Mobile reminders are a blessing. Whether it’s a text alert about that looming dentist appointment or a calendar item popping up just in the nick of time, they’ve saved us all a time or two from missing something pretty darn important. As part of our strategic initiatives, we are implementing a communications system that will do the same sort of thing to help our clients manage their health care.

Starting Monday, October 2, we’ll be working with Televox to send our clients automated phone and text reminders about their upcoming appointments. All clients with new or established appointments will receive an automated phone call two days prior to their appointment and a text reminder the night before their appointment with the date, time and location of their visit. Clients will be able to cancel or confirm their appointments directly through Televox. They’ll also be given the opportunity to dial through to the scheduling team or, if it’s through text, given our phone number to reschedule an appointment.

Televox will automatically send reminders to clients who are scheduled with new or established appointment types—but not for group, offsite, same-day and walk-in appointments.

We first measured the importance of mobile reminders a few months ago when Crystal Lee and our PI team helped spearhead a test run and conducted phone reminders to a select group of clients. Before the phone reminders, the clients were at a 42.5% missed appointment rate. After the phone intervention, that number dropped to 34.67%. Our most significant finding was that when Crystal was able to reach someone on the other line, the missed appointment rate fell to just 6.67%.

Of course, our technology is only as good as the data we put into it, so now we’re focusing our efforts on collecting accurate phone numbers. Whether you’re the first point of contact for our clients when they check in or in the thick of medical evaluations, please keep contact information on your radar.

In 2018, we will explore ways to expand our use of Televox communications to include health-related campaigns and reminders to schedule future, follow-up or routine appointments.

If you have any questions, email Aisha Darby.