How to build your schedule?
Step 1: Log in to FFD and Navigate to Your Profile
Go to FFD and log in.
From the side navigation bar, click on your profile
After clicking into your profile, scroll down the page.
You will now see a new section labeled "Base Working Schedule."
This is where you’ll set your weekly availability - the hours you're available to take visits, across the date range you choose.
Step 2: Select the Scheduling Period You’d Like to Open
In the Scheduling Period section:
Start: Enter the date your schedule begins (e.g., 07/28/2025).
End: Enter the date your schedule ends (e.g., 08/15/2025).
Timezone: Confirm your local timezone (e.g., Central Time).
Note: You can create multiple availability windows by adjusting the start and end dates as needed. This is especially useful for seasonal changes or temporary schedule shifts.
Step 3: Set Your Weekly Availability
Under Base Work Days, select the days you’ll be available.
For each day:
Click the checkbox next to the day (e.g., Monday).
Enter your available time blocks using the Start and End fields.
Example:
8:00 AM → 11:00 AM
1:00 PM → 4:00 PM
Use “+ Add” to create multiple blocks in one day if needed.
The system will automatically total your hours per day. No need to calculate manually.
Step 4: Apply Your Schedule to Other Days
To save time, use the Copy function:
Click the Copy button next to a completed day (like Monday).
Select all other days that follow the same schedule (e.g., Tuesday through Friday).
Click Apply to confirm.
This is especially helpful if your availability is consistent throughout the week.
Step 5: Review and Save
Give your schedule a final review:
Make sure each selected day shows the correct time blocks.
Once everything looks good, scroll down and click the green “Apply” button in the bottom right corner.
Your availability won’t be saved until you click Apply — don’t skip this step!
Tips and Best Practices for Your Schedule
This feature sets your recurring availability for a specific time frame. It does not account for days off, holidays, or exceptions.
To block off holidays, PTO, or one-off changes, use the “freeze slot” option in your main calendar view.
Revisit your profile to update availability whenever your schedule shifts.
It is your responsibility to ensure your schedule is open as soon as you are live. You are also expected to maintain a rolling two months of availability at all times.
Minimum required hours per week will vary based on your employment type — please refer to your onboarding documents or reach out to your manager for clarification.
Can I schedule a 30 or 60 minutes Appointment?
Appointments will always be in 60-minute increments, unless:
The plan restricts follow-ups to 30 minutes
Your availability starts or ends at the :30 (half hour)
You have a visit already scheduled for 30 minutes that creates an additional 30-minute slot during that hour (e.g. you just scheduled a patient whose plan restricts follow-ups to 30 minutes at 3:30PM, that will create a 30-minute slot from 3:00-3:30PM)
**It is NOT possible to schedule a 60 minute appointment to start on the :30 hour in FFD.**
Important
60 minute appointments can only be booked to start on the top of the hour (example 12p-1p vs. 1230p-130p)
If a 30 minute appointment is booked in your calendar, a 30-minute slot will appear as available. Any member can be booked into this 30-minute slot
Why am I unable to schedule appointment messages in FFD
RDs may be prevented from scheduling an appointment with a specific patient for a variety of reasons. Those reasons are noted below as well as the action the RD should take to resolve the issue
Payment Limit Reached
This error occurs when a patient does not have a chronic diagnosis on file and their health coverage limits them to two visits (e.g., through CCH). To resolve the issue:
Cancel any future scheduled appointment.
Missing license - RD is not licensed in the member's state
If RD licenses are active and correct in Medallion - submit a ticket
Visit limit reached - this member has already reached the maximum covered number of appointments by their plan
If the visit history reconciles with this message, inform the patient. If not - submit a ticket.
Default payment required - the member must have a default payment method for a provider to schedule with them. Additionally, this issue may arise if the patient's insurance is inactive, invalid, or eligibility verification has failed in the system.
