Appointment reschedule and cancellation

How do we let a patient reschedule or cancel from a text, the portal or a call, pick a new slot that fits the visit's rules, and write the change and the reason to the scheduling system?

Make the reschedule a self-service move inside the visit's rules. From a reminder text, the portal or a call, Callvu identifies the patient and prefills the appointment and its constraints (the visit type and its length, the provider and the locations they see patients, the referral or authorization validity, the pre-visit items already done, the cancellation policy and its window), offers only the slots the rules allow, captures the choice or the cancellation with the reason on a secure screen, applies the cancellation policy (the window, the fee where the policy charges one and the state allows, the no-show count), triggers the waitlist for the released slot, routes a visit with a clinical urgency or an expiring authorization to the scheduling desk in the Decision Desk, and writes the change and the reason to the scheduling system and the EHR with the confirmation and the updated reminders.

In scopeSimpleCallvu moves: prefill, write back

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Last updated November 7, 2026.

The problem today

The patient replied to the reminder text asking to move the visit; nobody read the reply, and the slot became a no-show.

Today, without Callvu

Reminders ask patients to confirm or call. Patients reply to the text, email the portal, or call and wait in a queue. A visit that could have moved becomes a no-show, the slot is lost, and the practice's no-show rate drives overbooking that makes everything else worse. A patient who moves a visit without anyone checking the referral's validity or the authorization's dates arrives to a visit the plan will not pay.

A reschedule has rules: the visit type's length and the provider's template, the locations and the modalities (in person or virtual), the referral and authorization validity, the pre-visit items that must be redone if the date moves far enough (a lab, an eligibility check), and the practice's cancellation policy with its window and any fee. The patient access standards treat the reschedule and cancellation path as part of access, and the no-show reason is data the practice needs.

A patient who can move a visit in the reminder keeps the visit; one who has to call often does not.

How it runs

From the requestto the system of record.

A patient taps the reschedule or cancel option in a reminder text, the portal or the app, or asks on a call. Callvu identifies them and opens the change.

Patient: Picks a new slot or cancels with the reason on a secure screen and receives the confirmation.
Scheduling desk: Decides urgency and authorization questions in the Decision Desk.
Callvu: Prefills the appointment and its rules, offers slots, captures the change, applies the policy, triggers the waitlist and writes.

Prefill the appointment and its rules
The appointment, the visit type and its length, the provider's template and locations, the modality, the referral and authorization with their validity dates, the pre-visit items completed, the cancellation policy and the patient's no-show history are prefilled from the scheduling system and the EHR.
Offer and capture
Only the slots the rules allow are offered (the same provider or the care team where the policy allows, inside the referral and authorization validity, within the urgency's window, the right length and modality); the patient picks one or cancels, with the reason captured from a short list and free text; a move that invalidates a pre-visit item (an eligibility check, a lab with a validity period) flags it for repeat.
Apply the policy and decide
The cancellation policy is applied by rule: inside the window the change is free, outside it the fee the policy sets and the state allows is noted with the patient told, and a late cancellation or a no-show is counted; a visit with a clinical urgency flag, an authorization that would expire before any offered slot, a patient over the no-show threshold or a provider's template with no slot goes to the scheduling desk in the Decision Desk with only the allowed outcomes.
Write back
The new appointment or the cancellation with the reason is written to the scheduling system and the EHR, the released slot is offered through the waitlist process, the confirmation and the updated reminders go to the patient, and the pre-visit items flagged for repeat are rescheduled.

Where it ends: The patient moved or cancelled the visit from the reminder inside the visit's rules, the policy was applied without an argument, the slot went to the waitlist, and the scheduling system and the EHR hold the change with the reason. The Decision Trace shows the rules applied and any decision; the Audit Trace shows the request, the choice and the write with time.

Runtime enforcement

What is enforcedwhile the work runs.

