Keep your schedule full and eliminate manual confirmation calls with the new Appointment Reminders feature in BestNotes Fresh. Your clinic can register a dedicated local 10-digit phone number to automatically text patients ahead of their scheduled appointments. Patients can confirm with a single letter, and your calendar updates itself instantly. 

Initial Setup & Campaign Registration (Administrators Only)

Carriers require all businesses to register their text messaging traffic (A2P 10DLC compliance) to ensure delivery. BestNotes Fresh includes a built-in, self-service registration workflow to handle this automatically.

Submit Your Registration 

  1. Navigate to Settings > Appointment reminders.

  2. Click Configure messaging account. A setup dialog will appear with a 3-step tracker: Business profile, Address info, and Company info.

  3. Click Get started under 10DLC registration.

  4. Fill out your business profile, main office address, and designate an authorized representative.

  5. Compliance Step: Enter URLs for your website's Privacy Policy and Terms of Service. (BestNotes provides template links you can adapt if needed).

  6. Review and acknowledge the one-time $92 setup fee (covers carrier registration and campaign vetting).

  7. Click Submit.

What happens next? Your dashboard will show a 4-stage tracking timeline (BestNotes Review → TrustHub Review → Campaign Review → Number Procurement). BestNotes Support will audit your details to prevent carrier rejection. You will receive an email once approval is complete.

Choosing Your Number & Enabling Reminders 

Once carriers approve your campaign registration, you can claim your dedicated phone line and activate your automation. 

Select a Local Number & Configure Settings

  1. Return to Settings > Appointment reminders.

  2. Click the configuration dialog, which will now display: "Pick your appointment-reminder number."

  3. Search by Area Code, ZIP, or State, select your preferred local 10-digit number, and confirm the purchase.

  4. Flip the Enable appointment reminders toggle to ON.

  5. Customize your settings:

    • Reminder Windows: Choose when messages send (e.g., 1 week before, 3 days before, 1 day before—sent at 4:00 PM CT—or Day-of, sent 2 hours prior).

    • Filters: Select whether reminders apply to all calendar events or only specific appointment types.

    • Provider Display: Configure how provider names appear in the texts.

    • Acknowledgement: Choose whether to send a text confirmation back to the patient after they successfully reply.

  6. Click Save.

Capturing Patient SMS Consent 

To comply with federal regulations, reminders will only send to patients who have an "Opted in" status recorded on their profile. 

    Option 1. Verbal Consent: Staff members with the Edit Contacts permission can log consent seamlessly during check-in or scheduling:

  1. Open the patient’s Demographics page.

  2. Next to the mobile phone field, locate the grey status chip marked "Not asked".

  3. Read the embedded disclosure script verbatim to the patient:

    "[Clinic name] may send you text messages including appointment reminders and clinical communications from your care team. Message frequency varies. Message and data rates may apply. Reply STOP at any time to opt out. Reply HELP for options. Do you consent?"

  4. Select the interaction method: In person or Phone call.

  5. Check the attestation box: "I read the script verbatim".

  6. Click Consented (or Declined if they say no).

The form will collapse into a green "Opted in" chip. This status chip will now appear as read-only next to the patient's name whenever an appointment is opened on the calendar.

    Option 2. Patient Portal: You can embed the SMS Consent Widget into any online patient intake packet or portal form: 

  • Patients see a simple checkbox: "I consent to receive SMS notifications from this practice to the following number:" alongside their pre-filled mobile number.

  • Upon submitting the form, their file automatically updates to "Opted in", completely bypassing front-desk manual data entry.

The Patient Experience: Confirming & Opting Out 

The entire reminder flow is optimized for maximum patient response with zero effort from your staff.

  • How Patients Confirm: The automated reminder concludes with "Reply C to confirm." The patient can reply C, CONFIRM, Y, or YES (any capitalization). BestNotes Fresh instantly updates that calendar appointment status to "Confirmed via Text" and skips them on your manual morning call sheets.

  • How Patients Opt-Out: Patients can reply STOP at any time. The system blocks all future automated texts immediately.

Important Carrier Rule: If a patient texts STOP, a carrier-level block is placed on your number. BestNotes staff and clinic personnel cannot override this block manually. To resume reminders, the patient must personally text START to your dedicated number. 

Auditing Usage and Costs 

To track your return on investment and reconcile billing at month-end, use the Appointment Reminders Report. 

  1. Navigate to the Calendar view.

  2. Open the More menu in the upper-right corner (adjacent to the calendar view icons).

  3. Select Appointment Reminders Report.

  4. Set your date range and filter by message types if desired:

    • Appt Reminder (Outgoing alerts)

    • Confirmation (Incoming patient replies)

    • Response (System confirmations or opt-out notices)

The report will summarize your Total Messages and Total Cost, along with a line-by-line log displaying timestamps, patient names, and message text.

Disabling Reminders & Releasing Numbers 

If you ever need to stop the service (due to location consolidation, transitions, etc.), you can cleanly step down your operations.

  1. Turn Reminders Off: Go to Settings > Appointment reminders and toggle the feature to OFF.

    • Note: While messaging stops instantly, your monthly number line fee and carrier campaign fees will remain active until you complete the next step.

  2. De-register the Number: Click De-register number. Acknowledge the warning that your number will be permanently released back to the carrier pool and cannot be guaranteed back if you return.

  3. Account Cancellations: If you ever plan to cancel your entire BestNotes Fresh account, the system will prevent closure until your appointment reminder line has been successfully toggled off and de-registered.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) 

What are the costs for this feature? 

  • Setup: $92 one-time carrier verification fee.
  • Line Rental: $9/month per dedicated phone number.
  • Usage: $0.05 per message (applies to outgoing reminders, incoming replies, and outgoing confirmation receipts).

Can we customize the text template? 

Not in this initial release. You control the timing windows, which appointment types receive texts, and how your clinic/provider name displays, but the core message template text is fixed. 

Can we send reminders via email? 

No. This feature is built strictly for SMS text messaging to maximize direct response rates. 

How can we send reminders to a parent or guardian? 

While there isn’t a dedicated related-contact field workflow in version 1, you can add the guardian's mobile number directly as the primary phone number on the patient's account and log their verbal consent. 

Our patient changed their mobile number, do we have to ask again? 

Yes. Consent is tied to the specific phone number. When you change a phone number on a profile, its status resets to "Not asked" to protect your clinic from compliance liabilities.







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