The reminder template reduces phone calls by automating appointment confirmations and cancelations. It automatically sends necessary forms to your patients, lowering your no-show rate and speeding up patient intake, while providing vital information to patients about their care.
For use with NexHealth Templates and Communications - Reminders
Overview
Edit reminders
Reminders are NexHealth Templates and may be edited the same ways that all Templates can be edited. By default, NexHealth sends reminders to patients via email and SMS message about their appointment one week and one day before they are scheduled to come in. This cadence can be easily modified by adjusting the gray Next action tile if desired.
1. Go to Reminders → select an Appointment type to edit.
You can also add new reminders sequences at the bottom of the page with + Add Reminders Sequence. When you create new sequences, you’ll be prompted with toggle switches to note which appointment types to send this reminder for.
2. Edit the Reminder sequence.
Edit the Reminder sequence as you would any other template. You can also add or delete messages from any Reminders sequence using the same steps as you would in any other template.
When editing the text of your reminders, be sure to leave the APPOINTMENT_REGISTRATION (or INSERTCONFIRMAPPT) smart command intact to allow patients to confirm their appointments from the message. If you have Smart Form Automation configured, the appropriate forms will automatically be sent to the patient. |  |
Optionally, you can add Forms to a message by using Smart Commands and selecting any Forms you wish to include you wish to include. (*Note: with smart form rules, this is not necessary).
3. Click Preview to review the message from the patient's perspective.
When patients receive their reminder message, it asks them to confirm or cancel (if enabled) their appointment, and complete any forms that have been configured using Smart form automation.
You can also configure your reminders in other languages. See the instructions to communicate with patients in their preferred languages.
SMS messages are limited to 425 characters. Emojis and some special characters count as two characters, so the character limit is less when those are used.
4. Click Save and exit.
Click Save and exit to save the changes.
5. Toggle on the reminders template to activate.
Reminders will begin going out immediately. If you want to stop all reminders from being sent to any patients, toggle off the reminder template.
Send reminders by patient confirmation status
You can set up different messaging for patients based on their confirmation status (ex: only send day-of reminders to patients who have confirmed or add a disclaimer about your no-show policy for patients who have not confirmed.)
1. Select +Add additional sequence.
Just as you would any Template.
2. Select your desired send condition.
Selecting both Send if confirmed and Send if uncomfirmed will create a branch in your sequence.
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With the APPOINTMENT_REGISTRATION smart command, if you want patients who have already confirmed their appointments to receive a reminder for their forms, you will need to set the action to Send if confirmed or unconfirmed.
3. Edit branched message streams based on confirmation status.
If you wish to have separate messages based on confirmation status (for example, reminding unconfirmed patients of your cancellation policy), you will see a fork in the sequence, as seen below. You can then edit the messages independently.
Best practices for sending reminders
Be sensitive to patients' preferences. Many patients do not appreciate receiving too many reminders. Avoid over-messaging your patients.
Consider whether your population prefers SMS messages or emails, and choose one or the other for one or more of the sequences.
Include your cancellation policy in email reminders. Call attention to it by using bold, bright text.
Keep your message concise. Patients will not read long messages, especially in a text.
Allow patients to cancel and reschedule right from the reminder to streamline the experience for you and them.