How to Set Appointment Reminders in zHealth

Patients are often busy and sometimes important things can fall off the radar—like remembering an upcoming appointment. That’s why zHealth lets you send your patients automatic email and text message (SMS) reminders before each appointment. You can offer multiple reminder options, such as:

1. First Appointment Reminders - The first email and text reminders are sent 1-day or 2-day* before the appointment.
2. Second Appointment Reminders - A second text reminder is sent 30, 60, 90, and 120 minutes before the appointment.

*Note: Appointment reminders are sent between the hours of 9am and 12pm PT.  If you want to change the First Reminder from 1-day to 2-day, please do so before or after these hours and note that the reminders for the next day will be affected since a day will be skipped. We recommend changing prior to being closed on a weekend or holiday when there are no patients on the schedule.

Note: if a clinic prefers not to send missed appointment reminders to patients, we can disable this option for you. To disable missed appointment reminders for your clinic, contact us at support@zhealthehr.com

If you configure your facility's landline number, zHealth will use it as the sender number for 2-way texting and appointment reminders. You can decide and configure whatever options you’d like to offer in the Facility Settings, under the Facility Details tab.

1. How to Set Appointment Reminders in zHealth - Video Tutorial

2.  How to Set Appointment Reminders in zHealth - Step-by-Step Instructions

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1. Access your zHealth dashboard. Hover the cursor over your name on the top right corner. Click on the third option - Update Info.

2. On the Update Info > Facility tab, click on Facility Details. Scroll down to the field - First appointment reminder. You can set the first reminder (both text and email) either 1-day or 2-day before the scheduled appointment. All patients who have opted for email and text communication will receive reminders 24-hour or 48-hour before their appointment time. You can even select "No" to stop sending first appointment reminders to patients.

3. On the Facility Details tab, scroll down to the field - Second appointment text reminder. You can set the second reminder: 30 minutes before 60 minutes before 90 minutes before 1200 minutes before You can even select "No" to stop sending second text reminders to patients.

4. Once finished, scroll down to the bottom and click "Update" to save the changes.

Tips for Reminder Types

It’s nice to offer your patients a few options. We recommend sending text and email reminders before scheduled appointments. That way, patients have a chance to cancel without paying a cancellation fee or reschedule appointments. The first and second reminders could be enabled by default. During patient intake, allow patients to opt into email and SMS reminders. If unchecked by the patient, only staff or provider can opt a patient in or out but do ask the patient before making changes. If you need any help with appointment reminders, please contact our customer support at support@zhealthehr.com. 

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