The primary purpose of Product Reminders is to notify clients when a patient is due for a service, treatment, or medication. These are commonly known as patient service or patient care reminders. Reminders have the added benefit of being an easy avenue for repeat business for your practice—all while ensuring consistent care for patients.
To access reminders and your related reminder email template, please follow Admin -> Client Communications -> Reminders.
Take a Look
Reminder Email Template
The Reminder Email Template is the communication message that each reminder notification transmits to clients when a reminder is triggered based on your defined sending cadence. Shepherd presently cannot send patient care reminders through SMS.
Basic Template
The basic template will be the default when you first visit your reminder email template. This includes a subject line, greeting, text to indicate which reminders the notification is for, and your clinic information at the bottom of the email. You're able to add body text and a custom signature.
Advanced Template
The advanced template allows you to build your reminder email from scratch entirely, with no pre-loaded text or variables. If you're using this template, be sure to include the Reminders due variable!
Email Template Variables
Variables will be used to insert client, patient, and clinic-specific information into your reminder email message so that they are custom to your clients and patients! The below list is the selection of variables you can choose from - place the variable text where you'll want the client, patient, or clinic-specific data to be when the email is generated and sent.
{CLIENT FIRST} - Client first name
{CLIENT LAST} - Client last name
{REMINDERS DUE} - Reminders that are overdue and due within the next 30 days
{CLINIC NAME} - Name of your clinic
{CLINIC EMAIL} - Email address of your clinic
{CLINIC PHONE} - Clinic phone number
{CLINIC ADDRESS} - Clinic address
{CLINIC LOGO} - Clinic logo
Here is an example of the pre-loaded text on the basic template:
Subject: {PATIENT/S} (is/are)* due for services at {CLINIC NAME}
Dear {CLIENT FIRST},
Our records indicate that your pets are due for the following services:
{REMINDERS DUE}
And how it translates into the client-facing email notification:
Bandu is due for services at Shepherd Veterinary Hospital
Hello, Tori.
Our records indicate that your pets are due for the following services:
Bandu is due for Rabies Vaccine - Canine 1 Year at 8/5/2021
Creating a Reminder Template
It is recommended that you create a reminder template for any service, care, or treatment that you wish to remind clients regarding. Some example types include preventative medications, bloodwork, annual recommended care, vaccinations, or diagnostic testing. A reminder template is needed for each retail code that you invoice and want to trigger a reminder to automatically generate.
New Reminder Template
To create a new reminder template, first select the +Add New while viewing the Reminders tab. Each new reminder will be active by default.
Define a Trigger Product
Next, you'll define the Trigger Product. The trigger product is the retail code that you will include in your SOAP treatment plan, or on your invoice, which initiates the automatic reminder generation. Again, you'll need to create a reminder template for each retail code that you use and want a new reminder to automatically be created within the patient record. This setting controls creating new patient reminders automatically.
Define a Reminder Name
Once you've selected your trigger product, you'll define the Reminder Name. This is the title which will appear as the reminder name to identify it by. Don't forget to include a duration pr species indicator if needed - as an example, Rabies Vaccine -3 Year. This setting controls the name of the reminder shown on the patient profile.
Define a Due Date
After you've defined the reminder name, you'll define the duration, or Due Date (from administration time) of the reminder. This is the date when the patient is next due for the service or treatment you are reminding the owner about. Reminders can be due in any number of days weeks, months, or years from administration time. This setting controls the date defined for new reminders based on the administration date of the service or treatment.
You can select to have the due date automatically adjust based on sold or administered quantity. This is not applicable in all scenarios. If you administer QTY 3 of the 1 Dose Heartworm preventative, you will want the reminder to become due in 3 months instead of 1 month (which is the standard reminder due in setting and will still apply when QTY of 1 is administered).
Confirm the Auto-Complete Product(s)
Next, you'll select the Auto-Complete Product(s). This might be a singular item, or it could be multiple. The Auto-Complete Product(s) are any retail codes which you want to satisfy the reminder in the patient record to consider the service or treatment complete. This setting controls how reminders are completed or 'removed' from the active reminder list on the patient profile.
Set your Notification Schedule
Finally, don't forget to set a Notification cadence. The notification cadence controls when a communication is transmitted to the client based on the defined due date.
For example, if a reminder has a 12 month expiration, you might decide to remind the client 30 days prior to the service being due because you are scheduling appointments 2 weeks out into the future. You might also define a notification cadence in case the client misses the due service and it lapses. This might be a 14 and 30 day overdue reminder schedule. This setting controls when messages are sent to the client based on the reminder due date.
Send In (a numerical value) | Time Unit (day, week, month) | Before | After (due date) |
Clients will only get up to 1 Reminder Email a day - If multiple reminders are due or upcoming due to trigger a notification simultaneously, they'll all be included in a single email communication. When a communication notification is triggered, any past due reminders, plus current triggered reminders will be included in the single communication.
Understanding the Reminder Template Table
The Reminder Template table or tab organizes alphabetically by the Trigger Product. This helps with easily and efficiently identifying which retail or product codes you've created an associated reminder for, and if any products do not have a reminder available which should.
Expanding a Trigger Product row will display any and all associated Reminder Templates for that code.
Understanding the Status
The Reminder Table displays a status indication for both the Trigger Product and the Reminder Template. These are two separate and independent statuses which both influence the successful creation and management of patient care reminders.
Again, the first row display the Trigger Product. This is the retail code that you have listed as an item in your product list in Shepherd.
If the Status indication is red, indicating an inactive item, no reminder will generate in the patient's profile. This is because the mapped item is inactive and cannot be invoiced so there is no trigger for the Reminder Template. Even if the Reminder Template is active, the associated workflow and configuration is broken due to the foundational Trigger Product being inactive.
The next Status column visible within the expanded drop-down displays the status of each Reminder Template associated to the Trigger Product. This controls if a reminder is created when the item is invoiced.
Both Statuses should be marked as Active if you want a reminder to generate for a patient record.
Deactivating a Reminder Template
To deactivate a reminder template, access the reminder template details using the edit pencil, and disable the active toggle above the Reminder Name. Then select Save. This reminder template is now inactive and will no longer trigger new reminders. Deactivating a reminder template will not remove existing reminders.
Inactivating a product with an associated reminder template will also inactivate the reminder.
Changing a Reminder Name
If you adjust or update the name of an existing reminder template which has reminders previously generated from the configuration, you will modify all existing versions of the reminder in all charts. You will receive a notification alerting you to the impact of the change for you to confirm the action before saving.
FAQs
A patient reminder did not generate as I expected. How do I troubleshoot?
If a patient reminder did not generate as expected, confirm that the item invoiced matches a reminder template rule in your reminder configuration. It's possible the item either does not have a reminder template created to trigger a new reminder. Another possibility is that the associated trigger product has been archived, and a duplicate version is mapped to the reminder template. This duplicate version is the version being invoiced but no reminder template is mapped.
If this has occurred, you'll need to update your reminder template configurations and manually create a new reminder in the patient record.
A patient reminder did not satisfy as I expected. How do I troubleshoot?
If a patient reminder remained present after a visit where services were completed, confirm that the unsatisfied reminder template has the invoiced service or treatment items listed as auto-complete products. If the invoiced item(s) are not listed as auto-complete product(s), they will not satisfy existing reminders to complete them.
If this has occurred, you'll need to update the auto-complete configuration and manually complete the remaining reminder in the patient record.
A patient vaccination history still shows vaccines due but the reminder list looks correct. How do I troubleshoot?
The patient reminder list and vaccination history are controlled by two separate configurations in Shepherd. The reminder list is controlled by the Reminder Templates defined under Client Communications. The vaccination history is controlled by the vaccine details defined within a vaccine product item.
How can I see if a reminder communication was sent to a client?
If you'd like to review if a reminder communication was triggered to a client, you'll want to open the client history activity record, by selecting the zig-zag arrow in the upper right-hand corner of the client profile.
The activity is listed chronologically, and a search bar is offered to narrow down results by key phrases such as 'Reminder Notification' or the client's email address. The full content of the message along with a time stamp are provided in the history log.
We've included an example below for your ease of reference:
