Text, email, phone and mail: how recall reminders get sent

Reminders went out and nobody booked. Before you rewrite the message, check how it travelled. A text needs a mobile number, and an email needs a working address.

Recall software can usually reach a patient four ways: text, email, phone and mailed card. This page uses Open Dental's manual as the worked example, because it spells each one out. Other makers differ, so read your own help pages.

Where the channel comes from

Each patient has a preferred way to be contacted. Open Dental's recall list shows it in a Contact column, using short codes such as Mail, Hm for home phone, Cell, Text and Email.¹ The Contact column shows the patient's preferred recall method, with Home Phone as the default if none is set.¹ An office can override it with the "Use email if" setting in Setup Recall.¹ So check the patient's record if a reminder goes the wrong way.

Text messages

Texts need a mobile number. Open Dental's automated texts go to patients who have a wireless number and are not marked Text OK = No.² For the rules on consent to texts, ask the regulator where you are.

Length matters too. In Open Dental a text segment is 160 characters, and each extra segment adds a charge.³ A long, chatty message can cost more than a short one.

Email

Email goes to any patient with an address on file, if the office has chosen that setting.² The booking link is part of Web Sched Recall reminders, so it is there only if the office uses that service and keeps the link in the message.¹

One caution from the same manual: regular email and text messaging are not secure methods of sending PHI.¹ PHI means protected health information, the private details about a patient's care. Keep messages free of anything clinical, and ask your privacy officer or the US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) what applies to you. Rules differ by country.

Phone

Some patients prefer a call. For those, the manual says to contact the patient using the phone number listed.¹ Then staff record the outcome so the person doesn't sit unchanged on the list. Working through an overdue recall list shows how.

Mailed cards

Postcards still have a place, especially for patients with no email or mobile number. Open Dental limits postcard messages to 465 characters and omits anything over the limit from the printed card.³ If your card reads oddly cut off, that's the likely reason.

A quick way to compare

If nothing works

Ask whether the contact details are right, then whether the channel suits the patient, then whether the words are clear. Wording comes last for a reason. The template page covers it.