Recall reminders compared with appointment reminders
The difference between a recall reminder for a visit not yet booked and a reminder for a booked visit, and why mixing them up causes trouble.
A patient who already booked gets a message asking them to book. Or a patient who never booked gets a note about a visit that doesn't exist. Either way, someone has mixed up the two kinds of reminder.
The short version
A recall reminder goes to a patient who is due but has no visit booked. Its job: a booking. An appointment reminder goes to a patient who already has a booked visit. Its job is to get them to turn up, or to say early that they can't. Simple.
Open Dental treats them as separate tools. The Recall List is for sending and tracking recall appointment reminders.1 Reminders for booked visits live in a different part of its automated messaging.2
Side by side
| Recall reminder | Appointment reminder | |
|---|---|---|
| Who gets it | A patient due for a visit, not booked | A patient with a booked visit |
| What it asks | Please book | Please attend, or confirm |
| When it goes | Once the patient is due and shows on the recall list1 | A short time before the visit2 |
| What stops it | In Open Dental, a patient with a scheduled recall appointment may not show on the list, depending on the "Exclude from list if recall scheduled" setting13 | The visit happening |
How the maker describes the second kind
Open Dental's eReminders are automated text or email messages about upcoming appointments, meant to go out a short time before the visit.2 It also has eConfirmations. These are automated texts about upcoming appointments that let the patient confirm.4 The office can send a code to reply with, such as C, or a link to click.4
Troubleshooting a mix-up
A booked patient is still getting recall messages. The software has to know the booking is a recall visit. Open Dental says a patient already having a recall appointment scheduled is a reason they don't appear on the list.1 It also notes that the scheduled date only counts if the appointment contains a recall trigger procedure.5 A visit booked as something else may not count.
A patient keeps coming back after a visit. The visit may not have been marked complete. Open Dental resets a recall's dates, status and notes each time a recall appointment is set complete.5 Until then, the old state hangs on. Fix that first.
A patient with a booked visit got a "please book" text. Check the order of events. A reminder may have gone out before the booking.
A patient never got a visit reminder. That's a setup question for the second tool, not the recall list. Look at your maker's help pages for the reminder rules and the timing it uses.
Why it matters at the desk
A recall message says a visit is wanted. A visit reminder says one is already waiting. Keep the wording of each clear about which it is.
Wording tips for the first kind are in the message template page. Handling the list itself is in the overdue list page.
Options differ. This page quotes one maker. Follow your own manual.
Sources used
- Recall List, Open Dental Software
- eReminders, Open Dental Software
- Setup Recall, Open Dental Software
- eConfirmations, Open Dental Software
- Recall, Open Dental Software
More recall pages
What dental recall software doesA plain look at how a recall system differs from a normal appointment book, using two makers' own manuals.
How recall intervals and due dates are set in the softwareWhy a patient shows as due too early or too late, and how recall software works out the date and who can change the interval.
Text, email, phone and mail: how recall reminders get sentWhat ways recall software can contact a patient, and what one maker's manual says about each, so you can fix a list nobody answers.