Tips on practice management 10-4-2019 Just text “DRRAM” to 555888!

Of the patients who had missed an appointment in the last year, most (52.4%) reported that they simply forgot to attend or cancel. 28.6% cited that they wrote down the wrong time or date, and 23.8% said they had to miss the appointment due to other issues such as traffic or work.

I tend to forget the appointments  and  have  showed up  on wrong date and time for my eye appointments  which improved greatly since the  ophthalmologist's office started text reminders

The data is clear: text messages are the preferred way to inform patients about upcoming appointments.

By now it’s clear that patients prefer text messages, but what is it about SMS that makes it so useful for reducing no-shows? Unlike emails, phone calls and postcards people always read their texts. There’s no app to install and texts work on every cellphone. Consider the following:

Texts are read instantly.
Emails may sit in inboxes for hours or days before they get opened. 90% of texts are read within 3 minutes of receipt!

Texts are friendly and unobtrusive.
Patients can check their texts even if they’re not available to answer a phone call. And they can easily refer back to the text later if they forget their appointment time.

Texts are  almost never ignored.
Less than 1% of all text messages go unread. There’s no spam box for them to go to, and the notifications can’t be turned off.

• Keep your messages succinct and easy to read
• Include the date, time and location of the appointment
• Ask patients to reply Y or N to confirm
• Remind patients to bring the necessary paperwork
• Send messages between noon and 5 pm
• sample text 
• You have an appointment with Dr.Rama on Thur 10/17/2019. Reply Y to confirm or N to cancel. Call our office at 888-927-1826 if you have any questions or need to reschedule. Don’t forget to bring your insurance card.

Is Text Messaging HIPAA Compliant?

Text messages are not HIPAA compliant because they are stored indefinitely on the cellphone companies’ servers. Additionally, cellphones can be lost or stolen which could expose personal health info. As you can see in the example above, the specialty of the provider is not revealed. Neither is the reason for the appointment, the treatment the patient is coming in for, or the medication they are  taking. No information of this nature should be revealed unless a member of your staff is certain they’re speaking directly to the patient.

Alert patients of new test results
Reach out to individual patients with important information. Include secure links to test results as soon as they’re ready.

 Normally clinics do not bother to call patients for normal results  . Patients think 

" No news is Good news "  but no news is no news  the ball might have  been dropped.

but in fact calling the patient  with the good news that their  tests are normal is  a brownie point in your favor

Transactional Texts	Promotional Texts
Appointment reminders	Reminders to schedule next appointment
Checkup reminders	Advertising new services
	Health tips
	Patient satisfaction surveys Promotional messages, on the other hand, are any other texts that aren’t directly involving an existing transaction. If your patients have the ability to schedule appointments online, this is the perfect opportunity to enroll them in your text reminder service. We now offer convenient text message reminders! Sign up for appointment reminders, monthly health tips, and more! Just text “DRRAM” to 555888!

courtesy 

https://simpletexting.com/guide/text-appointment-reminders-for-doctors-and-dental-offices/