.
   • Add additional cancellation notes and refine employee pool by coverage labels, if desired.

5. Under the “Step 3: Additional Settings” header, select the checkbox under meal period to include a meal period for covering employees.

6. Select Create Draft at the bottom of the screen, then select Run in the “Run Optimization” pop-up to create a draft schedule with your selected optimizations.
7. Users will be automatically redirected to the “Draft Schedules” tab while ScheduleAI runs the optimization.

8. Once the status of the draft schedule changes from “Optimizing…” to “Unpublished,” users can select the ellipses icon to Rename and Edit the draft schedule.
9. Select Edit to view the new draft schedule with proposed employee cancellation coverage events. ScheduleAI automatically creates a proposed event on cancelling employees’ calendar to block the time they are cancelling for.
   • Existing events have a solid outline.
   • Proposed events have a dotted outline.

10. If there are events that do not have coverage, a warning message at the top of the draft schedule will indicate the number of uncovered events.
    • Select VIEW to view more details about the events without coverage.

11. Select Publish on the top right of the page to publish the optimized draft schedule.
    • If coverage was found for all events, the following message will display. Select Publish in the “Publish schedule” pop-up to confirm.

12. If coverage was not found for all events, the “Publish schedule” pop-up will contain a warning to indicate the lack of coverage and details about the events without coverage. The pop-up will also prompt users to decide what to do with events without coverage.
    • Select Allow system to cancel events without coverage. to allow ScheduleAI to automatically cancel the listed appointments.
    • Select I will manually cancel events without coverage. to keep events without coverage on the calendar.
    • Select Publish to confirm.

Prior to running optimization, click here to learn about schedule optimization requirements. In the ScheduleAI section of the Scheduling module, users can run optimization to create a schedule for providers.

To run optimization:

1. Navigate to the Scheduling module and select ScheduleAI.
2. Select an Optimization type from the drop-down on the right-hand side:
   • Employee Cancellation Coverage BETA: find coverage for advanced or last-minute employee cancellations.
   • Reduce travel cost: swap providers between existing events to reduce travel costs.
   • Fill client accepted hours: create new events for clients to maximize their remaining accepted hours.
     • These hours are subject to provider and client availability constraints, minimum and maximum session length provided by the user, established connections, certified providers, and events already on the calendar.
   • Fill client authorized hours: create new events for clients to maximize their remaining authorized hours.
     • These hours are subject to provider and client availability constraints, minimum and maximum session length provided by the user, established connections, certified providers, and events already scheduled.
   • New client schedule: creates events for clients without any scheduled hours within a date range.
     
3. In the “Primary office Location*” drop-down, select an office location.
   • Please note, providers and clients need to have a primary office location in the “Basics” section of their Profile.
4. In the “Filter Clients” and “Filter Providers” sections, search for labels in the search bar or select from the drop-down.  
   • Select the checkbox to include active generics. Please note, schedules can be published for active generics but the appointments cannot be converted until the generic is an employee. 
5. In the “Apply Service Codes” section, search for labels in the search bar or select from the drop-down. Adding labels will pull service codes associated with each clients to determine which providers the client(s) can be scheduled with. After the appointment is scheduled, the service codes will be included in the data import. If a client does not have any service codes, they can be scheduled with any provider, but the service code information will be blank.
6. Select one of the following options in the Optimize schedule by drop-drown:
   • Greatest reduction: as many changes as needed to reduce travel cost. 
   • Minimal changes: least amount of changes needed to reduce travel cost. 
   • Balanced: maximize estimated net revenue by considering therapy hours and travel cost. 
   • Maximum Therapy Hours: highest number of direct therapy hours as possible.
     • The provider’s drive time will likely be longer with this optimization type, as it displays the schedule that has the most therapy hours.
7. Choose a desired Date range between 1 to 7 days.
8. Adjust the ”Session length.”
9. Select or deselect the checkbox to schedule lunch breaks. Select a lunch break duration for providers and the hours required for a lunch break to be scheduled. 
10. Users can select DOWNLOAD PREVIEW to view the clients, providers, and current schedules in the selected date range for an idea of what is currently in CentralReach.
11. Click RUN OPTIMIZATION.
12. After running optimization, users are directed to the “Draft Schedules” tab to view the draft name, schedule range, date and time last modified, and status. Select any schedule row to view the filters and settings applied. Select the three dots icon and choose “Edit” on the right-hand side of an unpublished schedule to make changes.
13. Drafted appointments can be edited and the schedule can then be published.
    

Prior to running optimization, organizations should:

1. Set up client and provider availability.
   • Each user’s availability should contain days and times and a geolocated address.
2. Geolocate the primary office locations for clients and providers, as well as the following:
   • Client’s home address.
   • Provider’s home address.
   • Organization addresses.
3. Set primary locations for clients and providers.
   • The provider should have a primary office location saved.
   • The client should have a location in the availability and a primary office location saved.
     • If the provider and client’s home address is not geolocated, the geolocated office address will be used as a default address.
4. Ensure the appropriate contacts are connected to clients and providers.
5. Input values in the “Client Accepted Hours” or “Hours” fields in the authorization, if using “Fill client accepted/authorized hours BETA.” 
   • Please note, if either the “Client Accepted Hours” or “Hours” fields in the authorization are blank, or the system is unable to pull service code information from the authorization, schedules will be optimized based on client and provider availability.
6. To include non-billable events, designate which service codes will be used for non-billable purposes.  

Click here to learn how to run optimization.

To view a drafted event:

1. Navigate to the Scheduling module and select SchedulesAI.
2. After running optimization, users will be directed to the “Draft Schedules” tab to view the draft name, schedule range, date and time last modified, and status.  
3. Select any schedule row to view the filters and settings applied.  
4. Select the three dots icon and choose Edit on the right-hand side of an unpublished schedule to make changes. 
5. Select a specific provider from the “Provider” drop-down.
6. Selecting an event displays “DETAILS” and “SERVICE CODES” tabs.
   • Details: includes details for each event, including the event type, providers, event date, address, time zone, and the start and end time of the event (adjustable by 15-minute intervals).
   • Service codes: contains any any applied service codes and available authorized codes.
   • Any validation errors will display above the provider and client’s names.
7. Click SAVE if any changes were made.
   
8. Select PUBLISH SCHEDULE to include the draft appointments in the live schedule.