Dental appointment reminder software sends the reminder at a lead time the practice sets, under the practice's own name, and records what comes back. The second half is the one to check before buying: a product that sends and does not reconcile leaves the receptionist reading replies in an inbox and phoning everyone anyway. The Cochrane 2013 review measured attendance rising from approximately 67.8% to 78.6% with mobile phone messaging reminders across 7 studies and 5,841 participants, so the sending is worth doing; the record is what makes the next month's sending smarter. This page covers what to require, and what the category charges, with Acuity Scheduling's published tiers as the benchmark.
Require the reply to be recorded against the appointment
A confirmation should file itself against the appointment, a cancellation should open the slot for the recall list, and silence should be the short list the receptionist phones. Dantas et al. 2018 found prior no-show history is a main determinant of the next no-show, so the no-show must be recorded against the patient too, so their next reminder goes earlier. Ask the vendor to show the confirmation log, not the sending log.
Require the lead time and the touches to be yours
Vendor defaults are set for the average customer, and a dental practice with a mature hygiene recall is not the average. The software should let the practice set how many reminders go out and how far ahead the first one goes, and the free reminder template on this site prints the messages a week and the hours by hand for whatever schedule the practice chooses, so the load is known before the subscription starts.
What the category charges
Acuity Scheduling publishes a Starter plan at $20 per month billed monthly for 1 calendar, Standard at $34 per month for up to 6 calendars and Premium at $61 per month for up to 36 calendars, so a practice's price climbs with providers. Recallvia Pro is $20 per month for the whole practice, whoever is on the desk, and the free tools and templates stay free whether or not anyone subscribes.
Questions people ask about dental appointment reminder software
Does reminder software need to text?
The evidence the Cochrane review measured was text messaging; email carries the longer wording. Recallvia Pro sends email reminders under the practice name and deliberately does not send text; a practice that needs text sending should say so on the enquiry form and get a straight answer.
Is $20 a month worth it for reminders?
Against Kheirkhah et al. 2016's measured $196 per no-show, one filled chair a month covers it many times over; the free template on this site prints your own figure from your own visit value and no-show rate.
What does the software need from our practice management suite?
The diary: who is booked and when, and the last visit date for the recall list. Nothing clinical has to leave the chart for the reminders to run.
Sources
- Gurol-Urganci et al., Mobile phone messaging reminders for attendance at healthcare appointments, Cochrane 2013
- Dantas et al., No-shows in appointment scheduling, a systematic literature review, Health Policy 2018
- Acuity Scheduling, pricing
- Kheirkhah et al., Prevalence, predictors and economic consequences of no-shows, BMC Health Services Research 2016