Note: You must be an Ocean administrative user to access Patient Reminders settings.
- From the Patient Reminders Dashboard, click Settings in the top right corner.
-
- On the Patient Reminders Settings page, click Add Reminder Rule or Edit on a reminder rule and you will be taken to the Edit Reminder Rule Page.
-
1. Rule Name
- Rule Name
- Name your reminder rule. The rule name is never visible to patients. It's recommended that you provide a recognizable or descriptive name for your rule.
2. Reminder Options
- When should the reminder be sent?
-
Set the schedule for your reminder rule. Enter the number of days to send the reminder before/after the appointment.
Note: To send a reminder for appointments taking place on the same day, set this value to 0 days before the appointment. Please note that Ocean cannot collect appointment confirmations for reminders configured for same day appointments. - How should the reminder be sent?
-
Set how the reminder should be sent (Email or Email & Text Message).
Note: To include an iCal calendar event file with the emailed reminder, please ensure that the box underneath is checked.
- Appointment Confirmation
- If enabled, patients can confirm their upcoming appointments through the secure message area of their reminders. For more info see: Enabling Appointment Confirmation from Patient Reminders
- Messaging Template
-
Select the template that will be used to email the patient. The template has full support for Ocean Keywords.
The [weblink] or [weblink_french] keyword represents the hyperlink that the patient can click to confirm their appointment (if appointment confirmation is enabled), view any secure messages and/or complete any eForms attached to the template.
3. Message Preview
Once you have configured your Reminder Options, a Message Preview will appear in the right half of your screen.
- Text Message Preview
- A preview of the text message the patient will receive. Please note that the text message is not editable. The text message generated for the patient will depend on your reminder rule settings and whether the patient has an email on file. To change the preview, use the drop down menu next to "If the patient has:"
- Messaging Template Preview
-
A preview of the email template selected in Reminder Options. Please note that you cannot edit your messaging templates here. To edit your messaging templates, please refer to Patient Messaging Templates.
Note: If you have set notifications on the email template (e.g. 'Notify me when viewed'), these email notifications will go to your site's Clinical Administrator / Ocean Support Contact (set in the Admin view, Site Account tab).
4. Rule Conditions
- Select the condition which you would like your reminder rule to be based on. For more information about appointment types and reasons in your EMR, please refer to: Managing Appointment Type / Reason for Visit for Reminders.
-
- Appointment Type:
- Available for PS Suite, Med Access, Accuro and OSCAR PRO EMRs. Setting this condition will trigger reminders for appointments booked containing an Appointment Type in your EMR.
- Reason:
-
Available for Accuro and OSCAR PRO EMRs only. Setting this condition will trigger reminders for appointments booked containing a Reason in your EMR.
For OSCAR PRO users: Ocean will map to the Reason dropdown menu by default. To trigger a reminder based on the free-text field for Reason, use the following JavaScript expression:ScriptUtil.getKeyword('@ptReasonForVisit').includes('test') - Provider:
-
Available for PS Suite, Med Access, Accuro and OSCAR PRO EMRs. Setting this condition will trigger reminders for appointments booked in this schedule in your EMR. To view the list of schedules available for Patient Reminders, navigate to your Admin view, Providers page.
Note: Patient reminders will only be sent for schedules with a Provider License for Patient Messaging and Reminders enabled.
- JavaScript:
-
By selecting this rule type, you can customize your reminder audience with more precision (e.g. by age or gender).
For more information and further examples, refer to the article "Reminder Rules - Using Javascript Conditions".
- Each condition uses an operator (except JavaScript). This allows you to specify exactly which condition(s) must be met to trigger your reminder rule.
-
- Is:
- Reminder will match on one selected value from your EMR. A dropdown menu will appear with values from your EMR.
- Is not:
-
Reminder will exclude one selected value from your EMR. A dropdown menu will appear with values from your EMR.
- Is one of:
- Reminder will match on multiple selected values from your EMR. A menu will appear allowing you to select multiple values from your EMR.
- Is not one of:
- Reminder will exclude multiple selected values from your EMR. A menu will appear allowing you to select multiple values from your EMR.
- Contains:
- Reminder will match EMR value(s) containing a certain text string. A text field will appear allowing you to enter a string of text.
- Does not contain:
-
Reminder will exclude EMR value(s) containing a certain text string. A text field will appear allowing you to enter a string of text.
'Contains' and 'Does not contain' operators: These conditions are useful if you are using a naming convention for your appointment types, reasons or schedule names (e.g. "VV" for virtual visits, or "IP" for in-person). Ocean will find all appointments that contain this string in the title and trigger the reminder rule accordingly.
5. Save, Cancel and Delete
- Save
- Save your changes.
- Save & Test Rule
- Save your changes and test your reminder rule. This will bring you to the test rule page.
- Save & Enable
- Save your changes and enable the reminder rule. This option appears on newly created rules or disabled rules.
- Cancel
- Cancel any changes made to your reminder rule.
- Save & Disable
- Save your changes and disable the reminder rule. This option appears only for live Reminder Rules.
- Delete Rule
- Delete your reminder rule. This option appears only for saved Reminder Rules.