Question 1

How much time does EM Scheduling save a chief resident?

Accepted Answer

Many chiefs spend ten or more hours a month building the schedule and chasing requests, swaps, and corrections by hand. With generation, requests, and swaps all running in one place, that drops to well under an hour — time that goes back to clinical work and teaching.

Question 2

How does automated scheduling compare to doing it by hand?

Accepted Answer

Hand-built schedules leak errors: wrong locations, wrong shift times, the wrong number of people on a shift, and endless back-and-forth over swaps and requests. EM Scheduling removes the transcription step entirely, enforces your program's rules automatically, and produces an ACGME-compliant schedule in minutes instead of hours.

Question 3

Does this help with resident satisfaction and wellness?

Accepted Answer

Yes. Shifts are spread fairly across the whole academic year, which removes the accidental patterns that make residents feel singled out — and because the process is visible, everyone can see that it's fair.

Question 4

What about faculty and program coordinator time savings?

Accepted Answer

Faculty who used to spend hours checking spreadsheets get that time back for teaching. Coordinators get every request in one inbox instead of scattered emails and texts — fewer transcription mistakes and fewer last-minute scheduling emergencies.

Question 5

How does this reduce ACGME violations?

Accepted Answer

The ACGME scheduling rules are enforced automatically on every schedule and every swap. That lowers the risk of violations that can trigger costly, time-consuming reviews — or even probation.

Question 6

Can residents sync their schedules to personal calendars?

Accepted Answer

Yes. Residents can subscribe to an always-up-to-date calendar feed from the Schedule page, so everyone knows exactly when they work.

Question 7

What is EM Scheduling?

Accepted Answer

EM Scheduling is scheduling software made specifically for emergency medicine — residency programs and clinician groups. It builds an optimized, ACGME-compliant schedule in minutes. Then it runs everything that comes after — requests, swaps, time off, publishing, calendar feeds, and notifications — for everyone in the program or group.

Question 8

How does schedule generation work?

Accepted Answer

You set up your shifts, locations, block rotations, and scheduling rules once. When you're ready, one click builds the best schedule it can find that follows every rule you've set — ACGME duty hours, senior coverage, PGY restrictions, and each resident's requests.

Question 9

What happens after a schedule is published?

Accepted Answer

Residents are notified and see their assignments immediately. Swaps and time off run through the app, approvals live in one inbox, and every change updates the published schedule automatically.

Question 10

Is my program's data secure?

Accepted Answer

Yes. Data is encrypted at rest and in transit, accounts support server-verified multi-factor authentication, access is limited by role, and daily automated backups run on SOC 2 Type II infrastructure.

Question 11

What personally identifiable information (PII) does EM Scheduling store?

Accepted Answer

We collect only the minimum PII necessary to operate the platform: name, email address, schedule requests, and shift assignments. No Protected Health Information (PHI) is stored at any time. Even this limited data set is fully encrypted — AES-256 at rest and TLS 1.2+ in transit.

Question 12

Can multiple people manage the schedule?

Accepted Answer

Yes. The platform supports multiple privilege levels so responsibilities can be shared across your team without compromising data security.

Question 13

Can it schedule rotating med students?

Accepted Answer

Yes, for residency programs. Enter each student's rotation dates and their schedules generate in a few clicks. Students are scheduled alongside the resident shifts you already staff, kept inside the same protective duty-hour limits, and run on their own dates — no need to line up with your residency blocks.

Question 14

What are the different account privilege levels?

Accepted Answer

Administrator — full program management including billing, settings, shifts, residents, and schedule building.

Program Coordinator — manages settings, residents, requests, and block configuration but cannot build schedules or edit shifts directly.

Scheduler — builds and edits schedules, manages residents and requests, but cannot modify program settings.

Residents without privileges can view their schedule, submit requests, and sync calendars.

Staff (clinicians who work with residents) can view the up-to-date schedule.

Question 15

Can a resident also have admin privileges?

Accepted Answer

Yes. A resident can be granted any privilege level. For example, a chief resident who manages scheduling might be assigned the Scheduler or Administrator role in addition to their resident status.

Question 16

How do I add new residents or staff to my program?

Accepted Answer

Any user with privileges can add residents from the Residents page; coordinators and administrators can also add staff. New users receive an email invitation to create their account and access the platform.

Question 17

Is there a long-term contract?

