When patients are sent Patient Reminder emails, staff can also use this opportunity to have patients confirm their upcoming appointments, which can then be synced back to the EMR.
How to enable appointment confirmations for Patient Reminders
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- Log into the Ocean portal. Click the "Menu" button in the top left corner and select "Patient Reminders".
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- Click "Settings" in the top right corner. Create a new Reminder Rule by clicking Add Reminder Rule or Edit an existing one.
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- In the Edit Reminder Rule page, under the "Appointment Confirmation" heading, use the drop down to select enabled. Remember to Save your changes.
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It's recommended to include @apptDate, @apptTime and @providerName keywords. You can still send a template lacking these values, but for patient clarity and continuity, it is recommended your reminder template includes this information.
How patients confirm their appointments via Patient Reminders
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Reminders via Email
- Once appointment confirmation has been enabled, Ocean will include the following line at the bottom of the email message patients receive:
Please click on the link below to confirm your appointment:
Confirm Appointment
- After verifying their date of birth, the patient will be presented with a screen confirming their most recent upcoming appointment date, time, and provider.
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- If the reminder email also contains a secure message and/or Ocean eForms to complete, the patient can proceed by clicking "Next" to access those additional materials.
- Behind the scenes, Ocean syncs the confirmation back to the EMR and updates the patient's appointment status in the schedule.
- Once appointment confirmation has been enabled, Ocean will include the following line at the bottom of the email message patients receive:
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Reminders via Text Messages
- If a reminder has a secure message and/or attachment and/or eForm and/or appointment confirmation and the patient has an email on file, the text message will instruct the patient to check their email.
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- If a reminder has an appointment confirmation enabled and the patient doesn't have an email on file, the patient will receive a link in the text message to confirm their appointment. After clicking the link, the patient will be presented with a screen confirming their most recent upcoming appointment date, time, and provider.
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How appointment confirmations appear in the EMR
- When a patient confirms their appointment, the status for their appointment will changed to "Confirmed" in PS Suite. This is commonly denoted by a green circle icon (by default).
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- When a patient confirms their appointment, the status for their appointment will changed to "Confirmed" in Med Access.
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Accuro has the ability to create a custom status to indicate when an appointment reminder was sent to the patient by Ocean. For information on how to set up your custom status in Accuro, please refer to: Set Your Custom Status.
- If a custom status is set, Ocean will change the appointment status when the Ocean reminder is sent.
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- When a patient confirms their appointment, the status for their appointment will changed to "Confirmed" in Accuro.
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Optional customization options exist for OSCAR Pro users. Individuals can set the appointment status to a specific code to indicate when an appointment reminder was sent to the patient by Ocean and also when a patient has confirmed their appointment through an Ocean reminder. For information on how to configure this appointment status, please refer to: Set your Appointment Status Setting.
- In this example, when the Ocean reminder is sent, Ocean changes the appointment status in OSCAR PRO to code e.
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- In this example, when a patient confirms their appointment, the status for their appointment has been changed to code h, "Confirmed" in OSCAR PRO.
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Patient Reminders are only available for integrated EMRs.