Templates are the heart of automated communication in NexHealth.
Each communication template includes a trigger, or action (the gray tile in the sequence), which prompts the sequence to begin sending SMS and email messages to your patients. This ensures your automated messages are sent at the right times for each patient. To view all NexHealth templates, navigate to Templates from the left side menu.
Appointment-based templates
NexHealth Appointment Request
The NexHealth Appointment Request template is triggered immediately when a patient books an appointment online using NexHealth. It serves as a Save-The-Date message telling them what was booked.
NexHealth Appointment Confirmed
The NexHealth Appointment Confirmed template is sent immediately when you confirm the appointment that the patient requested online. This is optional, and we typically recommend only sending the Appointment Request template or this Appointment Confirmed template, but not both.
NexHealth Appointment Rescheduled
The NexHealth Appointment Rescheduled template only works for customers without an integrated practice management system who are using the NexHealth calendar to manage appointments.
For those customers, this template is sent immediately when an appointment is moved to a different time on the NexHealth calendar. It does not allow the patient to reschedule their appointment, it just updates their Save-the-Date message with the new time.
If you use an integrated practice management system (i.e. one that syncs with NexHealth), there is NO automated Appointment Rescheduled message. If an appointment is moved to a different day and time, the Reminders will adjust and send to the patient at the correct cadence for the new appointment, but the patient will not receive a notification that the appointment has been rescheduled. For integrated practice management systems, there are two options if you would like to trigger a message at the time the appointment is rescheduled:
Cancel or break the appointment and create a new one (which will cause the Save the Date template to be sent, confirming the day and time).
Send an instant reminder from the patient’s appointment on the Home Screen (note: this acts as the last reminder in the sequence, so no further reminders will be sent out. Only use this option if the appointment is timed so that the patient would not otherwise receive a reminder).
Save the Date
The Save the Date template is sent immediately when a new appointment is scheduled on your practice management calendar, such as when a patient schedules over the phone or at the front desk.
Reminders
Reminders are triggered at set time intervals before an appointment as indicated by the gray time tiles in the editor. By default, these are set to go out one week and one day before the scheduled appointment.
Missed
The missed template is sent every day at 7:45 PM for every patient whose appointment in the EHR was not canceled, checked in, or rescheduled; i.e. patients who no-show their appointment.
Canceled
The canceled template is sent at 7:45 PM on the day a canceled appointment was originally scheduled unless the patient has a new appointment on the calendar. It does NOT go out at the time a patient cancels an appointment.
Reviews
Reviews are sent at 7:30 PM each day for every patient who had an appointment on the calendar and kept their appointment (i.e. did not cancel, reschedule, or no-show).
Post Appointment follow-up
The post-appointment follow-up message is designed to go out after an appointment to check in or provide further instructions. The frequency and time of day are both customizable through the grey time tiles in the editor. This template is typically used in conjunction with our Appointment Journeys feature, to send patients procedure-specific follow-up messages.
Recalls
Recalls are triggered by the date of the patient's last appointment and by default are sent 6 months after the day of their last appointment if they have not made another. The frequency and time of day are both customizable through the grey time tiles in the editor.
Patient-based templates
New Patient
The New Patient Template is sent when a new patient is added to your health record system. NexHealth cross-references your patient list (including patients' names, contact information, zip code, and date of birth) to determine which patients are new. NexHealth checks for new patients to send the template to every 15 minutes between 8 am and 7 pm when the sync updates with your current patient list.
Birthday
The birthday message is sent at 12:45 PM on the patient’s birthday.
Manually triggered templates
Payments
The Payments template is triggered by a NexHealth payment request being manually sent by a member of your staff. It does not automatically read due balances and request payments from patients.
Waitlist ASAP List & Waitlist Continuing Care
The two Waitlist templates are manually triggered by a Waitlist request being sent from the Waitlist tab by a member of your staff. These templates allow you to customize the messages sent to patients when the corresponding Waitlist requests are sent, they are not automatically triggered.
Form Request
The form request template is triggered when a form is manually sent to a patient in NexHealth. This template includes an automatic form reminder one day and one hour before the form's due date (which is usually the corresponding appointment date). The timing of these reminders can be changed through the grey time tiles in the editor.
Form Reminder
The form reminder template is triggered when office staff use the Send reminder feature in the Forms tab for an outstanding form request.
Custom or Continuing Care Recalls
If available for your practice management system, you may also have the option for Custom Recare templates.
These templates are triggered by the due date you have recorded for the patient's next treatment. This may be based on a specific service type (such as Prophy or Perio) or the Next Recall (in Eaglesoft).
This template is set up with a string of automatic invitations to schedule a new appointment (with the booking link included if applicable), and go out 1 day before the due date, and then again one month after, two months, four months, six months, eight months, twelve months, eighteen months, and twenty-four months or until the patient schedules an appointment. The ultimate "set it and forget it!"