Enable personalized patient reminders by tailoring messages according to the type of material resource or the specific location of a patient’s appointment. This feature provides extensive flexibility, allowing you to create highly targeted communications that cater to the unique needs of different patient groups. By customizing reminders in this way, practices can improve patient engagement, reduce missed appointments, and ensure that patients receive relevant information specific to their visit type or location.

Company preferences

Configure Company Preferences for sending appointment reminders. These settings apply at the company level, but reminders are ultimately sent based on each patient’s authorized communication methods and communication restrictions. For example, if SMS is enabled at the company level but a patient has not authorized SMS communication, the appointment reminder will not be sent to that patient.

Patient reminders are only sent through communication channels that are enabled by both the patient and the company. This applies to the following communication preferences:

Call
Email
SMS
Same-day reminders
Opt-out of Saturday communications
Opt-out of Sunday communications

If either the patient or the company has a communication channel disabled, no reminder will be sent through that channel. In addition, patient weekend communication preferences override company settings. If a patient has opted out of Saturday or Sunday communications, reminders will not be sent on those days, even if the company allows weekend reminders.

To begin, click Utilities.

Click Patient Reminder, then Company Preferences.

System defaults will be selected for each preference. Update any preference if required.

Preferred Phone Types

Select which phone number type (such as mobile, home, or work) should be used when sending appointment reminders. This helps ensure reminders are delivered to the patient’s preferred contact number.

Mode Of Communication

Choose how appointment reminders are sent, such as email, text message, or phone call, based on both the practice’s enabled communication methods and the patient's authorized communication preferences. A reminder will only be sent through a communication channel when both the company and the patient have that communication method enabled.

For example:

If SMS reminders are enabled for both the patient and the company, the patient will receive an SMS reminder.
If the company only has Email reminders enabled, the patient will receive an email reminder only if the patient also has Email reminders enabled.
If either the patient or the company has a communication method disabled, no reminder will be sent through that channel.

Reply-To Email

Allows you to set the email address that receives replies to appointment reminder emails. By default, reminders are sent from noreplies@rxnt.com, but you may enter a different reply-to email if desired.

Prior Days To Send Reminder

Specify how many days before the scheduled appointment the reminder should be sent to the patient.

Preferred Time To Send Reminder

Select the time of day when appointment reminders will be sent to patients.

Allow Saturday Communication

Determine whether appointment reminders and communications can be sent on Saturdays. If a patient has opted out of Saturday communications, reminders will not be sent on Saturdays regardless of the company setting.

Allow Sunday Communication

Determine whether appointment reminders and communications can be sent on Sundays. If a patient has opted out of Sunday communications, reminders will not be sent on Sundays.

Click Save to save the preferences. Then log off and then back in for your changes to be applied.

Any updates to your preferences will be applied during the next reminder cycle, provided the changes are made before the backend reminder job runs. To ensure patient reminders reflect the most up-to-date settings, all changes must be completed before 2:00 AM on the day the reminders are scheduled to be sent. For example, if a reminder is scheduled to be sent on the day of an appointment (such as 12/12/2020), only changes made before 2:00 AM on 12/12/2020 will be reflected in that day’s reminders.

Update company preferences

Updating the Company Preferences for reminders within the Utilities section will only apply to new appointments. It will deactivate any previously configured reminder settings for all existing appointments.

To apply the updated preference settings and reactivate all previously scheduled appointments, complete the following steps:

Click Transfer Appointments from the Appointment tab.

Enter the dates in the Date From and Date To fields.

The system allows up to 500 appointments to be transferred at one time. After selecting a date range and clicking Find, review the total number of appointments returned. If the count exceeds 500, narrow the date range and run the search again. Repeat this process until 500 or fewer appointments are returned, at which point the transfer can be completed successfully.

The Provider field must be left blank.

Choose the Location from the drop-down menu.

The Appointment Status field must be left blank.

Click Find.

Choose the same location for the Transfer Location from the drop-down menu.

The Transfer Date, Transfer Provider, and Transfer Status fields should be left blank.

Click Transfer.

Reminder composer

Reminder Composer allows you to create and customize patient reminder messages based on either appointment location or material resources, giving you greater control over how and when patients are notified. By tailoring reminders to specific locations or resources, you can deliver more relevant and accurate information, ensuring patients receive messages that align with the details of their appointment.

