Petey Configuration & Setup

This guide walks you through every decision and configuration step your team needs to complete before Petey goes live. It's organized in the order things should happen: EMR preparation and Second Door configuration first, phone routing last (because once you update your phone tree, you're live).

For a training guide on how to work alongside Petey day-to-day once it's live, see the Petey Workflow Guide.

Configure your EMR calendar
Configure services
Set up provider profiles
Configure scheduling settings & booking rules
Configure payers
Validate availbility
Getting Petey ready
Set up phone routing
Set up Petey outbound SMS (Recommended)
Go Live

1. Configure your EMR calendar

Petey books appointments based on provider availability pulled from your EMR. If your EMR calendars don't accurately reflect when each provider is available, Petey will offer the wrong slots or no slots at all - so let's make sure your EMR calendar is set up for optimal booking results.

If your practice uses Prompt EMR:

Prompt syncs provider availability automatically through the Second Door integration. Second Door pulls each provider's schedule in real time, so you don't need to create any calendar markers. Verify that the availability showing in Second Door matches what you see in Prompt (in Second Door, click the calendar icon at the top right and compare to your Prompt schedule).

A note on Holds (often referred to in Prompt as "pink blocks"): Some practices use Holds in Prompt to reserve time slots they want to fill with evaluations. Petey treats these Holds as bookable time, effectively whitespace, if the word "placeholder" appears in the Hold's title or description. This lets you reserve eval slots on the calendar without blocking Petey from booking into them.

If your practice uses WebPT EMR :

WebPT calendars don't have built-in start and end times, so you need to create them. For each provider, create two recurring appointments:

1. Calendar Start — place this at the beginning of the provider's workday. The appointment's end time becomes the start of the bookable day. For example, a Calendar Start appointment from 7:45 to 8:00 AM means Petey can start booking at 8:00 AM.
2. Calendar End — place this at the end of the provider's workday. The appointment's start time becomes the end of the bookable day. For example, a Calendar End appointment starting at 5:00 PM means Petey stops booking at 5:00 PM.

Do this for every provider at every location where they work. If a provider already has recurring "Out of Office" blocks marking their day boundaries, replace those with the Calendar Start and Calendar End appointment types.

Without Calendar Start and Calendar End appointments, Petey sees zero availability for that provider. This is the most common reason a provider shows no bookable slots after configuration. If you're missing availability for a specific provider, check their WebPT calendar first.

For other EMRs, your Second Door contact will provide specific instructions.

2. Configure your services

Services include Initial Evaluations, Follow-Ups, Aquatic therapy, Pelvic, etc. They map to your EMR's appointment types and dictate how Petey maps what the client says to the right appointment type in your EMR.

Go to Settings > Services.
Confirm that your evaluation services are listed (e.g., PT Initial Evaluation, Pelvic Health Evaluation, Vestibular Evaluation, Hand Therapy Evaluation). If a Service is missing, click Add Service.
Open each Service to ensure the following fields are properly populated:
- Name: What patients and your team will see (e.g., "PT Initial Evaluation").
- Type: Appointment.
- Discipline: The discipline this service falls under (e.g., Physical Therapy, Occupational Therapy).
- Duration: How long the appointment takes, in minutes.
- Appointment Types: The appointment types from your EMR that map to this service. This is the critical field. Petey and web scheduling can't book a service unless it's mapped to at least one EMR appointment type.
  - If you have multiple locations you will see what appear to be duplicates in this list (5 locations will display 5 "Initial Evals", for example). During mapping, ensure you select all of the "duplicates".
- Default Appointment Type: Which of the mapped appointment types to use by default when creating the booking. This field is optional.

If your EMR doesn't have a dedicated appointment type for a specialty service (e.g., LSVT BIG, vestibular), you'll need to decide which existing EMR appointment type applies. Talk with your team about which appointment type they currently use when scheduling that service in the EMR, and map to that one.

You don't need to add follow-up or non-evaluation services for Petey. Petey only books initial evaluations.

3. Set up provider profiles

Every provider Petey can schedule needs a complete profile in Second Door. Go to Settings > Organization > Providers to configure each one.

Assign services to each provider

Each provider needs the correct services on their profile. This tells Petey what each person can be booked for.

Go to Settings > Organization > Providers.
Click on a provider's name to open their profile.
Under Services, select every service this provider performs.
Confirm the proper Locations are assigned to the provider.
Enable self-scheduling for this provider. This is what allows Petey to book on their calendar.
Save and move to the next provider.

Since Petey only books initial evaluations, focus on evaluation services:

PTs: Assign their initial evaluation service.
Specialty providers: Add their specialty evaluation services (pelvic health evaluation, vestibular evaluation, hand therapy evaluation, etc.) in addition to the standard initial evaluation.
PTAs: Skip. PTAs don't perform initial evaluations, so Petey won't schedule with them.
Students: Skip unless they have their own calendar and perform evaluations independently.

This is a one-time setup for each provider. When a new provider joins your practice, set them up in your EMR first, then assign their services in Second Door once their data syncs over.

4. Configure scheduling settings & booking rules

Scheduling rules control how Petey books. You'll configure these in two places: Settings > Scheduling Settings and Settings > Booking Rules.

Set your business hours

If you have global business hours, go to Settings > Scheduling Settings. This serves as the default for all locations that don't have location-specific hours set.

If you have location-specific business hours, do this in Settings > Locations. These will override the default organization business hours for this location.

Set your minimum notice time

The minimum notice time prevents Petey from booking appointments too close to the current time. It gives your team time to verify insurance, send intake paperwork, and contact the patient before the visit.

If your practice has set business hours (under Settings > Scheduling Settings or at the individual location level in Settings > Locations), the minimum notice time skips non-business-hours windows automatically. For example, if a patient calls Friday at 3:00 PM, your minimum notice time is 24 hours, and you have no business hours on the weekend, the first bookable slot would be Monday at 3:00 PM. If you haven't configured business hours, the minimum notice time counts all hours including nights and weekends.

Go to Settings > Scheduling Settings > Minimum Notice Time.
Set your minimum notice time. A common starting point is 14 to 36 hours, depending on how much lead time your team needs.

Designate Blocked Time Types

Petey needs to know which appointment types represent time that shouldn't be booked over: lunch breaks, admin blocks, internal holds, meetings.

Go to Settings > Scheduling Settings > Blocked Time Types in your Second Door account.
Find the list of appointment types imported from your EMR.
Select every appointment type that represents non-bookable time (e.g., "calendar end," "calendar start," "lunch," "admin," "meeting," "other").
Leave patient appointment types (like "initial exam") unselected. Petey already recognizes patient appointments as booked time.

Watch for multi-purpose appointment types. If your practice uses a generic type like "Other" for both blocking time (lunch, admin) and non-blocking calendar notes, you need to pick one convention and stick with it. If you mark "Other" as unavailable, every instance blocks Petey from booking over it. If some of your "Other" appointments are just notes that shouldn't block time, consider using a different appointment type (like "Available") for those notes instead.

Create booking rules

Booking rules control what Petey can schedule within a provider's available time. Your account comes with a no-double-booking rule already active. You can add more rules at Settings > Booking Rules.

To add a rule:

Go to Settings > Booking Rules.
Click Add Rule.
Select the rule type, configure it, and use scopes to target it to specific locations, providers, services, or payer groups as needed.
Save the rule.

Common rules we see practices add for Petey:

Max evaluations per provider per day. A count rule that caps initial evaluations at 2-4 per provider per day. Scope it to your initial evaluation service (or a service group if you have multiple evaluation types). This is also the only way to prevent Petey from booking into every open slot on a provider's calendar.
Insurance case mix. A case mix rule that limits a specific payer group to a percentage of the schedule, so one insurance carrier doesn't dominate a provider's day.

For a deeper look at each rule type, see the Booking Rules articles in the knowledge base.

5. Configure In- and Out-of-network payers

Payer groups tell Petey which insurance carriers your practice accepts. When a caller states their insurance, Petey checks it against your payer groups to confirm they're in-network before booking. You'll set these up under Settings > Payer Groups.

Create your payer groups

Go to Settings > Payer Groups.
Click Add Group.
Name the group using the full carrier name and common variations. For example, name a Blue Cross group "Anthem Blue Cross Blue Shield" so Petey recognizes "Anthem," "Blue Cross," "Blue Shield," or "BCBS" when a caller says any of those words.
Mark the group as In-Network or Out-of-Network.
Search the payer list (imported from your EMR) and add all relevant plans to the group. For example, the "Anthem Blue Cross Blue Shield" group would include every Anthem and Blue Cross plan variant in your system.
Repeat for each major carrier: United Healthcare/UHC, Cigna, Aetna, Medicare, Humana, and any regional carriers your practice commonly sees.

A few things to keep in mind:

Add individual plans, not just the group name. If a caller says something that doesn't match the group name but matches a plan name underneath it, Petey still recognizes it. This matters most for out-of-network carriers where callers might use a specific plan name.
You can create a single "Out of Network" group for all unaccepted payers, or create specific groups per carrier (one for Kaiser, one for Tricare, etc.). Either approach works.
Err toward inclusion. Petey may struggle with distinctions like Medicare vs. Medicare Advantage, or a carrier's standard plan vs. their managed care product. If your practice accepts a majority of a carrier's plans, err toward grouping them as in-network and letting Petey schedule the patient. Your team validates insurance details for every Petey booking as part of the daily workflow, so there's a built-in safety net to catch anything that needs a closer look before the visit.
When Petey can't match a caller's insurance to any group, it doesn't turn the patient away. It captures the lead information and transfers the call to your team.

6. Validate that availability in Second Door matches your EMR

We've configured everything between Second Door and your EMR, and now we need to validate that Second Door is reading your EMR calendar availability correctly so Petey can book evals without a hitch.

Go to the Second Door scheduler (small calendar icon at the top right)
Select a location and a service (e.g., PT Initial Evaluation).
Compare the available time slots shown in Second Door against what you see on that provider's calendar in your EMR.
Repeat for a few providers across different locations.

If Second Door shows slots that should be blocked, or is missing slots that should be open, double check steps 1-6 above for any conflicting configuration rules, or reach out to support@seconddoorhealth.com.

7. Getting Petey ready

We've laid the foundation by configuring all of the data Petey uses to schedule: calendars, services, providers, payers, and availability. Now it's time to configure a few Petey settings. Go to AI Agents > Petey in your Second Door account.

Set your transfer destination

The transfer destination is the number Petey sends callers to when it needs to hand them off to your team (for example, when a caller's insurance doesn't match your payer groups, or when a caller asks to speak with a person).

Go to AI Agents > Petey > Transfer Destination.
Enter a direct line to your front desk. This must be a number that reaches your team without going through your main phone tree.

Never use your main practice number as the transfer destination. If Petey transfers a caller to your main number, the caller hits the phone tree again, selects "new patient," and lands right back with Petey in an infinite loop. The transfer destination must be a direct line that bypasses the phone tree entirely.

Review the rest of your Petey settings

While you're in AI Agents > Petey, review each of the following:

Opening Greeting: The first thing callers hear when Petey picks up. This is separate from your phone system's IVR greeting (the "press 1 for new patients" message). Keep it short and welcoming. Use phonetic spelling if your business name could be hard to pronounce.
Voice: Choose the voice Petey uses on calls. Listen to the options and pick the one that fits your practice. You can change this at any time.
Available Locations: Confirm that only the locations you want Petey to schedule for are listed.
Booked Appointments Require Approval: When this is on, Petey bookings show as pending on your dashboard until a staff member approves them. When it's off, bookings go through immediately. Most practices start with approval required and turn it off once they're confident in the configuration.
Self-Pay Pricing Details: If your practice accepts self-pay patients, enter your pricing information here so Petey can share it with callers who don't have insurance or choose to pay out of pocket.

8. Set up phone routing

Phone routing is the last step before go-live. Once you update your phone tree to point new-patient calls at Petey, you're live. Make sure everything above is complete first.

Understand the two parts of the caller's experience

There are two separate greetings a caller hears, and they're configured in different places:

Your phone system greeting (IVR). This is the message callers hear when they dial your main number: "Thank you for calling [Practice Name]. If you're a new patient, press 1. For all other calls, press 2." You configure this in your phone system (Weave, RingCentral, etc.), not in Second Door.
Petey's Opening Greeting. This is what callers hear after they press 1 and reach Petey. You configure this in AI Agents > Petey > Opening Greeting in Second Door.

Choose your routing approach

There are two options:

Route all new-patient calls directly to Petey (recommended). Every caller who selects "new patient" goes straight to Petey. Every new-patient call is answered instantly, 24/7, with no missed calls and no voicemail.
Let the front desk answer first, with Petey as backup. New-patient calls ring your front desk for a set number of seconds or rings. If no one answers, the call forwards to Petey automatically. Your team stays the first point of contact; Petey catches everything they miss.

Choose your rollout scope

You don't have to go all-in on day one, but the more call volume Petey handles, the more value you get from it.

Full rollout (recommended). All new-patient calls, all locations, all hours. This is where the real value is. Every missed call during business hours is a potential new patient your team didn't have to answer the phone for.
After-hours only. Route new-patient calls to Petey outside business hours only. This is the lowest-risk starting point, but it also provides the least business value because very few patients call to schedule evaluations during evenings and weekends.

Updating your phone tree with your phone system admin

You can find Petey's phone number in your Second Door account at AI Agents > Petey. Your phone system admin (Weave, RingCentral, etc.) handles the routing changes. Give them the Petey phone number and these instructions:

Update your phone tree to separate new patients from existing patients, if it doesn't already. A simple, clear greeting works best: "Thank you for calling [Practice Name]. If you're a new patient, press 1. For all other calls, press 2."
Keep existing patient routing exactly as it is today.
Route the new-patient option (press 1) to Petey's phone number (recommended).
- Alternatively, you can have this option ring your main line but re-route to Petey if no one answers after a number of rings or seconds.
Keep the existing-patient option (press 2) routing to your front desk as it does now.