Verify the patient's insurance status as the first step:
Ensure the insurance is active and valid, and eligibility has been successfully verified. If not, inform the patient and request updated insurance information. Once resolved, attempt scheduling the patient again. If issues persist, submit a ticket for further assistance.
Steps to Resolve a 'Default Payment Required' Message
Understand the Cause
This error occurs typically due to inactive/invalid insurance or failed eligibility verification.
Ensure that valid insurance is on file to prevent uncovered charges.
Verify the Patient’s Insurance Status
Confirm if the insurance is active and valid. Address any failure in verification by communicating with the patient to update details.
Address Immediate Concerns
Avoid scheduling new appointments until the insurance issues are resolved. Consider canceling any upcoming appointments to prevent billing complications.
Resolve the Block
After ensuring insurance verification, confirm updates in the system and retry appointment scheduling.
Committee approval needed - RD has not been approved by the Credentialing Committee
ACTIVE RDs have already been approved by Credentialing Committee before they start seeing patients. Submit a ticket if you think you are getting this message in error.
Unenrolled provider - RD has not been enrolled/credentialed with this member's health plan/payer
RDs should notify providergroup@foodsmart.com to confirm they are credentialed with that payer or on the provider roster for the member's plan
Submit a ticket here if you cannot schedule in FFD and believe it's an error.
Alternatively, you can use G-Chat Spaces to seek assistance in managing and transferring appointments to other Registered Dietitians. This ensures continuity of care and offers immediate support in case of complications.
How to schedule recurring appointments?
This feature enables you to schedule a series of follow up appointments on the same day of the week - at the same time
From Member Management
Search for Member and Schedule sessions
Recurring appointments can only be scheduled with you
The recurring visit feature is not available if scheduling with a different provider
From your Calendar, select the best day and approximate time based on the Member's preference
Select the appointment format and choose repeats
Select the number of appointments and duration of the series
Conflicts will be highlighted so you can make adjustments as needed
How to add/schedule family members?
Adding household members to another profile can ONLY be done for patients who are younger than 18 years of age, not a legal adult. It is against HIPAA policy to add a household member who is 17+ to another adult/guardian profile at this time, as they cannot share the same phone number and/or email address for their profiles, as showing in the FFD portal.
Please ONLY add children/dependents/PEDs when adding a household member to any profile at this time. We will need to separate all profiles that have been created and linked to an adult/guardian profile for all patients who are 17+ years of age.
Each member will need to have their insurance verified AND eligibility checked for the correct Web profile to be created.
Please direct all patients to customer support:
Phone: 415-800-2311
Email: support@foodsmart.com
DO NOT add members to the household in Foodsmart For Dietitians or add a member to the patient's Foodsmart Account.
How soon can an appointment be added to my schedule?
Appointments can be scheduled into any open slot up to 1 hour before the scheduled appointment time
How to fill an On-Demand Appointment?
What Are “Overbooked” or “On-Demand” Visits?
An overbooked or on-demand visit is a pre-scheduled visit that has not been assigned to a specific RD. Selecting the “Fill On-Demand” button for a visit from the Task Bar (in the On-Demand tab) on the right side of the calendar, the system assigns one of these visits to you.
Please note, this is "on-demand" from your view and not the member's view. Members have scheduled these appointments by time and not by a specific RD.
Overbooked visits may be used to schedule into any open slot, including:
Slots that are currently open that never had a visit scheduled
Patient no shows
Last Minute Cancellations (either by you or the member)
How You’re Scheduled with an Overbooked Visit
Up to 75 minutes before visit start time:
Auto-fill: Automatically assigns a visit to open slots up to 75 minutes before the visit start time. This happens with any open slot.
