Automated appointment reminders via SMS/email

**1. Purpose**

1. Automate sending timely appointment reminders to patients at a physical rehabilitation center via SMS/email to reduce no-shows, optimize scheduling, increase operational efficiency, maintain therapist calendars, and automatically facilitate patient engagement throughout their rehabilitation journey.

**2. Trigger Conditions**

1. Appointment booked, rescheduled, or upcoming within pre-set intervals (e.g., 24 hours or 48 hours).

2. Auto-trigger when appointment status changes in EMR/EHR or practice management systems.

3. Automated fallback if a prior reminder bounces or is undelivered.

4. Automate based on custom patient tags or rehabilitation status updates.

**3. Platform Variants**

1. Twilio SMS

• Feature/Setting: Automate SMS via Twilio Programmable Messaging API; configure with messaging service, patient phone field, and scheduling logic.
  

2. SendGrid

• Feature/Setting: Automate email notifications using SendGrid’s Email API; set up dynamic templates and scheduling triggers.
  

3. Plivo

• Feature/Setting: Automator for SMS reminders using Plivo SMS API, setting sender ID and recipient mapping.
  

4. Nexmo (Vonage Messaging)

• Feature/Setting: Automate SMS via Vonage Messages API; configure API KEY/SECRET, sender, and scheduled workflow.
  

5. Mailgun

• Feature/Setting: Automate reminder emails with Mailgun’s send/message API endpoint.
  

6. ClickSend

• Feature/Setting: Automate SMS and email via ClickSend APIs, use campaign scheduler for reminders.
  

7. WhatsApp Cloud API

• Feature/Setting: Automate WhatsApp reminders by configuring Cloud API, using templates and appointment times.
  

8. SMTP (Generic Email)

• Feature/Setting: Automate outbound reminders using SMTP relay, define send time and patient email address.
  

9. Outlook 365

• Feature/Setting: Automate email reminder creation through Microsoft Graph API / SendMail endpoint.
  

10. Gmail API

• Feature/Setting: Automate sending reminder emails using users.messages.send, with automatic personalization.
  

11. Slack

• Feature/Setting: Automate Slack direct messages to internal staff about upcoming appointments using chat.postMessage.
  

12. Facebook Messenger API

• Feature/Setting: Automate patient reminders via Messenger with send API, scheduled using webhook triggers.
  

13. SMSAPI

• Feature/Setting: Automate text message appointment reminders using SMSAPI /sms.do endpoint.
  

14. ActiveCampaign

• Feature/Setting: Automate email, SMS, and in-app reminders with automation workflows and campaign triggers.
  

15. Salesforce Marketing Cloud

• Feature/Setting: Automate multichannel reminder journeys with Journey Builder and SMS Activity.
  

16. Amazon SES

• Feature/Setting: Automate high-volume reminder emails with SES SendEmail API.
  

17. MessageBird

• Feature/Setting: Automate SMS or cross-channel reminder flows via Conversations API.
  

18. Infobip

• Feature/Setting: Automate appointment notifications via Infobip’s SMS and Omnichannel API.
  

19. Zoho Mail

• Feature/Setting: Automate outbound email reminders using Zoho Mail sendMail API with template scheduling.
  

20. HubSpot

• Feature/Setting: Automate SMS and email reminders via HubSpot Workflows linked with booking events.
  

**4. Benefits**

1. Automates reduction in missed appointments, improving therapy adherence and resource utilization.

2. Automatedly ensures compliance with reminder best practices and regulatory communication standards.

3. Automates patient communication while freeing staff from manual outreach.

4. Enables automatable, scalable communication tailored to patient preferences.

5. Automator provides clear audit trail of all automated reminder attempts, improving transparency.