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Acuity Set up

Set credentials for Acuity in Welkin

Log into Acuity

Business Settings → Integrations

The integration screen will appear in the right panel.  Select API in the top vertical menu bar

API → View Credentials

Please keep the User ID and API Key screen open to reference the next steps.

Set credentials in Welkin Admin

Log in to Admin portal → Integrations → Acuity tab → Select the necessary environment → Edit → Copy User ID from Acuity into Client ID field and API key into the Client Secret field → Save

Add webhooks in Acuity

  1. Switch back to Acuity
  2. Add webhooks

Integrations in the sidebar → Find Webhooks on the page → Set Up button

You need to enter the webhook address in three fields: NEW APPOINTMENT SCHEDULED, APPOINTMENT RESCHEDULED and APPOINTMENT CANCELED.

The webhook address looks like:

https://{apiUrl}/{tenantName}/{instanceName}/acuity/webhooks

{apiUrl} for live is api.live.welkincloud.io

For example, https://api.live.welkincloud.io/welkonnect/liza/acuity/webhooks

  • Click Save Settings

Link the calendars in Acuity with users in Welkin

Add users’ calendars in Acuity using the following steps:

  1. Availability  – Under Business Settings
  2. At the top right select “Add New Calendar
      1. Complete the available fields
      2. Click Save

Create Appointment Types:

  1. Appointment Types – Under Business Settings
  2. Click ‘New Type of Service’
    1. Complete the available fields
      1. The Appointment Type names have to exactly match the Encounter Template name in Designer (case sensitive) 
      2. Select Create Appointment Type
    2. On the next screen, choose the calendars that the appointment type can be scheduled on

If creating a new calendar after the appointment types are created, then begin with step 1. Once the calendar is created, then the below screen will appear for you to choose what types of appointments the calendar will have access to (if any), set working hours and limits if necessary and close the form.

💡 Note: The emails of added calendars do not have to match the emails of users in Welkin (since the link will be by ID), but it is convenient to have matching emails to avoid confusion.

The calendar ID from Acuity will need to be copied to the Welkin user in Admin:

  1. Availability  – Under Business Settings
  2. Click “Calendar Settings”
  3. Copy the numerical ID at the far right (at the end) of the URL

To associate the Acuity ID with the user in Welkin:

  1. Go to Admin portal in Welkin
  2. Click on Users
  3. Click on the user in Welkin for whom a calendar was created and whose ID was copied
  4. Click Edit in the User Information drawer
  5. Click Custom fields section
  6. Find the Acuity Scheduling ID field and add the Acuity ID copied from the URL from above
  7. Click Save

Note: To ensure that appointments created in Acuity also appear in the Welkin calendar, all calendars in Acuity must be linked to users in Welkin.

Link Appointments in Acuity and Encounters in Welkin

First, copy the Appointment Type ID from Acuity:

  1. Appointment Types – under Business Settings
  2. Click on the ‘Edit’ button next to the Appointment Type that will be linked to the Encounter Template in Designer
  3. Copy the numerical ID at the far right (at the end) of the URL
  1. Log in to Designer 
  2. Create Draft
  3. Click on Encounter Templates
  4. Click ‘Edit’ for the Encounter Template in Welkin that you want to link to the appointment for which you copied the ID
  5. Paste the Appointment ID from Acuity  to the Acuity Appointment Type ID field
  6. Click Save

After linking all encounters and appointment types publish the changes.

💡 Note: If you create a new Encounter in Welkin you will also need to set read/write access to the encounter template in Security Policies 

Notifications

Welkin can send emails/SMS to patients about setting up an appointment. But first you have to turn off notifications in Acuity.

Disabling Notifications in Acuity

  1. In the Acuity Dashboard in the vertical menu select Client Email under Notifications
  2. Disable Notifications for the Initial Confirmation, Reminders, Cancellation, and Rescheduling
    1. The Notifications can be disabled in one of two ways
      1. Drag each Appointment Type down to the ‘Inactive Types’ box
    2. Click on the gear icon next to the Appointment Type
      1. Select ‘Inactive’ in the dropdown menu
      2. Repeat for each Appointment Type
    3. Click Save Template

Creating a Message Template to be sent to the patient in Welkin

Automations and communication templates are created in Designer. 

