Emergency department scheduling software: pricing and FAQ
Emergency department scheduling is harder than most: 24/7 coverage, night rotations, multiple sites and constant swaps. Here is what ED scheduling software should do, what it costs, and how to pick one.
Updated August 2026 · 7 min read
What it should do
- Build a full month or quarter that meets coverage, credentials and FTE targets.
- Balance nights and weekends fairly across the group.
- Flag fatigue risk such as short turnarounds after night shifts.
- Handle time off and swaps, and sync to Google, Outlook and Apple calendars.
- Import the spreadsheet or PDF you already use.
What it costs
Many vendors don't publish prices. We do. CAIER Schedule charges one flat monthly fee per group:
| Plan | Price per group | What you get |
|---|---|---|
| Essentials | $99/mo | You assign shifts; CAIER hosts, publishes, syncs calendars, handles swaps and time off. |
| Intelligence | $399/mo | Automated schedule builds, rules and preferences, fatigue and fairness analytics. |
| Complete | $749/mo | Everything above plus physician feedback personalization and concierge onboarding. |
Flat monthly fee per practice group, up to 100 active physicians, unlimited shifts and users. Annual billing saves about 9%. Score your current schedule free.
How to choose
Ask each vendor three questions: how is it priced as you grow, how long until your first published schedule, and how does it measure fairness and fatigue. Compare options in our comparison pages or read the QGenda alternative FAQ.
Frequently asked questions
- What is emergency department scheduling software?
- Software that builds, publishes and maintains the shift schedule for ED physicians and APPs: 24/7 coverage, nights and weekends, time-off requests, swaps, and calendar sync to phones.
- How much does ED scheduling software cost?
- Prices vary widely. Some tools charge per provider on annual contracts; others charge a flat fee. CAIER Schedule costs $99, $399 or $749 per month per group, up to 100 active physicians, with unlimited shifts and users.
- Can the software build the whole schedule automatically?
- On CAIER Intelligence and Complete, yes. It respects your rules, credentials, FTE targets and time off, and balances nights and weekends across the group. On Essentials you assign shifts yourself.
- What makes ED scheduling different from other specialties?
- Round-the-clock coverage, frequent night work and multi-site groups. Good ED software tracks night and weekend fairness and avoids fatigue patterns like quick returns after nights.
- Can I try it with my current schedule?
- Yes. Upload your current month to the free analyzer and get a fatigue and fairness score in about a minute, no account needed.
See it on your own schedule
Upload a month of shifts and CAIER Schedule returns a fatigue score, the specific patterns driving it, and the calendar feeds your clinicians subscribe to.
Keep reading
- Circadian-aware ED scheduling — What the research says about night shifts, rotation direction, post-night recovery, and fatigue in emergency medicine — and how to score a schedule against it.
- Choosing physician scheduling software — A practical buyer's guide to physician scheduling software: the features that matter, the questions to ask vendors, and how to compare manual, rules-based, and AI tools.
- On-call scheduling software — How on-call scheduling works in hospital medicine, what breaks in spreadsheets, and what to look for in software that publishes call to phones and calendars.