Automated reminders for recurring treatments or checkups

Purpose

1. Ensure patients receive timely reminders for their recurring treatments or checkups, reducing missed appointments, improving adherence to care plans, and enhancing overall patient satisfaction and retention in alternative medicine practices.

2. Automate scheduling communications based on each patient’s unique treatment frequency, supporting various modalities and customizing messages for different service types (e.g., acupuncture, massage, holistic therapy).

3. Centralize the process for delivering reminders via SMS, email, phone calls, or app push notifications by integrating with practice management or EHR systems.

Trigger Conditions

1. Upcoming appointment detected in practice calendar/EHR with recurrence frequency set (e.g., every 2 weeks, monthly).

2. Patient completes initial consultation or prior treatment session, prompting schedule of next reminder.

3. Predefined dates calculated from patient start or diagnosis date (e.g., annual wellness check triggers reminder based on anniversary).

4. Patient opt-in confirmed and preferred notification channel identified in CRM or consent form.

Platform Variants

1. Twilio SMS

• Feature/Setting: API v2010 SendMessage—Configure with dynamic patient number/regex for scheduling based on appointment date; Sample: POST to /Messages with template body.
  

2. SendGrid

• Feature/Setting: Mail Send API—Configure dynamic scheduling via dynamic_template_data for patient, send_time property for timing logic.
  

3. Microsoft Outlook Calendar

• Feature/Setting: Create Event API—Automated event invites with reminders enabled, recurrence rule set, and invitee emails dynamically populated.
  

4. Google Calendar

• Feature/Setting: Events.insert—Configure with recurrence (“RRULE”) and notification.settings objects for automatic reminder emails/push.
  

5. HubSpot CRM

• Feature/Setting: Workflow automation—Trigger “Send Email”/“Task” from contact’s next appointment property, webhook for advanced SMS integration.
  

6. Salesforce Health Cloud

• Feature/Setting: Process Builder/Flow—Trigger Reminder Task using Next Appointment custom field; Message via Salesforce Messaging API.
  

7. Zapier

• Feature/Setting: Schedule trigger—Configure with interval logic, delay step, send to SMS/email app via webhooks.
  

8. ActiveCampaign

• Feature/Setting: Automation builder—“Date-based trigger” emails/SMS, content personalized from custom fields.
  

9. Mailchimp

• Feature/Setting: Automated Email—Recurring email series from audience “Next Visit” date field, with conditional branching.
  

10. WhatsApp Business API

• Feature/Setting: Send Message endpoint—Trigger reminders via templated message, schedule using appointment time as variable; register phone numbers from CRM.
  

11. Slack

• Feature/Setting: Scheduled messages API—Send reminders in private channel or direct message; triggers from webhook on event time.
  

12. Freshdesk

• Feature/Setting: Automation Rules—Trigger “Send Email/SMS” or “Create Ticket” for patient follow-up, next appointment date as rule condition.
  

13. Google Sheets

• Feature/Setting: Time-driven triggers (Apps Script)—Read rows, email/SMS reminders based on next appointment column.
  

14. Calendly

• Feature/Setting: Webhook/API—Detect booked recurring appointments, send event data to downstream email/SMS app.
  

15. Outlook 365 Flow (Power Automate)

• Feature/Setting: Scheduled flow—Recurring trigger with email or Teams message as reminder.
  

16. Pipedrive CRM

• Feature/Setting: Workflow Automation—Triggers based on custom date field, email/SMS integration via webhooks.
  

17. RingCentral

• Feature/Setting: SMS API—Send automated text reminders from virtual numbers, schedule via app calendar sync.
  

18. Telegram Bot API

• Feature/Setting: sendMessage—Automated chat reminders, trigger messages from backend scheduler.
  

19. ClinicSense

• Feature/Setting: Appointment reminder automation—Configure interval/frequency, channel (SMS/email), and templates for each patient.
  

20. Viber Business Messages

• Feature/Setting: Viber API Send Message—Trigger using appointment metadata, dynamic patient name/date fields.
  

Benefits

1. Minimizes patient no-shows by ensuring timely notifications.

2. Frees staff from manual reminder tasks, improving productivity.

3. Increases engagement with tailored communication channels and personalization.

4. Strengthens patient-provider relationship through consistent, proactive touches.

5. Enables granular tracking of reminder effectiveness and patient responsiveness.