Front Desk User Manual | CDC

As front desk staff, your main responsibility is checking in vaccine recipients. The process of checking in a recipient includes verifying their appointment in VAMS, confirming their identity, and confirming they have completed the required documents. The check-in process must be completed before the healthcare professional can administer vaccine to a recipient.

The first step to check in a recipient is to find their appointment in VAMS. You can find recipients by either scanning their appointment QR code or by manually searching. Review the sections below to learn how to perform these actions.

Use QR Code to Find Recipient Appointment in VAMS

The recipient receives a unique QR code after scheduling their appointment.

• Use a mobile device to scan the recipient’s QR code. If you are logged into VAMS on the mobile device, scanning the QR code will take you to the recipient’s appointment record in VAMS. If you are not logged into VAMS on the mobile device, the log-in screen will appear, and you will need to log in before accessing the recipient’s appointment record.
• After finding the recipient’s appointment in the table, click the recipient’s name.

NOTE: 2D barcode scanners are not compatible with QR codes and cannot be used to scan and check in recipients.

Manually Find Recipient Appointment in VAMS

You can manually search for appointments if the QR code is unavailable, or you do not have a barcode scanner. Follow the steps below to manually search for appointments:

• Go to the Appointments table on the home page.
• Use the drop-down in the table header to filter appointments scheduled for today, the next seven days, future appointments, or cancelled appointments. You also can sort appointments in the table by clicking any of the column headers to order the rows by those criteria.
• Or you may search for an appointment by entering the recipient’s name or email address in the search bar at the top right of the appointments table. Note that you can search the recipient’s full name, or just the beginning of their name. For example, you can find the appointment for a recipient named William Smith by searching for “Will.”
• After finding the recipient’s appointment in the table, click the recipient’s name.

Prevaccination Questionnaire Completion

The recipient must complete the Prevaccination Questionnaire before receiving the vaccination.

The system will indicate if the recipient has completed their Prevaccination Questionnaire. VAMS will allow you to check in a recipient who has not completed their Prevaccination Questionnaire. Please refer to your clinic’s check-in procedure to determine whether you should check in recipients who have not completed their Prevaccination Questionnaire.

Recipients should receive a notification prior to their appointment with a link to the questionnaire. Depending how far in advance the recipient scheduled their appointment, they should have received their notification within 15–20 minutes of appointment confirmation or 12 hours prior to their appointment time.

If the recipient completed the questionnaire, “The Recipient has completed the Prevaccination Questionnaire” will appear on the Validate Recipient screen. If they have not completed the questionnaire, you will be directed to a screen telling you “Recipient has not yet completed the Prevaccination Questionnaire,” and asking you to choose between one of the two options below prior to checking in the recipient:

1. The recipient will log into their VAMS account or check their email to complete their Prevaccination Questionnaire.
2. The healthcare provider will complete the Prevaccination Questionnaire with the recipient at the beginning of the appointment.
   • Select the option that aligns with your clinic’s procedures, then click Continue.

Validate Recipient Identification

After clicking Continue, you will be taken to the Validate Recipient screen.

• You must validate:
  • The recipient’s first and last name
  • Their date of birth (DOB)
  • The recipient matches their photo ID, if a photo ID is required
• Select the form of identification the recipient used, or select “No ID required for this clinic,” if applicable.
• Recipients must reschedule their appointment if your clinic requires ID and they do not have a valid ID.
  • If a recipient does not have a valid ID, select “ID required, but not provided,” then click Next to cancel their appointment. VAMS sends a notification to the recipient asking them to reschedule their appointment.
• If all information is correct and the recipient is on time for their appointment, click Next.

Appointment Status

• After confirming the recipient’s identity and clicking Next, the recipient’s appointment status will change from “Scheduled” to “Checked-In.“
• If the clinic or recipient cancels the appointment, the recipient’s appointment status will change to “Cancelled.“

Canceling Appointments

You can cancel a recipient’s appointment by following this process:

• On the Recipient Check-In page in the Appointments table, click Cancel in the Cancel Appointment column.
• A screen with the appointment details will appear.
• Select a cancellation reason from the drop-down menu.
• Click Cancel Appointment to cancel the appointment. Click Keep Appointment if you no longer want to cancel the appointment.
• A cancellation confirmation message will appear. Click OK and you will return to the Clinic Portal home page.

Auto-Cancellation of No-Show Recipients

If a recipient does not appear for their appointment after four hours, VAMS marks them as a “no-show,” then cancels the appointment. You do not need to take further action.

The system processes these cancellations once per day. Any appointments cancelled before 2 PM will show as cancelled by 6 PM that same evening. Appointments cancelled after 2 PM will show as cancelled the following day. Cancellation emails for no-show recipients will be sent to them via their preferred contact method during these system processes.

When a recipient requests that you schedule them a walk-in appointment or a future appointment, your first step is to search for the recipient to see if they already have a VAMS account.

• On the Recipient Check-In tab, click Search for Existing Recipient in the upper right corner.
• You have two search options.
• Enter one of these fields: email, VAMS ID, or External System ID.

OR

Option 1: Adding a new recipient from Search

If you searched for an existing recipient but they did not exist in the system, you can add them as a new recipient by clicking Add New Recipient from the search page (see page 11 of this user manual).

Option 2: Adding a new recipient from the Recipient Check-in tab

In addition to adding a new recipient through the Search function, you can also directly add a new recipient to VAMS from the Recipient Check-in tab by clicking Add New Recipient.

Regardless of which option you use, you are directed to the same Recipient Information page.

• On the Recipient Information page, enter the required recipient details:
  • First name
  • Last name
  • Date of birth
  • Gender
  • Race
  • Ethnicity
  • Home address
• Entering an email address or phone number is optional.
• If you enter an email address, VAMS will ask you to do two things:
  • Select the recipient’s preferred contact method.
  • Select if the recipient would like to create a VAMS account. If you select this, VAMS will send the recipient a registration email.
• If you enter a cell phone number but no email address, you must still select a preferred contact method, but you will not have the option to create a VAMS account, as VAMS requires an email to create an account.NOTE: If you select “I prefer not to receive any communication from VAMS” under preferred contact method, the recipient will not receive any notifications from VAMS, including appointment follow-ups.
• Once you’ve entered all applicable information, click

After clicking Next on the Recipient Information page, the system will direct you to the Insurance page.

You can schedule walk-in appointments or future appointments for recipients from multiple places in VAMS. You will see Schedule Walk-in and Schedule Future Appointment when you: