Introduction
Got questions? View the FAQ’s section at the bottom of this article!
Appointment-Time Reminders in the SKED Web app enable you to send personalized SMS/MMS, email, and push notifications to patients about their appointments. Reminders deploy based on provider specific appointment types, an amount of time, and an appointment status such as Before, Missed or Arrived.
You can create different reminders based on provider specific appointment types, an amount of time, and an appointment status such as Before, Missed or Arrived.
This article walks you through every setting and feature to get the most out of the Appointment Reminders function. Access the Appointment Reminders Page by clicking the “Appointment Messages > Reminders” tab on the blue sidebar.
Customize Appointment Reminder
Edit the reminders of a setting by navigating to Appointment Reminders → Single reminder message → Click the Edit button.
Edit Recipients (Appt Types)
Highlight appointment type(s)on the left box by clicking them and select the right arrow key in the middle. The appt type will now appear on the right box, indicating that it is selected.
Remove appt types by highlighting them on the right side box, and selecting the Left arrow key in the middle
Warning: If your office has multiple doctors, make sure the correct appointment type is selected under the right doctor.
Compose Message (SMS/MMS, Email, Push)
Utilize SKED’s message composer to write messages through SMS, Email, and Push/App notifications. You can insert custom data (using Placeholders) to personalize your messages. Learn more here: Composing Messages (SMS/MMS, Email, Push) Zendesk Article
Appointment Reminder Troubleshooting
Single Patient Not Receiving
Whenever a single patient is not receiving a message, it usually has to do with the timing of the reminder message, an incorrect phone number or settings enabled, or the wrong appointment type selected.
Sending at the Wrong Time
Appt reminders may be considered “sent at the wrong time” if the appt was updated to a different time after a message was sent. Offices may not intuitively understand that the message was sent based on previous appt times. Learn more about it in the Appointment messages: Generating vs. Sending section.
Note: If a message was sent, but it wasn't sent at the right time, this has nothing to do with Bandwidth. Bandwidth controls the sending of messages and not the timing, so if timing is the issue, then this must be due to settings within SKED.
Sometimes, appointment reminders work differently than anticipated because there is a faulty overlap of when the appointment was updated and when the message was supposed to be sent. This can result in the message not being sent at all or being sent at the wrong time. In this section, we'll describe why this is the case and how you can identify if this is the problem you're facing.
There are three data points to consider when troubleshooting an issue like this:
When was the appointment updated last?
When was the message generated? (added to queue)
When was the message actually sent?
Sending the Wrong Reminders
If the wrong reminder is being sent to a patient, it is most likely due to having the wrong provider or appointment type assigned to the client.
FAQs
How to remove a delivery method?
Click on the name of the reminder you want to edit, then click Edit in the top right corner, scroll down to the composition box, and click on the delivery type you wish to remove, and delete the message of the body and the subject line if applicable. You’ll know it’s unselected because the green check mark will disappear.
How do I test my appointment time reminder?
Add a test appointment to your schedule using a patient profile connected to your phone number or email (if that's a chosen method). Make sure the appointment matches the exact criteria of the reminder (appointment type, delivery method, and timing).
For example, if your reminder is set to send via text 24 hours before an Adjustment appointment and it’s currently 1:50 p.m., schedule an Adjustment appointment for 2:00 p.m. tomorrow. The reminder should send at 2:00 p.m. today.
How do I edit my reminder?
Click on the reminder's title, then click “Edit” in the top right corner. Be sure to edit any applicable delivery types: text, email, and/or push notifications.
Why can’t I save my reminder?
Here are the common reasons the Save button is grayed out: the message is missing a title, no appointment types are selected, and/or the email/push notification is partially completed or removed (you’ll know by a red “!” next to the delivery type).
Why is my patient not getting appointment reminders?
The most common reason a patient doesn’t get a reminder is because the appointment was not made with enough time for the reminder to deploy. If an appointment is added at 4 p.m. for an 11:30 a.m. appointment and the office only has a 24-hour reminder, it is not enough time for the message to deploy. The second most common reason is that the appointment type under the provider the patient is scheduled for is not selected for the appointment reminder. You can click on the message to quickly see which appointment types are selected.