Waitlist

The waitlist is where Penciled began — a simple idea that turned into the foundation for automating front-office scheduling across clinics.

What was the process before Penciled?

At many clinics, managing cancellations meant juggling spreadsheets, sticky notes, and guesswork. The PT clinic that first inspired Penciled was tracking patient availability in the “notes” field inside Weave. When a patient canceled, the front office had to manually search through notes, choose a few likely candidates, and text them one by one until someone said yes.

There was no system to automatically message patients or fill open slots, and every cancellation meant lost revenue and more manual work for staff already stretched thin.

What did Penciled do first?

The first version of Penciled automated that manual process. Front offices could enter a cancellation, and Penciled would instantly message every waitlist patient. The first patient to respond “yes” would lock in the slot and receive a confirmation. Staff would then simply add the appointment in WebPT.

This small automation saved hours each week and proved that AI could handle one of the most frustrating parts of clinic operations — filling last-minute cancellations.

What does Penciled’s waitlist do now?

Today, Penciled is fully integrated with WebPT. When a cancellation occurs, Penciled automatically detects it and reaches out to the right waitlist patients based on their preferences and availability. The first to accept is booked directly into the WebPT calendar — no manual action required.

If clinics prefer more control, Penciled can operate in manual mode, allowing front offices to approve or adjust bookings before they’re finalized.

The result: cancellations are filled in minutes, patients are happier, and front offices finally get to focus on real interactions instead of reactive scheduling.

Shoutout

Renew Physical Therapy in San Francisco’s Chinatown inspired the waitlist and volunteered the back of a treatment room where Penciled first launched.