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Mastering Patient Opt-Out and Opt-In Management

Quick solutions for patients not receiving appointment reminders, opt-out management, and delivery troubleshooting

Kyle Davidson avatar
Written by Kyle Davidson
Updated this week

✨ When You Need This Guide

If you're dealing with any of these situations, this guide will help you get patient reminders working smoothly:

  • Patients say they didn't receive their appointment reminder texts or emails

  • Some patients are missing reminders while others receive them normally

  • Red phone numbers or email addresses showing up in your system

  • You can send manual messages to a patient, but automatic reminders aren't getting through

  • You need to find out who opted out of receiving communications

  • A patient wants to start receiving reminders again after previously opting out

You'll need: Access to your Aloha dashboard and patient contact information

What this covers: Finding opted-out patients, re-enabling reminders, and troubleshooting delivery issues. For technical problems with your messaging system setup, contact support.


✅ Check If the Patient Has Opted Out

The most common reason patients don't receive reminders is that they opted out of communications.

Here's how to check:

  1. Go to Contacts in your dashboard Click on "Contacts" then select "Show Contacts"

  2. Search for the specific patient Type their name in the search bar to find their contact record

  3. Click on their contact to open their profile This will show you their detailed information

  4. Look at their communication settings Check if phone and email toggles are turned ON or OFF


✅ Re-Enable Reminders for Individual Patients

If you found that a patient is opted out, here's how to get them back on track:

  1. Open the patient's contact record (Follow steps 1-3 above)

  2. Click on "Settings" in their profile This opens their communication preferences

  3. Toggle them back on for phone and email Switch both toggles to the ON position (they should turn green)

  4. Save the changes The patient will now receive future appointment reminders


✅ View All Patients Who Have Opted Out

Want to see everyone who's opted out so you can review and fix multiple patients at once?

  1. Go to Contacts > Show Contacts Start from your main contacts page

  2. Click the filter icon on the top right

  3. Find the "Opt-outs" drop-down menu Click on this dropdown to see your options

  4. Select what you want to see:

    • "Email Opted-out" - Shows patients who won't receive email reminders

    • "Phone Opted-out" - Shows patients who won't receive text reminders

    • Select both - Shows all patients who've opted out of any communication

You'll now see a filtered list of patients who aren't receiving reminders, making it easy to review and update them as needed.


🎉 You'll Know It Worked When:

Within 24 hours of making changes, you should see:

  • Patients confirm they received their next appointment reminder

  • Phone numbers and emails are no longer red

  • Opt-out lists are shorter after you've re-enabled patients who want reminders


🔍 Common Questions About Patient Reminders

If you're wondering why patients opt out: Sometimes, patients accidentally reply "STOP" to a text.

About timing: After re-enabling a patient, it may take up to 24 hours for them to start receiving automatic reminders again.

If multiple patients suddenly stop getting reminders: Contact support.

When manual messages work but auto reminders don't: This usually means the patient has opted out of automatic communications but can still receive manual messages you send directly.


💬 Need Help? We're Here!

Still having trouble with patient reminders or seeing technical errors?

Call us at (800) 563-0469

Our support team can:

  • Review your messaging system settings

  • Help troubleshoot delivery issues with specific carriers

  • Check for any account-level communication problems

  • Walk you through bulk re-enabling of opted-out patients

Response time: Usually within a few minutes during business hours

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