Here's the whole journey a client takes through CoolFocus Care, from the first appointment to a completed visit. Understanding this flow is the key to everything else in the Care module.
Three records work together:
• Client (person): who they are. Created or linked at booking. One person can return many times over years.
• Case: the umbrella for one ongoing concern. Usually one pregnancy (with its own LMP / due-date context) or one pregnancy-related issue you are following. All visits about that same concern should live under one case.
• Visit: one encounter on a specific day when the client is present and you Start Visit. Charts, the day's notes, and that day's tests belong on the visit. The visit hangs under a case.
If your organization opens a new case for every single visit, it will prevent your records from being tidy. For example:
• The same pregnancy's ultrasound, test, and follow-up visits scatter across many cases.
• Staff lose the continuous story (LMP, outcomes, prior visits) that should sit in one place.
• Reports and timelines get harder to read.
Recommended pattern: create a case when the concern begins, then attach multiple visits to that same case as care continues. Choose Start a new case only when this really is a new concern (for example a later pregnancy with a different LMP, or a separate issue that should not mix with the prior case).
When you Start Visit and the client already has cases on file, CoolFocus asks which case this visit belongs to. That prompt is how you keep the umbrella clean.
Day-of flow and the case picker also appear on the Visit Board. Front-desk stages (arrived, lobby, complete, and so on) are customized under Customizing Visit Board Statuses.
The moment an appointment is booked, by your staff or by the client through online booking, CoolFocus creates or links a client (person) record and assigns a client number. You have a real, single record from the very first contact.
This is what ends the old "ghost client" problem: no separate scraps of info across an appointment and an intake form, and no messy history when someone reschedules several times. And because CoolFocus bills with unlimited records, no-shows and cancellations don't cost you anything extra.
When someone books online or registers for a class online, CoolFocus tries to attach them to an existing client instead of creating a duplicate. Matching checks contact information in this order:
• Email: the strongest match. CoolFocus checks the address someone typed against both the client's primary and secondary email, and against every email on file for that client, not just the one field that happened to sync. This closes a gap where a client created on one part of the platform could end up duplicated because a newer address hadn't mirrored over yet.
• Phone: used only when the number points to one client and the name (and date of birth when provided) also line up.
• Name + date of birth: used when those match a single client and don't strongly conflict with a different email or phone already on file.
If the same email or phone is on file for more than one client, CoolFocus only auto-links the booking when exactly one of those clients is corroborated by the name (and date of birth, when provided).
If more than one client shares that email and every one of them also matches the booking's first name, last name, and date of birth, CoolFocus treats those records as one person's existing duplicates rather than as separate people. It attaches the booking to whichever of those records was most recently active, so a returning client no longer adds a fresh duplicate on every booking. If even one of the matching clients turns out to be a different person, or the name or date of birth does not line up exactly for all of them, CoolFocus stays cautious and creates a new client for you to review instead.
If several candidates match and none is clearly corroborated, CoolFocus does not guess. It creates a new client you can review and merge later, the same way it always has when a match is weak or ambiguous.
Staff-booked appointments use the client you pick (or create) on the calendar.
If you still find a duplicate client from before this matching improvement, or from any other cause, merge the two records the normal way. See Merging Duplicate Records.
From the appointment, you can send forms and documents (booking questions, intake-style forms, consents) to the client, or they are sent from your appointment-type setup. When clients complete a form, CoolFocus saves an exact form response attached to that send (and the appointment). Staff cannot overwrite what the client submitted.
You don't have to wait for the visit to see answers: once a sent form is Completed, open it from the appointment's intake list and review it before the client arrives. See Viewing submitted intake forms from an appointment.
If a form was sent but the client has not finished it yet, that outstanding item still lives on the appointment — there is no separate old-style intake form list. See What Changed with Intake Forms.
• Client-level fields (when the form is mapped that way) can update the client record as soon as the form is completed, if the target field is empty or matches.
• If a mapped field already has a different value, CoolFocus does not overwrite it automatically. That answer is held for staff review (pending review) so you decide what to keep.
• Answers that belong on the case or visit wait until those records exist, usually when you Start Visit.
• Unmapped questions still live on the submitted form so you always have the full original response.
Special sections (for example potential fathers) write to their related records when the form is set up that way.