The regulations preloaded in Callvu Studio and the bank's own policies, applied as steps that run, not lines in a binder. A step that breaks a rule does not run, so a completed run was compliant.

Regulations

Patient access and cancellation policy standards (the practice's access policy, the NCQA patient-centered medical home access standards, CMS Conditions of Participation on patient rights for hospital outpatient departments): The practice's written policy sets the cancellation window, any fee, the no-show definition and the threshold for action, and must be disclosed to patients; the medical home standards require timely access including self-service scheduling changes, and hospital departments must honor patient rights notices in their scheduling.
Plan referral and authorization validity (the plan's rules and the HIPAA 278 transaction): A rescheduled visit must fall inside the referral's and the authorization's validity dates and visit counts, or a new referral or authorization is needed before the visit; the slot filter applies them.
TCPA and the HIPAA marketing and communications rules for reminders (47 CFR 64.1200 and 45 CFR 164.501): Appointment reminder texts and calls to a patient's mobile number require the patient's consent under the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (with the healthcare exemption's limits on content and frequency), and are permitted under HIPAA as treatment communications; the reminder and the confirmation follow the consent on file.

Company policies

The patient can move or cancel from the reminder; the reply is a request, not a message in a queue.
Only slots inside the visit's rules are offered; a move that breaks a referral, an authorization or a pre-visit item is flagged.
The cancellation policy is applied by rule and told to the patient; the desk decides urgency and threshold cases.
The scheduling system and the EHR are the system of record for the change and the reason.

Controls

Appointment and rule prefill.
Slot filtering by provider, length, modality, referral and authorization validity.
Reason capture.
Cancellation policy and no-show count by rule.
Decision Desk for urgency, expiring authorization and threshold cases.
Scheduling system and EHR write, waitlist trigger and reminder update.

Clocks and deadlines

Cancellation window: The policy's window before the visit; a change inside it is free.
Referral and authorization validity: The new slot must fall inside the dates; otherwise a renewal is started before the visit.
Pre-visit item validity: A lab or an eligibility check outside its validity period is repeated for the new date.

Documents and checks

The appointment and its rules as prefilled
The patient's choice or cancellation with the reason
The policy applied
Any decision
The scheduling system and EHR record and the confirmation

In the Decision Trace

The slots allowed and why.
The policy applied.
Any decision and the person.

In the Audit Trace

The request with channel and time.
The choice with time.
The write, the waitlist trigger and the confirmation.

The handoff

Between the front doorand the back office.

The front door

The reminder text, the portal, the app or a call with a link; the patient chooses on a secure screen.

The back office

The scheduling desk sees only urgency, authorization and threshold cases; the waitlist fills the slot.

The Decision Desk

A clinically urgent visit, an authorization expiring before any offered slot, a patient over the no-show threshold or a template with no slot goes to the scheduling desk in the Decision Desk with the appointment and only offer a held slot, start a renewal, contact the patient, or cancel with the reason.

Proof

In scope.Proof at scale, not one process at a time.

The kind of process Callvu runs in production for customers in this industry. Ask for a reference on this exact process. The results below are the industry's published proof; each claim code links to its record on agents.callvu.com.

23 hospitals in the Ministry of Health network run on Callvu.

Across Callvu customers

More than 1,000 processes are live across Callvu customers.

Across Callvu customers

Questions

What buyers ask next,answered plainly.

Which slots are offered?

Only those inside the visit's rules: the same provider or care team, the right length and modality, inside the referral and authorization validity and the urgency's window.

What about the cancellation fee?

The practice's policy is applied by rule: inside the window the change is free, outside it any fee the policy sets and the state allows is noted and the patient is told before confirming.

What happens to the released slot?

It is offered to the next eligible patient through the waitlist process the moment the change is written.

Related processes

Waitlist and earlier-slot offers Scheduling with referral rules Pre-visit questionnaires by visit type Telehealth visit readiness Try it in the sandbox All healthcare processes

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