Reducing No-Show Rates With Text Message Appointment Reminders

Have you signed up for text message appointment reminders? After an initial rollout to a select number of sites in August, this convenient service is now available for patients at all of our practice sites.

Here’s how it works:

• A text message is sent five days prior to an appointment.  
• If the patient has also opted into reminder phone calls and there is no response to the initial text, then a phone call is sent two days prior to an appointment.  
• If the appointment is confirmed via text, then no phone call will be sent out. 
• A final text message is sent the day before the scheduled appointment.  

By reaching out to our patients the way they prefer to be reached—via text message—we hope to reduce the no-show rate for appointments.

Sign-up is easy if you already have a MyChart account. Simply log in and select your communication preferences under the appointments section in your profile.

Sites that are not currently enrolled in the text messaging software can sign up by emailing patient_prompt_enrollment@CarilionClinic.org. Learn how to help patients sign up for text messaging by watching the video above. 

Let your patients, family and friends know we have this, and be sure to sign up yourself!

Contact your manager for more information, or Tom Miller, Ambulatory Services, at tmmiller2@carilionclinic.org.