Most EM groups do not shop for scheduling software in a calm month. They shop when the renewal notice arrives, or when the person who knew how to run the old system leaves. If your contract renews in a few months, that is about the right amount of time to switch without drama, and the work is smaller than it looks. I am a practicing EM physician and I built CoverED, so I have done this move with real groups and can tell you which parts are easy and which parts take a conversation.
This page is for the medical director or the physician or office manager who builds the schedule. It covers what moves, how it gets in, and what the first month looks like.
The short version: your people, your shift lines, your rules, the days off already requested, and some history. Here is how each one gets into CoverED. "Import" means you do it in the app. "I load it" means you send it to me and I do it. "You click it" means it is a setting.
| What | How it gets in |
|---|---|
| Roster and roles | Import. Roster has an Import roster button that reads a spreadsheet (CSV or pasted rows) or an image or PDF, shows you every row, and de-dupes against anyone already there. Or I load it. Then Invite everyone sends the invites in one click. |
| Shift lines and sites | You click it, or I load it. Shift times, how many of each line per day, and multiple sites sharing one provider pool are group setup. A short list of your current lines is all I need. |
| Rules (rest and turnaround, night counts, weekends) | You click it, or I load it. Minimum hours between shifts, night targets per person and weekend patterns are settings, some of them per person. Unusual rules are where I want to see your current schedule, because the schedule shows the rule better than a description does. |
| Time off already requested | Import. Overview has an Import days off button. For QGenda, export Calendar By Task or Task Block Schedule (Excel or CSV) and upload it as is. Any sheet with one row per request also works. You see every request it found before anything is saved. |
| Past months (for fairness counts) | Import or I load it. The Calendar tab has an Import button that reads a PDF, photo or screenshot of a past schedule and asks you to confirm the name mapping before saving. Imported months count toward recent night and weekend history when the next month is built. |
| Who is admin | You click it. The owner can add co-admins; everyone else gets the provider view on their phone. |
I am not going to claim a one-click QGenda, ShiftAdmin or Amion importer, because there isn't one. What there is: a time-off importer that reads QGenda's export layouts directly, a roster and schedule importer that reads spreadsheets, images and PDFs, and me loading the rest. I have not built integrations with payroll, EHR or single sign-on, so if your switch depends on one of those, ask me before you plan around it.
You send your roster, your current lines and one month of your real schedule. Setup is done-for-you and included with every paid plan, so the first month is built with you rather than left for you to figure out. You do not have to touch the old system.
You get a draft month. Check that the people, lines and rules look right, import the days off already requested, and invite your docs. A month stays a draft until you publish it, so nothing reaches your providers early, and you keep running on your current tool in the meantime. Where my draft differs from how you really work, that is a setting to change, and I would rather learn it now than at publish time.
When the month is right, publish it. Providers see it on their phones, sync it to a calendar through an ICS or webcal link, and request time off, trade and pick up open shifts from the same place. You can also share a read-only calendar link with a nurse manager or coordinator who has no login. From the next month on, generation takes minutes, and the old tool can wait out its contract or lapse at renewal.
Plans are per group, not per provider, and the details are in the pricing section on the home page. There is a 30-day free trial, card on file, nothing charged until day 31. And if you are paying another scheduling vendor today: founder pricing is half off your first year on the Starter and Standard plans. Send the bill and I will show you the price before you commit to anything.
Yes. A month in CoverED stays a draft until you publish it, so you can build it next to what you are doing now and compare. That comparison month is the best test of whether the rules came across.
They come over on the roster with their own settings. A per-diem who has opened days or a shift number is scheduled to that; one with neither is left off the month rather than assigned shifts they never agreed to. Open shifts can be claimed from the phone.
Send the odd ones with your schedule. Many are settings that already exist, per group or per person. If one is not, I will tell you that before you sign, not after.
No. It opens in a phone browser from the invite link, and the calendar sync uses the calendar app they already have.
Keep exporting them from the old tool while you still have access, as PDFs or screenshots is fine. Past months can be imported, which is what carries your fairness history across. When I load history for you I check the hours against your old totals before a month is published.
Send your current bill and one month of your schedule. I will tell you what moves, what I would load for you and what it would cost. Send my bill and schedule →
Not ready to share a bill? You can send just the schedule through the concierge page instead, or email jake@coveredscheduling.com.