Between 75 minutes before the visit start time and up to 15 minutes past the visit start time
2. RD Manual Fill:RD can place a member on their own schedule up to 15 minutes after the scheduled start time.
Example: If you have an open slot at 12:00 PM PT:
Auto-fill can assign a visit up until 10:45 AM PT (75 minutes)
GDT can assign a visit up until 12:15 PM PT (15 minutes after start time)
RD (you) can assign a visit up until 12:15 PM PT (15 minutes after start time)
Benefits for You
This new system helps protect your schedule against lost units from last-minute cancellations and no-shows. Previously–just several months ago–we couldn’t book any visits within 48 hours of the visit start time, which required manual outreach and waitlist juggling on your side. Now, we’re handling the administrative work so you can focus on member care.
Another benefit: If you’ve been adding extra availability (>8 hours/day) to protect against no-shows, you can now rely on overbooking to ensure visits are completed, reducing the need for adding additional hours.
On the right hand side of your dashboard you will now see a tab titled “On-Demand” which shows all of the available on-demand visits.
If you click the “Fill on demand” button next to a visit in that tab, it will populate into your schedule
If you hover over the visit within the On-demand tab, you will see the timeslot in your calendar turn green to indicate which slot it refers to
The small red dot in the top right corner of each time slot indicates slots where on-demand visits are available.
Alternatively to selecting the “Fill On-Demand” button in the tab on the right, you can also click the 3 dots in the top right corner of a slot and select “On-demand” to populate the visit into your calendar.
Once you click on the “Fill On-Demand” or “On-Demand” button the appointment will automatically be scheduled into your calendar.
You do not need to unfreeze a slot to populate an on-demand visit
For quick reference: all On-Demand appointments will be visible by the red dot on the calendar view. A green-highlighted appointment will appear when hovering over the On-Demand appointment available for that day or week. To view On-Demand appointments highlighted in green for other days/weeks, you’ll need to change the day or week in the calendar view to match the day/week of that appointment.
On-Demand appointments are listed in your current FFD timezone.
What age is considered "pediatric" for Foodsmart scheduling?
Foodsmart defines pediatrics as under age 13 because we work with many Medicaid patients ages 13-18 who do not have a guardian and who make food decisions in their households, and we do not want to deny care to these patients.
Do pediatrics need to be present during the visits?
For visits where the child is the patient, that child must be present during the visit regardless of their ability or desire to participate. You may communicate with the parent to do the assessment and speak with/to the child as medically and psychologically appropriate to engage them in their nutrition care.
Children age 12 and under must be accompanied by a parent or guardian or the visit will need to be rescheduled. Children age 13+ may visit with the RD alone, but must have documented permission from the guardian.
How far in advance can we schedule out members?
FFD only allows you to schedule out 3 months in the future.
What is the member support phone number?
Main Foodsmart Support Line for MEMBERS: (415)-800-2311
How to sign up for foodsmart?
Direct others to www.foodsmart.com and they can click on "Schedule Now."
What if my member has Durable Power of Attorney (DPOA) ?
When a member has a Durable Power of Attorney (DPOA), family member, or health care proxy involved in a member's telehealth visit;
The member must remain present for the entire call.
If the member has the capacity to consent, the RD should obtain their consent for the third party's participation.
The RD should confirm the identity of the individual (DPOA, family member, or proxy) assisting the member during the session.
The RD must document in the member's chart that the DPOA, family member, or health care proxy assisted during the visit, along with any information they provided.
Can a caregiver translate for a member instead of translation service?
If a member declines professional translation services and consents to having a caregiver, family member, or health care proxy translate during a telehealth visit;
RD must make clear that professional translation is available and free to the member. If a member clearly declines and requests a family member, caregiver, or other person to provide translation instead, we can honor the member's wish.
RD should document this exchange (their offer and the member's request) in their notes in the subjective notes.
Member should be present for entire visit
Member may change their mind at any time
If there is any sign of pressure or potential abuse from the other person, RD should follow the SOP on potential abuse situations and switch to professional translator
If possible, the RD should also obtain additional information about the caregiver or party providing translation in the care coordination notes for future visits.
Prohibited use of a friend or family member under 18 years old as a translator, even when requested by the member.