Accepted Answer

No. EM Scheduling is a month-to-month subscription with no long-term commitment. You can cancel at any time — there are no cancellation fees or lock-in periods.

Question 18

How is billing calculated?

Accepted Answer

You're billed a flat monthly rate based on your program's size — month to month, with no annual renewal and no per-person fees. Your tier (Small, Medium, or Large) comes from the average number of residents actually scheduled in the ED each month, EM residents and off-service rotators alike; the price for each tier is on the Pricing page. Archive residents who have finished their ED rotations and your tier stays accurate.

Question 19

When is my invoice sent and when is it due?

Accepted Answer

Invoices are generated and sent at the beginning of each month, and are due by the end of that month.

Question 20

What payment methods do you accept?

Accepted Answer

We accept credit cards, debit cards, and ACH bank transfers through Helcim, our PCI-compliant payment processor. ACH bank transfer is fee-free. Credit and debit card payments include a 3% convenience fee charged by Helcim because they are processed as card-not-present transactions.

Question 21

Do you store my payment information?

Accepted Answer

No. All payment processing is handled by our PCI DSS-compliant payment partner. EM Scheduling never stores, processes, or transmits sensitive credit card or bank account data on its own servers.

Question 22

What happens if an invoice isn't paid on time?

Accepted Answer

Access is not suspended immediately. Courtesy reminders are sent over the first weeks past due, and after about three weeks the program moves to view-only — schedules can be seen but not created or edited. An account isn't archived until roughly two months after that, with a warning email a week beforehand.

Question 23

Does EM Scheduling work for clinician groups, not just residency programs?

Accepted Answer

Yes. Alongside the residency product, EM Scheduling fully supports emergency medicine clinician groups — physicians, NPs, and PAs. Groups are scheduled by calendar month against each clinician's monthly hour goal, with some room either way, and get the same optimization, fairness, and circadian protections as the residency side.

Question 24

How does pricing work for a clinician group?

Accepted Answer

Clinician groups pay a flat monthly rate per group rather than per provider — small, medium, and large tiers, with no long-term contract. New groups get 3 months free. The Clinician Pricing page has the current tiers and a savings calculator comparing the flat rate to per-clinician pricing.

Question 25

Can it handle nocturnists, locums, PRN, and variable or part-time hours?

Accepted Answer

Yes. Nocturnists (mostly or exclusively nights), locums, PRN, part-time, and variable monthly hours are all supported — each schedules to their own numbers, and any clinician can have personal rules like a night cap or no nights at all.

Question 26

Do clinicians get self-service requests, shift swaps, and hours tracking?

Accepted Answer

Yes. Clinicians request time off and shifts, trade shifts through a built-in marketplace, and sync their schedule to a personal calendar. Hours and overtime are tracked automatically each month and the totals are ready for payroll — plus holidays are tracked automatically and can be traded too.

Question 27

How is clinician scheduling different from residency scheduling?

Accepted Answer

Residency scheduling runs on blocks, ACGME duty-hour limits, PGY levels, and didactics — the area we have always specialized in. Clinician-group scheduling runs on calendar months and hour goals, with nocturnists, locums, and per-clinician rules. Both get the same optimization quality and the same care for fairness and sleep.

Question 28

Is there a setup fee?

Accepted Answer

No separate setup fee. Initial custom configuration for your program is included with your subscription. This covers assistance with shift setup, location mapping, PGY-level rules, didactics scheduling, and dedicated onboarding support.

Question 29

How long does onboarding take?

Accepted Answer

Most programs are fully configured and able to generate their first schedule within a week, though we recommend waiting until all residents have created an account and submitted shift requests. We handle the bulk of the initial setup so your team can start using the platform right away.

Question 30

Can I try it before committing?

Accepted Answer

Yes — new programs and clinician groups get 3 months free. Reach out through the contact form on our Pricing page to discuss details and get set up at no cost.

Question 31

What kind of support do you offer?

Accepted Answer

All subscriptions include priority email support. We also provide dedicated onboarding assistance and ongoing help with program configuration changes.

Question 32

Who built this?

Accepted Answer

EM Scheduling comes from practicing ER docs — including EM residency faculty — who lived the pain of manual scheduling firsthand and know from experience what makes a good EM schedule. Built by ER docs, for ER docs.

Frequently Asked Questions

Why EM Scheduling?

Product & Features

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For Clinician Groups

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