Holds, payment at booking and approvals

Not every booking is confirmed the moment you click confirm. This page explains the three ways a booking can be paid for, how LeapHealthOS holds a slot while a patient pays online, what happens when that hold runs out, and how the optional approval step works. It is for administrators who set these rules and front-desk staff who explain them to patients.

The settings on this page are in SettingsPlatform ConfigurationSystem Settings on the Appointments tab, in the Hold & Payment and Approval sections.

Three payment routes

Every booking takes one of three routes, depending on the amount due and the button chosen in the booking wizard.

If approval is switched on, the booking goes to Pending Approval instead of Confirmed. See the approval section below.

A pay-at-hospital booking shows a Collect Payment button in All Appointments until the money is taken at the counter. See Creating a payment and collecting money.

How much is due

The amount the patient pays at booking depends on the payment type of the service's price:

Discounts are taken off and tax is added. The payment type has no screen in LeapHealthOS yet; ask your implementation team to change it.

Holding a slot for online payment

When staff choose Pay Online, LeapHealthOS saves the appointment as Draft, creates the bill and a payment link for the patient, and holds the slot for Hold Duration minutes (default 10). Nobody else can book the slot while it is held. As soon as the payment is received, the appointment is confirmed.

Only online-payment bookings are held. Pay-at-hospital and zero-amount bookings are confirmed at once.

When the hold runs out

An expired appointment cannot be revived; book again if the patient still wants the slot. All Appointments shows expired appointments as Cancelled.

Payments received after expiry

Late Payment Action decides what happens when a patient pays after the hold has run out.

Payment Timeout has no effect yet. The hold is controlled by Hold Duration and the expiry settings above.

Approval

You can require a staff decision before a booking is final. Switch on Approval Required in the Approval section of the Appointments tab, for the whole hospital, a centre or a doctor.

When approval is required, bookings go to Pending Approval and the slot stays held for Approval Timeout hours (default 24). An approved booking becomes Confirmed; a rejected one becomes Rejected.

When nobody decides in time

When the Approval Timeout passes, the Timeout Action applies.

Rejection Refund Type and Rejection Refund Value decide how much of any payment is refunded when a booking is rejected (default: full). As with cancellations, LeapHealthOS works out the refund amount but does not return the money; there is no refund screen yet, so your implementation team issues it. See Rescheduling, cancellation and refunds.

Changing settings after appointments are booked

Some settings are fixed at the time each appointment is booked, so changing them later does not affect existing appointments. These include whether approval is required and how long it waits, who can cancel, and whether a cancellation reason is required.

Other rules apply to existing appointments as soon as you change them. These include what happens when a hold or approval times out, refund amounts, check-in, no-show and completion rules, and reschedule rules.

Messages during booking

You can send the patient or staff a message at each step from Notification rules, in the Appointments and Appointment Payment Options groups:

See Notification events and recipient strategies.