The Missed Appointment TouchPoint™ is part of the Engagement module. If you are interested in learning more, CLICK HERE to request a demo!
Last-minute cancellations and no-shows don't have to mean lost revenue. The Missed Appointment TouchPoint™ in Dental Intelligence automatically sends a personalized message to patients whenever they no-show or cancel last minute — no manual follow-up required.
This article walks you through the complete workflow setup:
Configuring automated Team Tasks to make sure missed appointments don't slip through the cracks of a busy practice, and
How to properly break appointments in your PMS to trigger the Missed Appointment TouchPoint™
With timely, automated outreach, your team can re-engage patients while the visit is still top of mind, making it easy for them to rebook and keeping your schedule full.
Set Up the Automated Missed Appointment Workflow in Dental Intelligence
Step 1: Review Missed Appointment Verbiage
Before enabling the Missed Appointment TouchPoint™, review the message content to make sure it aligns with your practice voice. Make changes to message content in Settings > Verbiage.
Access Settings by clicking on the gear icon in the upper right-hand corner
Click on the Verbiage tab, then locate the TouchPoints category
Click on the Missed appointment section to expand it and review the content — messages are separated as text messages and emails
Click on the pencil icon to make changes to the text and email versions of your message
Step 2: Enable the Missed Appointment TouchPoint™
Once you've reviewed your Verbiage, activate the Missed Appointment TouchPoint™ from your TouchPoints™ dashboard.
In the left side menu of Dental Intelligence, click on Follow Ups, then click TouchPoints™
Click on the green Scheduling tile, then click the Add TouchPoint button and choose Missed Appointment
Set the number of hours after the appointment status is changed in the PMS that the Missed Appointment message should be sent to the patient
Choose the preferred delivery channel (text or email), then click Add
Lastly, be sure to click on the TouchPoint toggle to activate it (green). If successful, the status will show as Active. The Missed Appointment TouchPoint™ will now send automatically when triggered
Important: Once activated, Dental Intelligence will start sending notifications to patients according to your settings. Make sure your messaging Verbiage has been set up before activating.
Step 3: Configure Missed Appointment Team Tasks
Missed appointment tasks are managed under the Missed Appointment task type in Team Tasks Settings. To configure:
Click on Follow Ups in the left side menu, then click Team Tasks
Click on the Settings section
Click on the Missed appointment task type to expand it
Configure auto-create, auto-complete, and auto-delete settings, and choose who the task should be assigned to (specific user or role)
Click the blue Save button when finished
💡 Tip: To take full advantage of workflow automation, configure Missed Appointment Team Tasks to be created a set number of days after patients receive the Missed Appointment TouchPoint™ message. Then, enable the auto-complete setting so that as soon as the missed appointment is rescheduled or an appointment with the same procedures as the missed appointment is set for the future, the task is marked as completed.
With these configurations, your team will only be assigned tasks for patients that actually failed to reschedule––freeing them up to focus on patient re-engagement elsewhere.
How to Break Appointments in Your PMS to Trigger the Missed Appointment TouchPoint™
When a patient no-shows or cancels last-minute, breaking the appointment correctly in your practice management software (PMS) is what triggers the Missed Appointment TouchPoint™ in Dental Intelligence.
The steps vary by PMS — follow the instructions for your software below.
Dentrix
Manually add the D9986 code to the missed appointment in your Dentrix schedule, or
Break the appointment on the same day as the appointment.
Dentrix Enterprise
Manually add the D9986 code to the missed appointment in your Dentrix Enterprise schedule, or
Break the appointment on the same day as the appointment.
Open Dental
Manually add the D9986 code to the missed appointment in your Open Dental schedule, or
Break the appointment on the same day as the appointment.
Eaglesoft
Break the appointment as Failed in your Eaglesoft schedule.
Eaglesoft uses a dedicated Failed status, so no same-day timing requirement applies.
Note: Missed appointment logic in Dental Intelligence is not yet available for Dentrix Ascend or Denticon users.
What's the difference between the Missed Appointment TouchPoint™ and the Appointment Cancellation TouchPoint™?
The key difference is when and how the appointment is modified in your practice management software:
Missed Appointment TouchPoint™:
Dentrix, Dentrix Enterprise, Open Dental: Triggered when the D9986 code is added to the appointment or the appointment is broken on the same day it was set to occur.
Eaglesoft: Triggered when the appointment is broken as Failed.
Appointment Cancellation TouchPoint™: Triggered when an appointment is deleted, cancelled, or otherwise removed in your PMS (and does not meet the 'Missed' criteria outlined above).
Because the two TouchPoints™ target different patient situations, both can be active at the same time.