Book a doctor’s appointment online
See what your doctor’s office has free and take one, without waiting on hold.
Most doctors’ offices now put a share of their appointments online, and those appointments sit there quietly while everybody else is holding on the phone.
Most offices now have a website or an app where you can do this. The commonest one by far is called MyChart, though your office may call it something else or put the hospital’s name on it. Ask at the front desk what theirs is called.
The practice office below is called Willowbrook and does not exist. Yours will look a little different, and every one of them has these same four steps: who you need, what is free, pick one, confirm.
Key points
- See what your doctor’s office has free without waiting on hold
- Tell a booking screen from a confirmation screen
- Know that the online schedule is a portion, and the phone still exists
- Cancel an appointment in seconds so somebody else can have it
What to remember
- Nothing is booked until the confirm screen. Everything before it is browsing.
- The online schedule is a portion, not the whole. Nothing suitable there means pick up the phone, not give up.
- Canceling online takes seconds and never involves apologizing to anybody.
Try this
Sign in to your own doctor’s office website or portal app and find the appointments page. You do not have to book anything — knowing where the door is, before you need it, is the point.
Practice: Book a doctor’s appointment online. Your first lesson is free, with no account or card; the rest are part of a Lantern plan. Interactive lessons require JavaScript.