This article reviews how automatic booking of follow-up appointments works at Rula, and how you and your provider will decide if you want to reschedule or cancel the automatically booked follow-up visits.
It also provides best practices for easily canceling the follow-up appointments that were automatically booked for you.
Note: Processes are different for therapy and psychiatry, and these differences are outlined below.
How does automatic booking of follow-up appointments work?
Therapy
At Rula, we want to be sure the appointment slot (day of the week and time) of your initial therapy appointment is available to you for follow-up visits if you and your therapist believe it is appropriate.
So, upon booking your initial therapy visit through Rula, we automatically book recurring appointments for you on the same day and same time for the four weeks following your initial appointment. At your first session, you and your therapist should discuss a plan for ongoing appointments, including the recurring visits that have already been scheduled.
Please remember that you'll not be charged anything ahead of time for future visits. You and your therapist will decide if you want to reschedule or cancel the automatically booked recurring visits, or you can always cancel up to 24 hours in advance at no charge.
If you would prefer to book all your own follow-up visits you can cancel the appointments within the Rula patient portal. Note that when initial appointments are canceled within the portal, all follow-up appointments are also canceled. Follow-up appointments can be canceled within the portal one at a time.
Psychiatry
Once you’ve completed your initial psychiatry intake appointment, you’ll work with your provider to schedule regular follow-up visits. These appointments provide an opportunity for you and your provider to discuss your response to medications and make any necessary adjustments.
Typically, you’ll need to meet with your provider every 1-3 months, but the frequency will vary depending on your care plan.
At Rula, we want to be sure that all Psychiatry patients are able to book follow-up appointments after their initial visit, in order to prevent provider calendars from booking up and preventing existing patients from receiving regular follow-up visits. A follow-up appointment will not always be automatically booked for psychiatry patients. You'll coordinate with your psych provider to book follow-ups on the right cadence for your care.
Please remember that you'll not be charged anything ahead of time for future visits. You and your provider will decide if you want to reschedule or cancel the automatically booked follow-up appointment, or you can always cancel or reschedule up to 24 hours in advance at no charge.
You'll receive reminders 24 hours and 1 hour before your scheduled visit.
If you would prefer to book all your own follow-up visits you can cancel the appointments within the Rula patient portal.
How do I easily cancel any follow-up appointments that were automatically booked for me?
After the booking of your initial appointment, you'll receive an email letting you know that the appointment(s) have been scheduled for you automatically. This applies to all appointment types.
- If you wish to cancel these appointments, simply cancel the appointments within the Rula patient portal.
Please note: Once an in-person appointment is canceled, it cannot be rescheduled through the patient portal. Additionally, you will not be able to reschedule recurring in-person appointments directly from the confirmation email, so please contact inperson-scheduling@rula.com or message your provider via the patient portal.
Additional Resources
- Managing your appointments- Detailed instructions on how you can use Rula patient portal to view, reschedule, and cancel upcoming appointments
- Cancellation and “no show” policy - Information regarding Rula's cancellation and "no-show" policy