When the client is on site and you Start Visit (Visit Board, appointment panel, or appointment workspace), CoolFocus:
• Creates a new case automatically if the client does not already have one
• Asks which case the visit belongs to if the client already has one or more cases on file, instead of picking one for you. You choose an existing case (active or closed) or start a new case; the visit only proceeds once you decide. Each case in the picker shows its status, key dates, and recent visit history so you can tell cases apart.
• Creates the visit linked to the appointment and the chosen case (or reuses the visit if Start Visit was already used for that appointment, safe to click again)
• Links completed intake forms/consents to the visit
• Applies completed form answers to client, case, and visit fields as mapped (again respecting empty fields vs pending review)
• Sets the appointment toward a checked-in / show-style status, based on your appointment statuses
• Can auto-create draft custom charts linked on the appointment type (Premium custom chart templates) so staff open the visit ready to chart
From there you document the visit normally (tests, ultrasound, notes, and so on).
If the client already has a case on file, Start Visit does not guess which one this visit belongs to. Instead, it stops and asks staff to choose:
• Pick one of the client's existing cases from a list that shows whether each is active or closed, when it was opened, and its last visit date, or
• Start a brand new case instead.
Nothing is pre-selected. Staff must make an active choice before the visit starts, so a walk-in who needs a new case never gets charted against an old one by accident.
Use the picker to keep records tidy: choose the open case for this pregnancy or concern so today's visit joins that history. Choose Start a new case when this is a different concern (new pregnancy / different LMP, or a separate issue). Avoid starting a new case for every routine follow-up on the same pregnancy just because the client came back on a new day.
This choice only comes up when the client already has at least one case. For a client with no case, Start Visit can open the case step first when your permissions allow case creation. Walk-ins follow the same rule: if the walk-in appointment is already booked and a case choice is needed, the appointment waits in today's list and you finish starting the visit by picking a case from the same dialog, so the client is never booked twice.
If required forms or consents are still incomplete, CoolFocus warns you and asks whether to start the visit anyway. You can keep going with care and finish paperwork later. You can also still send remaining forms from the appointment (text, email, or a link/QR for a tablet on site).
On the Visit Board, Start Visit and Walk-In options are available when you are viewing today. You do not start visits for future days from the board; Start Visit is for when the client is actually present.
You can customize the board's stage names and order under Customizing Visit Board Statuses (Settings > Scheduler Settings > Visit Board > Visit Statuses).
Open the visit's Workspace tab to use Visit Record sections, Documents, and client history. Standard visit fields are edited in their sections; client paperwork remains available as its submitted record.
• Forms on the visit remain the faithful copy of what the client reported.
• Charts are what staff complete during care. Built-in charts (for example pregnancy test, ultrasound, client advocacy, vitals) and any custom charts for your center live on the visit. See Forms vs. Charts.
If someone arrives without an appointment, use Walk-In on the Visit Board: choose the client and appointment type, and CoolFocus creates today's appointment and starts the visit. If the walk-in client already has a case on file, you'll be asked which case the visit belongs to before it opens; the appointment stays in today's list while you decide, so you never end up booking the same walk-in twice. After a walk-in starts, the board stays open and refreshes so front desk can keep checking people in without jumping into the workspace every time. Details: The Visit Board.
• Visit Board in Scheduler: day-of flow, Start Visit, walk-ins, move clients through your stages
• Appointment panel or workspace in Scheduler: send/review forms, Start Visit, open the visit after it exists
• Visit record in Care: charts, notes, and the rest of documentation
Appointment types control which forms, consents, and charts go with each service. See Appointment Types and Booking Rules.
The staff entry flow saves real records as you continue: Client demographics, Case, then Visit. It does not create a separate intake holding record. Creating a client starts with demographics; creating a case lets you choose the client and ends on the new case. Starting a visit for a client with no case can open the case step first, when your permissions allow case creation. When a client already has cases, choose the case for this concern or create a new one.
The current screen headings are Create Client and Create Case. Use Save and continue to save the current step. Leaving the flow does not undo earlier saved records; unsaved answers on the current step still need saving.
Client forms and consents are the paperwork clients fill in through a link or portal. They can be sent and reviewed independently of this staff entry flow.
• What Changed with Intake Forms
• The Visit Board
• Customizing Visit Board Statuses
• Forms vs. Charts
• Viewing submitted intake forms from an appointment
• Appointment Types and Booking Rules
• Merging Duplicate Records
