SMS Appointment Reminder Guide

Background
Limitations
Criteria for sending Appointment Reminders
Appointment reminder SMS message template
Workflows
     Collecting Client Cell Phone and Text Consent
     Appointment Booking
     Appointment Reminder Stored Query
Reviewing Sent Messages
     Work Centre\Client Items
     Medical Records\Messages
Troubleshooting FAQ
Downloadable Reference(s)

Background

The purpose of this article is to be a learning guide and a reference tool for those who have access to the Profile EMR appointment reminder feature. The feature is available by request. If your clinic/team wishes to have access to this, please submit a Change Request form. For any additional questions, please contact [e-mail].

Limitations

The following are limitations of this current version of the appointment reminder feature:

• Reminders will be sent through SMS/text messaging only.
• Messages are only sent to the client's Cell Phone number. It will not send to the client's saved home, work, or other phone numbers.
• This service is available Canada-wide only. For information on accepted cell phone formats, please see this article for more details.
• This is a one-way notification. For clients to confirm, update or cancel appointments, they must reach out to the clinic directly.
• Recurrent appointments, both individual and group, are excluded.

Criteria for sending Appointment Reminders

The client will receive a reminder for their appointment if all the requirements listed below are satisfied. If any of them are not met, a reminder will not be sent.

• The clinic has the appointment reminder feature enabled.
• The client provided a valid cell phone number and consented to contact it via Text. This is captured through Client Registration. For information on accepted cell phone formats, please see this article for more details.
• The appointment meets all the following conditions:
  • Within the POS' selected day range to send the notice (i.e. the cadence)
  • Not cancelled or rescheduled
  • Type requires client interaction (i.e. internal types like Chart Time or Admin Notes are excluded). Note: The type's sending ability is determined at a system-wide level. For a list of excluded types, download Profile EMR Appointment Reminder - Excluded Types.xslx found in the Downloadable Reference section.
  • Send Reminder's is checked. Note: by default this is pre-checked if the linked client has given consent to contact at time of booking.

Appointment reminder SMS message template

Each clinic has one message template, which is used at each cadence. A default message template is offered as well as customized options. The clinic's message template was determined during the planning phase of its initial release. This can be updated by sending a Change Request to [e-mail]

These values from the appointment are included in every default message and are available to include in the customized option:

• The client's preferred first name, or legal first name if preferred is not provided
• The appointment type, which is necessary for clinics with hybrid care to identify if the appointment is in-person, virtual, or by phone
• The provider's name
  • The default message displays the assigned provider's title, full name & designation
  • The customized message could display the provider's name in one of these formats:
    • Title, full name & designation (e.g., "Dr. Jane Doe, MD")
    • Title & full name (e.g., "Dr. Jane Doe")
    • Title & first name (e.g., "Dr. Jane")
    • Title & last name (e.g., "Dr. Doe")
  • The covering provider's name is also displayed in the customized message (e.g., "Dr. Smith (covering for Dr. Doe)")
• The appointment's date and time
• The clinic's name and phone, which the default message will display as it does in the letterhead

Below is a screenshot of a text message using the default message:

Workflows

Collecting Client Cell Phone and Text Consent

Collecting and saving the client's cell phone and consent to contact via text is through the Client Registration form. Please see the section in the linked article regarding this workflow.

Appointment Booking

The diagram below outlines the most basic method to integrate the appointment reminder feature into a clinic's appointment booking/management process. The diagram has been modified so it may fit into Zendesk article's maximum width. For a printable version of this diagram, click on the Profile EMR - SMS Appointment Reminder Workflow.pdf link in the Downloadable Reference section.

Appointment Reminder Stored Query

A stored query is available to aid clinics who have appointment reminders enabled. The stored query List of Client Appts by CLINIC and Date Range (Appointment Reminder) is found under Operational Reports - Admin\Queries based on APPOINTMENT AT a clinic

The POS code, status of the appointment, and date range are required to generate the results. To confirm which appointments will send reminders, the follow should be reviewed in the results:

• The Cell Phone stored for that client must be valid. For information on accepted cell phone formats, please see this article for more details.
• The SMS Consented, Appt Send Reminder, and Appt Type Client Contact must all be true
• The Appt Status cannot be Cancelled or Rescheduled

All conditions above must be true for a reminder to send for that particular appointment. These values can be changed through the Client Registration form (Cell Phone and SMS Consented) or through the appointment properties window (Appt Send Reminder, Appt Type Client Contact and Appt Status). Note: The Appt Type Client Contact is tied to the appointment type used. The type's sending state is determined at a system-wide level. 

This stored query can also be used to check for DNA (Did Not Attend) and Cancellations. To do this, ensure that Cancelled and No Shows are selected for appointment status, and the date range is set to the past.

Reviewing Sent Messages

Clinics have the ability to view what SMS messages were sent on their behalf through the automated system. 

Work Centre\Client Items

Through Work Centre\Work\Client Items, messages sent on behalf of the logged in POS are viewable. The filters provided can display messages sent in the last 2 days, 7 days 2 weeks or 4 weeks ago. When an entry is selected, the preview pane on the right will focus on the chosen client's message. The appointment properties window can be opened by clicking on the link associated to the sent message.

Medical Records\Messages

Through Medical Records\Messages, message history for a single client can be viewed. The filters provided allow viewing messages sent on behalf of the logged in clinic or across the whole system (including from other clinics). Just like in the preview pane from the Work Centre\Client Items module, the appointment window can be opened by clicking on the link associated to the sent message.

Troubleshooting FAQ

The following questions can guide you when troubleshooting an appointment expected to send, but was not received by the client.

• Are all the conditions met? See the Criteria for sending Appointment Reminders section for a full list of requirements and the Appointment Reminder Stored Query section for how to easily validate.
   
• Did the message fail to send? In rare cases, an appointment is appropriately flagged to send a reminder but failed to be be received by the client's cell phone. This is indicated when reviewing the message in question. This could be due to the cell phone number being invalid/out-of-service at the time or an outage by the SMS Service Provider.
  
   
• Was the appointment booked before the client provided consent? The "Send Reminder" checkbox for the appointment is only automatically prechecked if the client has already provided consent to text their cell phone. If the consent was captured after the appointment was created, then the "Send Reminder" will remain unchecked. In future similar scenarios, it is best to save their consent, then open the desired appointment and manually tick "Send Reminder". This ensures they receive notification for that particular appointment.
   
• Was the appointment booked after the scheduled process time for your POS? Every POS has a single daily timeslot to process their appointment reminders. If the appointment was booked after the timeslot, then a reminder will not be sent. To review when the appointment was booked, click on the Audit tab of the desired appointment. 
  
  The timeslot was determined before the feature was enabled for the POS. If the POS did not document this information nor do any staff recall the specific time of day they should send, please contact [e-mail].

Downloadable Reference(s)