🎞️ CHR Webinar: Plan impactful communication throughout the patient journey
You can customize the default template for your Notifications. The template includes the base text and any variables sent in your communications. There are 6 types of notifications: Appointment Notifications, Appointment Reminders, Qnaire, Referral, Patient Portal and Pathway (virtual visits). They all come pre configured with default text, but you are able to edit them as needed.
Appointment notifications and reminders can be customized for all appointment types (general) or by appointment type. For example, in the general Appointment Confirmation notification template, you could include parking information. In the Appointment Reminder template for a specific appointment type (New Patient), you could include what the patient needs to bring to their appointment (list of current medications).
Type | Description |
Appointment Notifications (Except for Appointment Reminder and Appointment Post Reminder) | Appointment Notifications are triggered by the appointment status. For example, when the appointment is first created and the status is Confirmed, the Appointment Confirmation notification is triggered. Then if the appointment status changes to Cancelled, the Appointment Cancellation notification is triggered.
Customize the default text for each type of appointment notification.
By default, shows the Location Information and Patient Actions.
The same default text is used for eBooking. For more information, go to Customizing appointment notifications patients see when they book appointments through the appointment booking site |
Appointment Reminder and Appointment Post Reminder | By default, each appointment type has a 1 Day Prior appointment reminder set. You can schedule additional ones as needed, pre and post visit. Each scheduled reminder uses the Appointment Reminder notification template or the Appointment Post Reminder notification template.
In addition, you can create a unique Reminder Message for each scheduled reminder. This is configured in the Appointment Type and not the appointment notification. The Reminder Message is included in the Appointment Reminder template using the Reminder Message variable.
💡 Tip: You can also disable the default appointment notification for desired appointment types. This prevents sending multiple confirmations to a patient for multiple appointments they have for the same day.
For more information, go to Customizing appointment reminders for an appointment type. |
Sending Qnaire Notifications | The default message that is sent when you schedule or send a Qnaire manually. A link to Start Qnaire and a Qnaire List is included by default. You can customize each template as needed. |
Referral Notification | The default message that is sent to patients when they are referred to your clinic, informing them about their referral status. You can customize each template as needed.
For more information, go to Customizing patient referral notifications. |
Portal Notifications | The notification the patient receives telling them they have a new portal message.
For more information, go to Sending messages to patients through the patient portal
The One Time Passcode and Read Message Button variables are included by default and allow the patient to access your message.
⚠️ Important: Customize the default message as needed, but do not remove these variables. |
Pathway Notification | The Virtual Visit Notification is always sent five minutes before the Virtual Visit appointment and includes Virtual Visit Instructions and Virtual Visit Actions variables by default.
You can customize the notification template with extra details for the visit.
⚠️ Important: Do not remove the Virtual Visit Actions or the patient won’t be able to access their appointment. |
The notification templates are configured for both email and SMS separately. When the communication is sent, it goes to the patient's preferred notification method.
💡 Tip: When configuring the notification templates, you can copy and paste text from one notification to another, or from a document outside of the CHR. However, you cannot copy and paste the variables; if you do, the links will break and the variable does not pull information.
Steps
1. From the main menu, click Settings > Notifications. By default, notifications for Patients are displayed.
💡 Tip: For information about configuring provider notifications, see Auto-notifying providers of schedule changes.
2. To set up a specific notification, in the General tab, click Default for either Email or SMS.
Based on your selection, the Customize Email Notification or Customize SMS Notification window displays. The default text depends on the notification type you selected (Appointment Confirmation, Appointment Cancelation etc.).
3. For emails, in the Email Title field, type the title for your email.
4. Click into the main field to customize the text for your notification.
💡 Tips:
To delete a variable, click after the variable and press backspace on Windows or delete on Mac. You can also press ctrl on Windows or cmd on Mac and click the variable.
For email, use the formatting bar at the top as needed (links, bold, bullet points, etc.).
For SMS, you can add a link by typing the URL and pressing enter.
5. To add variables, click Add Variable and select the desired variable from the list. For more information on the available variables and their actions, go to Variables for notification templates.
💡 Tips:
|
4. Click Save. The message is saved and Customized is displayed next to the notification you just configured.
Updated January 30, 2023