E-mail confirmations

[Hersheydmd]

Jordan,

Sending e-mail confirmations would be so much better, if we could set up more than one standard e-mail, in the "Setup Recall and Confirmations" window. Just as we can setup more than one recall message, it would be so helpful if we could set up more than one confirmation message. One message would be an upcoming "reminder" of an appt several weeks away. Another would be the actual "confirmation" a few days away, and a third could be a last minute reminder the same day.
Should I set this up as a new request or do you think it is close enough to an existing request to tack it on to it?

Rob

[jordansparks]

It's now part of 1718.

[Hersheydmd]

Hi Jordan,
Just noticed your comment of 11/19/11 on Request #1718.

I think this request is mostly about providing a link for patients to click on rather than providing a wider variety of outgoing message.

Just the opposite. What we need is the ability to choose between several different messages, depending on whether we are sending

• 1) A "hold the date/mark your calendar" reminder for a future appointment. (Usually at least a week or more before the appointment.)

• 2) A confirmation email requesting the patient reply to confirm. (Usually a few days before the appt.)

• 3) A last minute reminder of an already confirmed appointment. (Usually the night before or morning of an appt.)

Some patients need to be reminded multiple times.
If we send out the confirmation email too far in advance (like a week) by the time the appt date rolls around they will have forgotten, even if they confirmed it the week before.
If the emails don't go out until a couple of days before the appt, there will be patients who didn't remember they had an appt and cancel because they have other plans, and you won't have enough time to fill the slots.
Some patients, even though they confirmed an appt a few days ago, need to be reminded again the day of the appt. Sending another identical confirmation email for appts that were already confirmed, can get very confusing.

Automation would be nice, eventually, but in the meantime we could at least use the ability to send different messages manually. It only takes a minute to open the confirmation window and click off the names you want to send a message to. It would take another second to also choose the message to be sent.

[jordansparks]

Just added #2197. The two requests were irretrievably muddled together. I'm fairly certain that the intent of 1718 was originally to have a clickable link in the email to allow the patient to confirm.

[asanders]

We've been using lighthouse 360. I have zero affiliation with the company, but it's incredible. Automated email, text, postcards. As delighted as I've been with open dental, lighthouse has taken us to the next level. It more than pays for itself. Electronic health histories are my last hurdle. We've had a noticeable drop in broken appointments. Just my $.02.

[Hersheydmd]

We've been using lighthouse 360. I have zero affiliation with the company, but it's incredible. Automated email, text, postcards. As delighted as I've been with open dental, lighthouse has taken us to the next level. It more than pays for itself. Electronic health histories are my last hurdle. We've had a noticeable drop in broken appointments. Just my $.02.

I am sure it is very good. But OD handles pretty much everything I need. If we had 3 or 4 reminder messages to choose from depending on the situation, I wouldn't need any other program. I don't need the automation. I'm only one doc, and I don't have that many patients to keep track of.

[Hersheydmd]

Here are examples of our three levels of confirmation messages. They go out as both e-mails and as text messages.
It works great except that, for now, we have to copy & paste the message into Recall Setup each time.
Hoping more users will add their votes to #2197, so that won't be necessary.

A) The main confirmation message is:

• Dear [NameF],
  Just a reminder of your dental appt. on [date] at [time]. Please confirm by replying to this e-mail or send a text or voice mail to 347-559-xxxx. Thank you.
  Sincerely,
  office manager's name

B) The last minute reminder message is:

• Dear [NameF],
  Looking forward to seeing you today for your dental appointment at [time].
  Sincerely,
  office manager's name
  347-559-xxxx

c) Our "Mark your calendar" message is:

• Dear [NameF],
  At your last recare visit, we scheduled your next hygiene appointment for [date] at [time]. Please mark your calendar. We will send you a confirmation message closer to the appointment. If you can not make it please let us know so we can reschedule it.
  Sincerely,
  office manager's name
  347-559-xxxx