📝 Overview

Letter templates are pre-formatted documents designed for efficient communication with clients, including discharge instructions, health certificates, consent forms, and more. They can also be used for internal purposes, such as travel sheets and anesthesia monitoring. These templates are tailored to specific clients and patients by leveraging dynamic variables that automatically populate relevant information, ensuring accuracy and personalization.

💡 New accounts have a number of default letter templates loaded into your account, under Settings > Templates > View Letters.

🎥 Video Overview

📩 How to Create & Build Letter Templates

Learn how to create a new letter template in order to cater to your clinic needs.

💡 Any letter template can be duplicated by clicking Duplicate in the letter template list or from the top-left corner of the template while editing. This is especially helpful when you want to start from a default template and customize it for your clinic. Additionally, any existing letter can be edited from the Edit button next to the template or the Edit button from the template itself.

How to Create a New Letter Template

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Click on Settings from the left hand navigation.
Click on Templates and select Letters
Click New Template from the top left
Complete the form that appears, by naming the letter and entering a description (optional). Click Save to proceed to the blank letter template

💡 A new letter template can also be added from the main page of the Settings module, by clicking the Templates tab > New Template and selecting Letter.

How to Add Letter Variables (information that is pre-populated)

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Use the right-hand panel to add variables to your letter. These variables automatically populate with the correct information when the letter is used. Click the arrow next to each section to view available variables.

To add a variable into the letter, place your cursor where you want the variable, and simply click the green plus next to the variable.

💡 The Signature variable is located in the Letter Information section. When added, the letter includes a Sign Letter option in patient or client documents, allowing clients to sign electronically. This variable is also required for letters sent for electronic signature through an Appointment Pre-Visit Confirmation. Click the button below to learn more about Appointment Pre-Visit Confirmation.

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⚠️ Always click the Save button above the variables when you are done editing.

The rest of this section will list all available letter variables and what requirements have to be met for certain ones to work. The majority of these variables can be accessed from the dropdown at the left side of your letter template editor. The final section in this article contains "Hidden" variables, which only work when the letter is generated from and tied to a Medical Note.

To skip to a specific section, click the Variable Type you are interested in below.

Appointment Information
Author Information
Boarding Information
Billing Information
Clinic Information
Snippets
Patient Information
Recipient Information
Letter Information
Owner Information
Medical Note Information

Appointment Information (These variables will only populate when the letter is added / tied to an appointment as they pull information from the Appointment)

{APPOINTMENT_CHECKED_IN_DATE}
{APPOINTMENT_CHECKED_IN_TIME}
{APPOINTMENT_CHECKED_OUT_DATE}
{APPOINTMENT_CHECKED_OUT_TIME}
{APPOINTMENT_COMPLAINT}
{APPOINTMENT_DATE}
{APPOINTMENT_DAY}
{APPOINTMENT_NOTE}
{APPOINTMENT_TIME}
{APPOINTMENT_TYPE}
{APPOINTMENT_PROVIDER}
{NEXT_APPOINTMENT_DATE}
{NEXT_APPOINTMENT_DAY}
{NEXT_APPOINTMENT_TIME}

Author Information (These variables pull information from the Staff Profile of the 'Letter Author')

{AUTHOR_DEA}
{AUTHOR_EMAIL}
{AUTHOR_FIRST_NAME}
{AUTHOR_HOME_NUMBER}
{AUTHOR_LAST_NAME}
{AUTHOR_LICENSE}
{AUTHOR_MOBILE_NUMBER}
{AUTHOR_SIGNATURE}
{AUTHOR_TITLE}

Boarding Information (These variables pull information from a boarding reservation, and as such must be tied to the reservation)

{BOARDING_CHECK_IN_DATE}
{BOARDING_CHECK_IN_TIME}
{BOARDING_CHECK_OUT_DATE}
{BOARDING_CHECK_OUT_TIME}
{BOARDING_NOTE}

Billing Information (These variables pull information from the invoice, and the letter must be tied to an appointment/medical note which is tied to an invoice)

{ESTIMATE_NUMBER}
{INVOICE_NUMBER}
{PAYMENT_NUMBER}
{PAYMENT_AMOUNT}
{PAYMENT_TYPE}
{RETURN_NUMBER}

Clinic Information (These variables pull clinic information from the Settings module)

{CLINIC_ADDRESS}
{CLINIC_CITY}
{CLINIC_EMAIL}
{CLINIC_FAX}
{CLINIC_NAME}
{CLINIC_PHONE}
{CLINIC_STATE}
{CLINIC_ZIPCODE}

Snippets
When editing a letter, you will see a listing of all your snippets to easily insert them.

Patient Information (These variables pull information from the Patient profile for the selected 'Patient')

{PATIENT_AGE}
{PATIENT_BIRTHDATE}
{PATIENT_BREED}
{PATIENT_CHIP}
{PATIENT_COLOR}
{PATIENT_WEIGHT}
{PATIENT_ID}
{PATIENT_LAST_WEIGHT}
{PATIENT_NAME}
{PATIENT_NOTES}
{PATIENT_REMINDERS}
{PATIENT_SEX}
{PATIENT_STATUS}
{PATIENT_PROBLEMS}

Recipient Information (These variables pull information from the Contact or Client profile for the selected 'Recipient')

{RECIPIENT_ACCOUNT}
{RECIPIENT_ADDRESS}
{RECIPIENT_BIRTHDATE}
{RECIPIENT_COUNTRY}
{RECIPIENT_CITY}
{RECIPIENT_COMPANY_NAME}
{RECIPIENT_COMPANY_PHONE}
{RECIPIENT_EMAIL}
{RECIPIENT_FAX_NUMBER}
{RECIPIENT_FIRST_NAME}
{RECIPIENT_HOME_NUMBER}
{RECIPIENT_LAST_NAME}
{RECIPIENT_MOBILE_NUMBER}
{RECIPIENT_SALUTATION}
{RECIPIENT_STATE}
{RECIPIENT_TITLE}
{RECIPIENT_WORK_NUMBER}
{RECIPIENT_ZIPCODE}

Letter Information

{LETTER_TITLE}
{LETTER_DATE}
{SIGNATURE_FIELD}

Owner Information (These variables pull information from the Client profile of the selected 'Owner')

{OWNER_ADDRESS}
{OWNER_BALANCE}
{OWNER_BIRTHDATE}
{OWNER_COUNTRY}
{OWNER_CITY}
{OWNER_DISCOUNT}
{OWNER_EMAIL}
{OWNER_FAX_NUMBER}
{OWNER_FIRST_NAME}
{OWNER_HOME_NUMBER}
{OWNER_ID}{OWNER_LAST_NAME}
{OWNER_LAST_VISIT}
{OWNER_MOBILE_NUMBER}
{OWNER_NEXT_VISIT}
{OWNER_STATE}
{OWNER_WORK_NUMBER}
{OWNER_ZIPCODE}

Medical Note Information (These variables are 'hidden' but you may copy/paste them into your letter templates. These variables pull information from the Medical Note that the letter is tied to.)

{LABS}
{PRESCRIPTIONS}
{SERVICES}
{VACCINATIONS}

{SUBJECTIVE_CONTENT}
{OBJECTIVE_CONTENT}
{ASSESSMENT_EXAM_CONTENT}
{PLAN_CONTENT}
{CLIENT_COMMUNICATION_CONTENT}

How to Format a Letter

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Paragraph: This is where you will adjust the Header (font size), Inline (strikethroughs, underlines, etc), Blocks, and text Alignment.

Font Style: Next to the paragraph option, there is a dropdown to select your preferred font.

Text Size: Next to the font style, you can select the text size

Plus Button: From the dropdown, you will have multiple options, including adding a link as needed.

Bold & Italicized: Next to the plus button, you can highlight text and use the bold or italicized buttons to add those options. Or start by clicking these first, and then adding your text.

Three Dots: The last option on the right of the header gives you further customization. From here you can adjust alignment, add bullets, add colors number lists, and add tables.

⚠️ Always click the Save button above the variables when you are done editing.

Adding Images to a Letter

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You are able to add images into a letter template. To do so, you will use html code.
In the letter template, click in the 3 dots. Then click the button with the 2 outward facing arrows.

This allows you to access the html source code. Insert the html for the image source in the source code, and click Save when done.

You may use the code <img style="width: px; height: px;" src="" alt=""> where the size of the pixels of the width and height of the image is inserted before px, the url location of the hosted image is inserted between the quotes of src, and the descriptor or title is inserted between the quotes of alt.

Example:
<p><img style="width: 500px; height: 500px;" src="
https://s3.amazonaws.com/cdn-origin-etr.akc.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/12185602/Lagotto-Romangolo-Tongue-Out.jpg " alt="demo canine dental chart"></p>

Here is also a tutorial that the clinic can refer to: https://www.w3schools.com/html/html_images.asp

🦮 +🧍🏽‍♀️ How to Add Letters for Patient & Clients

There are multiple ways to upload a letter for a patient and client. This section will cover how to do so.

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Adding a Letter from a Medical Note

This is the most commonly used method for providing clients with take-home documents, such as health certificates or discharge letters. When a letter is uploaded through a medical note, the template variables automatically populate with the relevant information, ensuring the letter is completed accurately and efficiently. Follow the steps below to learn how to add a letter from a medical note.

Click on the Documents tab within the medical note, and select New Letter
Fill out the form that appears, by selecting the letter, recipient (optional) or owner (optional) as needed and click Save
The letter template will appear, where you can make edits to it as needed
Once at check out, the letter can be selected in the Checkout Documents field for exporting

💡 Keep in mind that letters only auto-populate information for the variables included in the template. For example, if the owner or recipient variable is not added, that information will not automatically fill in. Uploaded letters can always be edited as needed—just be sure to click Save above the variables when you’re done.

Adding a Letter Template Through a Client Profile or Patient Profile

A letter can be added form a patient or client profile. Follow the steps below to find out how:

Navigate to the applicable patient or client profile
Click on Documents and select New Letter
Complete the form that appears and click Save

💡The Recipient and Owner field are the same person most of the time, but can be different as needed. The recipient listed will only transfer to the letter if the Recipient variable has been added to the template.

Adding a Letter at Check In

On the check-in form, use the Print Letters field to select a letter to print. Click the field and choose a letter from the drop-down menu, such as a consent form. Once the check-in is saved, the letter will open in a new tab for printing. Be sure that pop-up blockers are disabled on your device.

💡 Want to go paperless? Consent forms can be created using Form templates with signature fields added, and then be sent to clients via email or SMS at check-in. Clients can quickly sign and submit the form directly from their device. You can also collect signatures ahead of the appointment by sending letters or forms through Appointment Pre-Visit Confirmations. Click the buttons below to learn about Forms and Appointment Pre-Visit Confirmations

Working with Forms

Appointment Pre-Visit Confirmation

❓ Frequently Asked Question (FAQs)

Find answers to common questions or additional details that may not be covered in the main instructions.

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