Patient Communications Gateway

Appointments & Reminders

Appointments & Reminders

• Appointment Reminders
• Schedule Change Notifications
• Recall Notices
• Online Appointment Requests
• Tracking of Sent Notices

Online appointment requests

Patients can use the PCG Patient Portal or their PHR (assuming that the PHR supports this feature) to request appointments

Example uses

• If the doctor is running late, the system can SMS or call patients advising them of the situation
• If the doctor has an emergency and won't be in the office, the system can call all relevant patients and inform them
• Appointment reminders
• Recall reminders
• Online appointment requests
• Send letters to patients

Flexible

• For each appointment reason, you can specify multiple reminder methods. For instance, a reminder letter can be sent 5 days in advance; a reminder call can be made 2 days before; an email can be sent at the same time, and a SMS can be sent 2 hours before the appointment.
• Different appointment reasons can have different sets of rules.

Tracking / Rollover

• PCG tracks each notification (when possible) and detects failures. Rules can be defined as to how to handle failures. For example, if there is no cell phone number or if the text message can’t be delivered (if the cell phone is off for example) the reminder message can be sent via an alternate method.

Recoup Revenue

• Timely reminders cut no-show rates drastically
• MGMA members report an average no-show rate of 4%
• Some practices report no-show rates of 10% - 30%
• This translates into thousands of dollars in lost revenue (even at a 4% no show rate)

Save Money

• Sending electronic reminders costs significantly less than postage & associated mailing costs.
• Savings could translate into hundreds of dollars a month.

Appointment Reminders

• Patients can reply to reminders to confirm their appointment
• Patients can request to reschedule or cancel their appointment
• Replies are supported via phone, SMS, email and secure email.
• Flexible reminder settings
• Reminder tracking and failover

Recall Reminders

• Patients (who might otherwise not come back) are reminded to return
• Patients can request appointments in response to a reminder message
• Patients that don’t respond will be sent repeated notices based on practice-defined settings
• Electronic recalls save money

Reminder Notification Methods

• Configure the settings online with PCG
• Set the method order of presidence
• Notification Methods:
  • Email
  • Secure Email
  • SMS Text Message
  • Phone
  • U.S. Postal Mail
  • Fax

No equipment needed

• Does not use practice equipment nor the practice phone lines

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