Setting up patient texting in an afternoon

Have these ready

Most of the afternoon goes smoothly if these are on your desk first:

• The office number you want to text from, and the name of whoever manages your phone service.
• The front desk staff who need a seat, with their work email addresses.
• An export of upcoming appointments from your scheduling software, with first names, mobile numbers, and times.
• A decision on reminder timing. If you have not made one, two days before and two hours before is a sensible start.

The trial runs 14 days with 100 texts and no card, so you can do all of this before you choose a plan.

Step 1: connect the office number

SMSWell texts from the number patients already call, so nobody has to learn a new one. You confirm that the practice is allowed to use the number, which is where the person who manages your phone service comes in.

Phone carriers review numbers used for business texting. Sometimes that is quick and sometimes it takes longer, and it is out of anyone’s hands at the practice. Your side of the setup still fits in an afternoon, and you can finish the other steps while the review runs.

Step 2: invite the front desk

Each person gets their own seat and login. Shared logins hide who sent what, and the point of a shared inbox is that everyone sees the same threads with names on them. Front Office includes 3 seats, Practice 10, and Group as many as you need.

Agree on the house rules while everyone is listening: texts go from the office number only, templates for routine messages, and no clinical detail in any text.

Step 3: upload the appointment list

Scheduled reminders run from your appointment list, on the Practice and Group plans. Export upcoming appointments from your scheduling software and upload the file, or set up a sync. Reminders need a first name, a mobile number, a day, and a time. They do not need the reason for the visit, so leave it out of the export if you can.

Look over a few rows after the upload. Landlines and old numbers are the usual problem: a landline on file means the reminder cannot reach that patient. And only text patients who have agreed to it. The guide on proving consent covers what to record.

Step 4: set reminder timing

Choose how many reminders go out and when. Start with two, two days before and two hours before, sent during office hours. Then read the template once out loud. It should carry the first name, the day and time, and the office name, and end with the reply letters.

Each scheduled reminder shows its send time and delivery status in the inbox, so you can see tomorrow’s reminders before they go.

Common snags

A few things trip up most first uploads. None takes long to fix.

• One mobile number on several patient records, usually a parent with children. Check that each child’s reminder carries the right first name and reads well to the parent.
• Times without AM or PM, or in a format the upload does not expect. Check three or four appointments against your schedule.
• Canceled appointments still in the export. Filter them out before you upload, so nobody is reminded of a visit that is not happening.
• A provider’s name in a column you did not mean to send. Remove any column a reminder does not need.

The first week

• Day one: watch the first batch go out. Check delivery status, and answer every R the same morning.
• Day two: ask the front desk what felt awkward, and fix the templates now rather than in a month.
• Midweek: look for patients still texting a personal phone, and send them the office number.
• End of the week: count confirmations, reschedules, and reminders with no reply, and keep the counts as your baseline.

When the trial ends, pick the plan that matches what you used. Scheduled reminders and a signed BAA start on Practice, at $169 a month per location. Texts past the allowance are 2.5 cents each, and there is no contract.