- Why did my patient not receive an appointment reminder?
- What are all the communication channels that a patient could receive an appointment reminder?
- What is the send sequence for appointment reminders?
- My patient said they haven't received their appointment reminder, can I check this?
- Can I see appointment reminders that are queued to be sent?
- A patients appointment reminder hasn't sent because it is 'Outside of session', what does this mean?
- What does 'No response dependant copy' mean in Unsent Reminders?
- Can I change the appointment reminder text?
- Can I have more than 160 characters in my appointment reminder template?
- Can I stop reminders sending for specific appointment types?
- Can I manage patient consent for appointment reminders?
- Can patients opt out/unsubscribe from receiving email reminders?
- Can I opt a patient out of email reminders, on their behalf?
- Will email reminders send to pharmacies if we have their email address in the patient's file?
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Why is the copy different between my Email and SMS Reminder?
- Can I send a Reminder to an international phone number?
- Do you send appointment reminders when a practitioner is archived in HotDoc or deactivated in our practice management software (PMS)?
Why did my patient not receive an appointment reminder?
HotDoc Reminders has specific settings which tell us who to send an appointment reminder to. You can see why a patient did not receive their appointment reminder in the Reminders > 'Unsent Reminders' section of the Dashboard. For more information about this, see Why did the patients appointment reminder not send?
What are all the communication channels that a patient could receive an appointment reminder?
At HotDoc we use an omni-channel approach to effectively communicate to patients. Patients can receive an appointment reminder via push notification, email, and/or SMS. If they don't respond to their initial push notification or email, we will send an SMS as well, to ensure we have made sufficient attempts to remind the patient of their appointment to avoid DNAs at your practice. When using all of these channels, the average confirmation rate is 75% - 10% higher than SMS-only reminders!
What is the sending sequence for appointment reminders?
Depending on how you've set up your clinic these timings will differ.
Please see below for the various sequences:
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If you have push notifications and/or email enabled to send for appointment reminders, we will always attempt to send one of these first, prioritising push notification over email where applicable.
- If the patient does not have the HotDoc App installed, or an email address within their patient file, we will immediately send an SMS*.
- If we are able to attempt contact with the patient by either method but they haven't opened the reminder within 2 hours, we will then send a follow up SMS.
*Please note: for Immediate Reminders (Sent when an appointment is within 24 hours of booking), we will not send a fallback SMS 2 hours later.
- If you have disabled both push notifications and email, an SMS will be the first and only attempt at contacting the patient.
My patient said they haven't received their appointment reminder, can I check this?
Yes, you can check this in the Reminders section of the HotDoc Dashboard. Here, you can toggle between 'Unsent Reminders' and 'History' to determine whether a patient has received their reminder. Further information can be located in these articles: How can I view appointment reminder history? and Why did the patients appointment reminder not send?
Can I see appointment reminders that are queued to be sent?
Yes! Reminder messages that are queued for upcoming appointments can be viewed directly from the 'Future Reminders' section of your HotDoc Dashboard. This can be filtered by Reminder Type, Status, Practitioner, Appointment Type and Appointment Date Range to locate specific reminders. To see how to do this, please see How can I view upcoming appointment reminders?
A patients appointment reminder hasn't sent because it is 'Outside of session', what does this mean?
*Best Practice, Medical Director (Pracsoft), Zedmed & Optomate practices only
If appointments are booked outside of the practitioner’s normal session times, we will not send Reminders for those appointments. In these cases, it's worthwhile checking your practitioners sessions setup in your Practice Management Software.
What does 'No response dependant copy' mean in Unsent Reminders?
'No response dependant copy' means that the patient has received an earlier appointment reminder and you have chosen not to send another SMS to the patient, based on their response or lack of response. For more information on why a patient hasn't received an appointment reminder, please access article Why did the patients appointment reminder not send?
Can I change the appointment reminder text?
Yes. To do this, log in to your HotDoc Dashboard and navigate to Reminders > Templates.
Under Regular Reminders, Immediate Reminders or Early Reminders you can then click 'Edit Email' or 'Edit SMS' reminders to display an edit field where you can free-type or use add placeholders for details to be pre-filled eg. Patients name, preferred name, appointment date, practitioners name, confirmation link etc. For more information on this, see section 5 - Reminder types and copy located in article Getting Started with Reminders.
Can I have more than 160 characters in my appointment reminder template?
No, your message must be below 160 characters to keep within fair SMS usage. If you wish to send longer appointment reminder messages you can enable email reminders, with a limit of 1260 characters.
Can I stop reminders sending for specific appointment types?
Yes, we can assist you with allowing or denying specific appointment types from sending for an appointment reminder. For further information, please submit a request by clicking the green Support button below with the exact names of the appointment types.
Can I manage patient consent for appointment reminders?
You can manage patient consent via the Dashboard or the Sidebar!
More information can be found within these two articles How to manage patient consent in the Dashboard and How do I manage patient consent in the Sidebar?
Can patients opt out/unsubscribe from receiving email reminders?
Yes. If patients would like to opt out of receiving email reminders, we recommend they do this by clicking the "unsubscribe from appointment reminders" link in their email.
Can I opt a patient out of email reminders, on their behalf?
You cannot opt out a patient from receiving email reminders only, but you can opt them out of receiving reminders via all communication channels (SMS, email & push notification). Please refer to the following articles: How to manage patient consent in the Dashboard and How do I manage patient consent in the Sidebar?
Will email reminders send to pharmacies if we have their email address in the patient's file?
Knowing that some practices add in a pharmacy's email address to the patient's file, we have added in a filter to ensure appointment reminders do not send to any email addresses that end in the following:
- @chemistwarehouse.com.au
- @terrywhitechemmart.com.au
- @directchemistoutlet.com.au
- @priceline.com.au.
Why is the copy different between my Email and SMS Reminder?
Your email reminders and SMS reminders are edited separately, it is always a good idea to check your reminder templates to ensure you're sending consistent messaging between reminder sending methods. Please see How do I edit the copy of our Appointment Reminders? for more information.
Can I review patient responses to an SMS reminder?
If a patient responds to their SMS with something we do not recognise, (eg: Something other than Yes or No), we will send this to the Sidebar for you to review in case there is some medical relevance or if they're trying to communicate with your clinic. Please see How to action SMS reminder responses in your Sidebar for more information.
If you wish to view historical responses you can do so in the dashboard under Reminders > History and clicking 'View' on the reminder.
Can I send a Reminder to an international phone number?
Currently no, Reminders can only be sent to Australian phone numbers: 04, 61 and +61.
Do you send appointment reminders when a practitioner is archived in HotDoc or deactivated in our practice management software (PMS)?
No. We will not send appointment reminders to patients that had an appointment with a practitioner who is since marked as deactivated in your PMS or archived in HotDoc.
Can I add a custom message to the Reminder link page?
Yes! You can add a custom message to be shown to patients when they confirm or cancel their appointment using the Reminder link. This message is optional but it can be helpful to add any details that didn't fit in the Reminder copy. For more details, please see: Getting Started with Reminders