OB Ultrasound Scheduling by Gestational Window

Each scan type is offered only inside the gestational week range your protocol assigns it, and those ranges are configured from your practice rather than assumed by the system
Scans are booked against the sonographer and ultrasound room template, which is a separate resource from the physician schedule, so a study is never confirmed with nobody available to perform it
When the window is near closing and nothing inside it is open, the call escalates to your staff rather than quietly offering the next available date outside the range
Where your template supports it, a scan and the provider visit that follows are offered as a single block, so the patient is not told to phone back to add the second half
Scans ordered by an outside referrer or an MFM co-manager are captured with the referring practice, the indication as written on the order, and where the order document can be found
Preparation instructions your practice publishes for each study, including full-bladder and fasting requirements, are read back on the confirmation, and anything not covered is routed instead of improvised

How it pays back

The Window Is the Constraint, Not the Calendar

Nuchal translucency measurement is performed in the 11 to 14 week range and the second-trimester anatomy survey is offered at 18 to 22 weeks. Those are ranges, not preferences, and a scan pushed two weeks in a busy ultrasound schedule can land outside the one it belonged to. Scheduling logic that calculates weeks first and offers dates second treats the window as the binding constraint, which is how your sonographers already think about it.

Two Schedules, One Phone Call

Ultrasound capacity is the scarcest resource in most obstetric offices and it lives on its own template with its own hours, its own rooms and a fixed number of trained sonographers. A booking flow that only looks at provider availability produces confirmations that the ultrasound schedule cannot honour, and the office finds out when the patient arrives. Booking against the resource that actually performs the study removes that failure.

A Cancelled Scan Is Reoffered, Not Absorbed

When a scarce ultrasound slot opens the same morning, the value of filling it is far higher than the average clinic slot, and the patients who most want it are the ones whose window is closing. Cancellations feed a backfill list your practice defines, and outbound offers go out in the caller's preferred language without anyone stepping off the front desk to make them.

Outside Orders Arrive Complete

Referred and self-pay scan requests are the ones most likely to reach the office as a fragment: a patient with a paper order she cannot describe, or a fax with no phone follow-up. Capturing the referring practice, the stated indication, the coverage position and the document location in one structured record is what lets your staff verify the order before the appointment rather than at the door.

Booked inside the window

Only dates within the gestational range your protocol sets for that study are offered

Unlimited concurrent calls

A scan booking never queues behind the rest of the morning's obstetric call volume

HIPAA BAA included

Dating, order and identifier data encrypted with AES-256 at rest and TLS in transit

Frequently asked questions

Does the system already know the correct gestational windows?

It knows yours. During setup you supply each scan type, the week range your practice works to, the duration, the resource it consumes and any preparation instructions. Practices differ on first-trimester scanning, on how early they date, and on which studies they keep in house, so none of it is assumed.

How does it establish gestational age?

From the estimated due date already on your record where an integration exposes it, or from the date the caller gives. It does the arithmetic; it does not establish dating. If the caller is unsure, or the record and the caller disagree, the booking is flagged for your staff instead of being placed on a number the system guessed at.

What if nothing is open inside the window?

The call escalates on the path you define, with the window, the current gestational age and the callback number attached, so a human can decide whether to overbook, add a session or use another site. The system does not resolve it by offering a date outside the range, which is the specific failure this workflow exists to prevent.

Can it handle scans ordered by another practice?

Yes. The referring practice, ordering clinician, stated indication, and coverage or self-pay position are captured as structured fields and routed to whoever verifies outside orders. Nothing about the clinical appropriateness of the order is assessed on the call.

How are elective or keepsake scan requests handled?

By whatever policy you write. Many practices decline non-medical imaging outright, some allow an add-on under defined conditions, and some redirect. The system states your position in your wording and routes the request if the caller wants to discuss it, rather than negotiating or implying that a medically indicated scan can be moved up for a non-medical reason.

Does the booking reach our ultrasound schedule directly?

Where your platform supports it. Direct scheduling is live and currently deployed on a number of systems, available through API or FHIR on others, and available through secure workflow automation where no suitable interface exists. Custom integration is available for unusual configurations, and your schedule remains the source of truth in every case.

Ultrasound Slots That Close: Booking Against Gestational Age