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, trades, and corrections by hand. With generation, requests, and trades all handled in one place, that work takes a fraction of the time, and the hours go back to clinical work and teaching.

Question 2

How does automated scheduling compare to doing it by hand?

Accepted Answer

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

Question 3

Does this help with resident satisfaction and wellness?

Accepted Answer

Yes. Nights, weekends, and unpopular shifts are spread fairly across the academic year, which removes the accidental patterns that make residents feel singled out. Schedules also rotate shifts forward and build in recovery time after nights, and each resident's schedule gets its own wellbeing score.

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, which means 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 trade. That lowers the risk of violations that can lead to 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 built specifically for emergency medicine residency programs and clinician groups. It builds an optimized schedule in minutes (ACGME-compliant for residency programs). It also runs everything around the schedule for everyone in the program or group: requests, trades, time off, publishing, calendar feeds, and notifications.

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, including ACGME duty hours, senior coverage, PGY restrictions, and each resident's requests. Clinician groups work the same way, by calendar month and around each clinician's hour goal.

Question 9

What happens after a schedule is published?

Accepted Answer

Everyone on the schedule is notified and sees their shifts right away. Trades and time off run through the app, approvals happen 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

EM Scheduling stores only the PII needed to run the platform: names, email addresses, schedule requests, and shift assignments. No Protected Health Information (PHI) is ever stored, and all of this data is encrypted (AES-256 at rest, TLS 1.2+ in transit).

Question 12

Can multiple people manage the schedule?

Accepted Answer

Yes. Scheduling duties can be shared across your team, and each person gets the access level their role needs.

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, within the same protective duty-hour limits, on their own dates. Their rotations don't 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, staff, and schedule building.

Program Coordinator: manages billing, settings, staff, residents, requests, and block configuration, and can view the schedule builder, but can't build schedules or edit shifts.

Scheduler: builds and edits schedules and manages residents, requests, and block configuration, but can't change program settings, billing, or staff accounts.

Residents without privileges can view their schedule, submit requests, trade shifts, and sync their calendar.

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

Clinician groups use a simpler set of roles: there, the Scheduler also manages settings, staff, and shifts, and billing stays with the Administrator.

Question 15

Can a resident also have admin privileges?

Accepted Answer

Yes. A resident can be given any privilege level. For example, a chief resident who builds the schedule might be a Scheduler or Administrator as well as a resident.

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, and coordinators and administrators can also add staff. New users get an email invitation to create their account.

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, with no cancellation fees or lock-in period.

Question 18

How is billing calculated?

Accepted Answer

You pay 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) is based on the average number of residents scheduled in the ED each month, EM residents and off-service rotators alike, and is reviewed once a year. The price for each tier is on the Pricing page.

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 isn't suspended right away. Courtesy reminders go out over the first few weeks, and after about three weeks the program or group moves to view-only: schedules can be viewed 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. EM Scheduling has a separate version built for emergency medicine groups, covering physicians, NPs, and PAs. Your group is scheduled by calendar month, and each clinician is scheduled to their own monthly hour goal, with a little room above or below. You get the same optimization, fairness, and circadian protections as residency programs.

Question 24

How does pricing work for a clinician group?

Accepted Answer

Your group pays one flat monthly rate instead of a per-clinician fee, in small, medium, and large tiers, with no long-term contract. New groups get 4 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, locums, PRN, part-time, and variable-hours clinicians are all supported, and each is scheduled to their own numbers. Any clinician can also have personal rules, like a cap on nights or no nights at all.

Question 26

Do clinicians get self-service requests, shift trades, 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, with totals ready for payroll, and 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. Clinician-group scheduling runs on calendar months and hour goals, with nocturnists, locums, and per-clinician rules. Each has its own scheduling engine, built for its own rules, with the same optimization quality and the same care for fairness and sleep.

Question 28

Is there a setup fee?

Accepted Answer

No. Initial setup is included with your subscription. We help with shift setup, location mapping, and your scheduling rules (PGY-level rules and didactics for residency programs; nocturnist and per-clinician rules for clinician groups), along with dedicated onboarding support.

Question 29

How long does onboarding take?

Accepted Answer

Most programs are fully configured and ready to generate their first schedule within a week. We handle most of the initial setup so your team can start using the platform right away, though we recommend generating the first schedule after everyone has created an account and submitted their requests.

Question 30

Can I try it before committing?

Accepted Answer

Yes. New programs and clinician groups get 4 months free. Use the contact form on our Pricing page to tell us about your team, and we'll set you up at no cost.

Question 31

What kind of support do you offer?

Accepted Answer

All subscriptions include priority email support, plus dedicated onboarding and ongoing help with configuration changes.

Question 32

Who built this?

Accepted Answer

EM Scheduling was built by practicing emergency physicians, including EM residency faculty, who have built schedules by hand 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

Accounts & privileges

Billing & payments

For clinician groups

General