---
title: Rooms | Avara
description: Rooms are the Clinical Platform's general-purpose scheduling objects — bookable space that appointment types reserve on the calendar.
---

## Introduction

A **room** is a **general-purpose scheduling object**. It represents a bookable resource on your calendar — an exam room, procedure suite, consult office, or imaging bay.

Rooms exist **with or without imaging**. Many practices use them purely for non-imaging visits. Users with **Can Manage Operations** create and maintain rooms under **Operations → Rooms**. See [Inviting Users](/clinical-platform/inviting-users/#can-manage-operations/index.md) for permission details.

## Rooms and Appointment Types

[Appointment types](/clinical-platform/appointment-types/index.md) attach **rooms** and/or **providers** for the windows when that service is generally available. The same room can appear in **multiple appointment types**. For example, one suite might support new-patient visits, follow-ups, and procedures, each as its own appointment type on the calendar.

The scheduling engine is **intelligent about shared resources**. A room assigned across several appointment types will **never be double-booked**, even when those types have different durations. Conflicts are prevented **across all appointment types**, not just within a single calendar view.

See [Appointment Types — Availability](/clinical-platform/appointment-types/#availability/index.md) for how rooms attach to scheduling templates. Use [special unavailability](/clinical-platform/special-unavailability/index.md) when a room is offline for maintenance or renovation.

## Modality Machines

**Modality machines** are an **extension of room objects**. A modality machine is still a room — it participates in the same scheduling model — with PACS identity attached (AE title, IP address, and a cloud or [on-prem](/clinical-platform/on-prem-servers/index.md) node).

That is how imaging [appointment types](/clinical-platform/appointment-types/index.md) get scheduled: you attach the modality machine the same way you attach any other room. The calendar reserves the machine, the modality **pulls the worklist** for those appointments, and captured studies route back to Avara.

Modality machines are configured under **Operations → PACS**, not on the Rooms tab. See [PACS](/clinical-platform/pacs/index.md) for setup, worklists, and unmatched studies.

## In-Patient Rooms

More advanced **in-patient room** functionality is in the works — expected **Q1 2027**. Today’s rooms cover outpatient and ambulatory scheduling. In-patient workflows that need census, bed assignment, and longer-stay room occupancy are coming on that timeline.