Navigate to the Utilities.

Click Patient Reminder, then Reminder Composer.

Reminder location

Use a Location Reminder when you want to send appointment reminders specific to a particular office, branch, or facility. This is especially helpful for organizations with multiple locations where each may have different instructions, arrival times, or contact information.

To create a Location Reminder, select Location Reminder from the Reminder Type dropdown menu.

Select a location from the Location drop-down menu to customize the reminder message.

Every SMS reminder automatically includes one of the following required messages:

Reply STOP to opt out - Included only when Allow Replies Until 24 Hours Before Appointment is not enabled. This message uses 22 characters, leaving 128 characters available for the SMS reminder.
Reply STOP to opt out, YES to confirm, or NO to cancel - Included only when Allow Replies Until 24 Hours Before Appointment is enabled. This message uses 55 characters, leaving 95 characters available for the SMS reminder.

Both required messages count toward the 150-character SMS limit. If the total message exceeds 150 characters, it will be sent as multiple SMS messages. Hover over the Information icon to view the number of characters used by the required message.

The system automatically populates default text in the SMS, Email, and Voice Call fields. You can edit the default messages as needed to better suit your communication preferences. For example, you can customize the default SMS message to include specific appointment details:

“This is a reminder of your appointment at our Downtown Clinic on March 15 at 10:00 AM. Please arrive 15 minutes early.”

After configuring your messages, click Save to apply the changes. Then, log out and log back in to ensure the updates take effect. Once completed, patients with appointments at the selected location will start receiving the customized location reminders.

Material resource reminder

Use a Material Resource Reminder when you need to send appointment reminders for appointments that require specific equipment, rooms, or other resources to be prepared in advance. This is especially useful when resources are limited, shared, or essential to the appointment.

To create a Material Resource Reminder, select Material Resource Reminder from the Reminder Type dropdown menu.

Select a location from the Location dropdown menu to customize the reminder message.

Next, select a material resource from the Material Resource dropdown menu to customize the reminder message for that specific resource.

Once you select the material resource, default text will automatically populate in the SMS, Email, and Voice Call fields. The Enable Material Resource Reminder option indicates whether the reminder is active. An X indicates that the reminder is turned off, while a checkmark indicates that the reminder is enabled.

Every SMS reminder automatically includes one of the following required messages:

Reply STOP to opt out - Included only when Allow Replies Until 24 Hours Before Appointment is not enabled. This message uses 22 characters, leaving 128 characters available for the SMS reminder.
Reply STOP to opt out, YES to confirm, or NO to cancel - Included only when Allow Replies Until 24 Hours Before Appointment is enabled. This message uses 55 characters, leaving 95 characters available for the SMS reminder.

The system automatically populates default text in the SMS, Email, and Voice Call fields. You can edit the default messages as needed to better suit your communication preferences.

After configuring the messages, click Save to apply your changes. Then, log out and log back in for the updates to take effect. Once the changes are applied, patients with appointments associated with the selected material resource will begin receiving the customized material resource reminder.

Important information

Voicemail limitation

A voicemail will not be left if the patient does not answer a voice reminder.

Fallback to location reminders

When the Enable Material Resource Reminders toggle is turned OFF, patient reminders will default to being sent based on the location of the appointment. You can easily disable material resource reminders at any time by switching this toggle OFF.

Patient communication preferences

To ensure reminders are sent, patient communication preferences must be set before booking the appointment. Reminders are sent only through communication methods that are enabled by both the patient and company. If either side has a communication channel disabled, reminders will not be sent through that method.

Weekend communication restrictions

If a patient has opted out of Saturday or Sunday communications, reminders will not be sent on those days even if the company reminder settings allow weekend communications. These patient communication restrictions override company-level settings.

Rescheduled Appointments

If an appointment is rescheduled, the system will prompt you to decide whether to send a reminder for the new appointment date, provided the patient is opted in for reminders.

Enabling Reminders for Person Resources

Reminders must be enabled for each person resource individually. To do this, navigate to the Utilities menu, click Company Setup, then Person Resources. Select the intended person resource and check the Enable Reminders box.

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Patient Reminders