Customer Support

How to automate appointment reminders to reduce no-shows

One of the most powerful features in SpectraSoft's Appointments series software is the ability to automatically send out appointment reminders by phone, e-mail or mail. With just a few mouse clicks, you can remind every patient on your schedule about their appointment. This feature can save your staff hours of time each week while increasing your contact rate dramatically. Below are basic instructions for generating automated reminders.

Telephone Reminders
E-Mail Reminders
Mailed Reminders

Automated Telephone Reminders

Requires Telephone Reminder add-on module -- contact your sales rep for details

The Automated Telephone Reminder module generates a daily call list of scheduled patients and exports that list to either an outside teleservice firm like CallPointe or to an in-house calling system like JulySoft's ReminderPRO.

Automated calling typically achieves much higher contact rates than your staff can attain, because the system can redial people who may not be home during working hours. It can detect the difference between an answering machine and a person, report telephone company messages, offer different messaging based on the call recipients keypad input, call back if no answer or line is busy, and leave different messages based on the time of day.

Setting the Telephone Reminder Module is simple:

1. Open the Automated Telephone Reminder module application on your PC.
2. Select the number of days before an appointment to call and deliever your reminder message.
3. Select a time of day you want the system to upload the call list to phone system.
4. Select the time of day you want the calls to begin.
5. Click OK.

Your calls will be made automatically each day, without ever lifting a finger!

Automated E-Mail Reminders

Requires E-Mail Reminder add-on module -- contact your sales rep for details

The E-Mail Reminder module generates personalized e-mails for each patient that are sent at the date and time you choose. The system works much like the traditional "mail-merge" function on a word processor. As you install the E-Mail Reminder module, you create one or more e-mail templates. As you create each template, you indicate where in the message to insert personalized information by enclosing the instruction in double brackets (<< >>). Here is an example of how a typical e-mail template might look:

Dear <<client_first_name>> <<client_last_name>>,

This is a reminder that you have an appointment at <<appt_time>> on <<appt_date>> with Dr. <<resource_first_name>> <<resource_last_name>>. Please remember to <<instruction_list>>. If you will be unable to make your appointment, call us to cancel or reschedule your appointment at (555) 555-5555.

Thank you,
XYZ Rehab Center of Anytown

Once you have created your e-mail template and entered your e-mail server settings, you complete the installation by adding a subject line for your e-mail, and specifying how many days before the appointment that each email will be sent and what time of day e-mails are sent. (Make sure to choose a time of day when you know your computer will be on.)

Once you have installed the e-mail program, simply open the program from the Start menu and click the "Run" button on the E-mail Reminder System screen and your e-mails will be sent at the time you set. Finally, click the Send to Tray button to minimize the window, and let the program run.

Batch Reminder Letters

If you mail reminder letters, you can use Appointments™ to print them for you in batches once or twice a week. The Batch Reminder report will print a personalized letter for each client scheduled for an appointment in a given date range. To print reminder letters:

1. Select > Reports > Reminder Reports > Batch Reminders from the main Appointments™ menu.
2. Specify the date range of appointments and choose a letter. (Letters are created when you set up the system. If you need to add a letter, see the instructions in your Administration Manual.)
3. Click Preview or Print to print the letters.