If you already have some type of template that fits your patient notification goals, it will be possible to use it. If not, you need to create a new template

  • Communication block → Message Templates → +New
  • Fill the Title and set a Labels if you need it (Labels will appear in the template list and are used for convenience only)
  • Set Message Type that you need. For example, we will set Email, so this message template will be used for sending emails
  • Context Type defines how this email can be used
    • General – can be used in automations or can be sent manually by the user from the Care portal. Such a template can include only variables with information about the user or patient
    • Encounter – сan only be used by encounter related automations, a user cannot send such an email manually from the Сare portal. Such a template includes variables with information about the encounter and allows you to send the patient some information about a particular encounter
  • So Context Type should be Encounter
  • Type should be set to HTML
  • Fill the Subject field – name of the email
  • Fill the Body for email This is where you can edit the appearance of the email
    • In the panel on the right, there are elements that you can add and customize for your email text
  • After adding an item, click on it to open the settings
  • Click on {x} to open the list of variables that you can use in the letter. There is a list of system variables with patient or user information that you can add here. Since the Context Type we have selected Encounter, there is also a list of variables with appointment data.

  Examples of variables:

  • {{USER_FIRST_NAME}} , {{USER_LAST_NAME}} – user`s name
  • {{USER_PHONE}} – user`s phone
  • {{PATIENT_FIRST_NAME}} , {{PATIENT_LAST_NAME}} – patient`s name
  • {{PATIENT_ADDRESS_LINE_1}} – patient`s address
  • {{ENCOUNTER..startDateTime}} , {{ENCOUNTER..endDateTime}} – start and end date and time of the encounter
  • {{ENCOUNTER.*.careTeamMember}} – user that set into encounter
  • {{ENCOUNTER.*.location}} – location where encounter will take place. This parameter depends on the Delivery Method set in the encounter template. If the Video type is selected – a Zoom link can be inserted; if Call – the patient’s phone number; if In-Person – the location address.

A full list of all variables with information about the encounter can be found in the Custom Encounter Variable section (If you select an encounter in the drop-down list in this section, the variables will be displayed for that specific encounter)

When the email is sent, the relevant information will be substituted into the variables you have added

 An example of the variables in the template:


 And the final look of the email:


Create an automation for sending the email/sms

  • Automations section → +New
  • Fill the Title
  • Trigger Type should be Event
  • Set Event as Encounter created
  • You can set a specific Encounter template whose creation will trigger the automation. If you don’t set this template, the automation will trigger on the creation of any encounter
  • Actions block allows you to specify the actions to be performed by the automation. Action #1 block → Action Type → Patient block in drop-down → Email Patient (You can choose another communication option, then you need to create message templates for the required notification type) → Message Template (Email) → Select an email template that we have created
  • Check Secure Email (via Paubox) checkbox to use secure email (not required )
  • Save changes

When all the settings done, you need to publish a Draft

Go to Change Summary button → Publish → Yes Publish button

Send the appointment scheduling link to the patient

Go to Acuity:

Scheduling Page Link in the sidebar → Direct Links & Embedding block → General Scheduling Page drop-down → Select appointment type or calendar

Direct Link tab → Copy

The copied link can be sent to the patient.

When opening the link, the patient will see form where he can choose a date and time convenient for him to create an appointment.

 

And then he needs to enter his information

And press the “Complete Appointment” button.

💡 Based on the patient data in the form, a patient will be found in Welkin, who will be added to the Encounter.

After that, an Encounter will be created in Welkin (the user will be able to see it in his calendar as well as on the Encounters page).

If patient notification automation is configured, when an encounter is created, an email will be sent to the patient based on the template you have configured.

More Questions?

If you have any questions regarding the Acuity Integration or its implementation, please visit the Welkin Health Knowledge-Base or contact your Implementation/CSM for more information.