Need more details on how to set up your phone tree? Click here for the deep-dive.

Test the caller experience

Run through these test calls before your phone system admin makes the routing changes live for real callers:

Call your main number and press the new-patient option. You should hear Petey's Opening Greeting.
Go through the full intake with Petey: greeting, demographics, insurance, chief complaint, booking. After the call, open the Second Door dashboard and confirm the lead appeared with the correct patient information and booked time.
Call your main number again and press the existing-patient option. You should reach your front desk, not Petey.
Test the transfer destination. Call Petey and trigger a transfer (for example, say you want to speak with someone at the office). Confirm you reach your front desk on the direct line, not the main phone tree. See transfer destination for more information.
Spot-check availability: in the Second Door scheduler, select a location and service and confirm the available slots match what you see in your EMR.
Test an out-of-network scenario to verify Petey handles unrecognized insurance correctly (it should capture the lead and transfer the call).
Review the call recording and transcript. Open the test lead on your dashboard, listen to the recording, and read the transcript. Confirm the conversation flowed correctly and Petey captured the right information.

9. Set up Petey Outbound SMS (Recommended)

Petey can also reach new-patient leads by text. You can manually start a booking conversation from any lead card, or set Petey to automatically text web and fax leads who haven't yet scheduled. SMS is a separate configuration and go-live from phone — when your team is comfortable with Petey on the phone, come back to this section to add texting.

Configure SMS settings

Go to AI Agents > Petey > SMS tab.
Set the name Petey uses in text conversations.
Confirm the phone number Petey texts from.
Select the locations and disciplines Petey should offer when booking via text.

(screenshot needed: Petey SMS settings tab)

Turn on Petey Hand-off notifications

When Petey stops handling an SMS conversation and needs a person to follow up, it sends a notification. To ensure continuity of the patient experience, it's important to jump into those SMS conversations expediently. To make sure your team sees these:

Go to Settings > Users.
Open each user's profile and go to Notifications.
Enable Petey Hand-offs.

Choose manual or automatic outreach

You have two options for how Petey initiates text conversations:

Manual only. Your team starts a Petey SMS conversation from the lead card when they choose to. No messages go out automatically. This is a good starting point if you want to control which leads Petey texts.
Automatic outreach. Petey texts leads automatically based on rules you set. To enable this, go to Settings > Task Automation and turn on Petey Outbound SMS.

1. Lead status trigger: Which lead status a lead needs to be in before Petey texts them. The dropdown shows all configured lead statuses for your account.
2. Delay: How long a lead stays in that status before Petey sends the first text (configurable in hours or minutes).
3. Saving these settings turns on Petey Outbound SMS, so don't save until you're ready to Go Live.

Petey respects TCPA quiet hours and won't text patients before 8:00 AM or after 8:00 PM in the patient's local time zone. Leads must also have a name, date of birth, and phone number on file, and must be 18 or older.

10. "Go Live"

Train your team

Before your phone system admin flips the switch, make sure everyone on your team knows three things:

What Petey bookings look like. Petey-booked phone leads appear on your dashboard with a purple Petey icon. These are holds, not confirmed EMR appointments — your team still needs to confirm the actual appointment in the EMR and complete any pre-initial eval steps they would for any other patient.
What active Petey SMS conversations look like. Leads engaged in ongoing Petey SMS conversations will have a glowing blue-purple outline around them as well as feature the purple Petey icon. Open the lead card and click on the SMS icon on the right to see the ongoing conversation.
Where to find the Call Log. Go to AI Agents > Call Log to see every call Petey has handled, the result, and the recording.
What to do each day. Share the Petey Workflow Guide with your team so they know the daily routine for working Petey leads.

Going "Live" on Petey phone inbound new patient calls

"Turning Petey on" is simply the act of you enabling the new call routing as described in step 8. Once you do that, Petey starts booking evals!

Going "Live" on Petey outbound SMS

In Settings > Task Automation, turn on Petey Outbound SMS, enter your desired timeframe and status, and Save at the bottom right.

Review Petey calls regularly

In your Second Door account, you'll see AI Agents > Call Log on the left-side menu. Toggle between the phone icon and the SMS icon at the top. Here you can see the calls or texts that Petey is handling, the result, and listen to the recordings.

Leverage our Petey workflow guide for team training, FAQs, and to ensure you're working alongside Petey successfully each day.