Tag Archive for: appointment reminders

Appointment Reminders

/in /by

Reminding patients of their scheduled appointments with your practice is critical to ensuring appropriate follow up care for the patient as well as limiting missed appointment times that are costly to a practice in many ways.

Appointment reminders are considered part of treatment of an individual and, therefore, can be made without an authorization. However, a practice must include a statement in its Notice of Privacy Practices if it intends to provide appointment reminders.

Notice of Privacy Practices – We recommend adding a simple statement in your Notice of Privacy Practices, such as “we will contact you by phone or other means to remind you of appointments”.

It is also recommended that you have the patient identify a “preferred method of communication” for such information as appointment reminders.  This can be accomplished on a demographic form where the patient can fill in a phone number, cell number, or email address that you can use to call, text, or email them.  The patient should be able to fill in their preferred contact information (they write their number or email address) and indicate the method of communication (phone call, text message, email).  Your form should also provide a checkbox for the patient to opt out of electronic communications.

We are often asked whether postcard appointment reminders are permitted, and they are. However, if a patient submits a request to receive appointment reminders in a closed envelope instead of a postcard, or through some other means altogether, their request should be accommodated.

Placing a statement in your Notice of Privacy Practices and also having the patient write down their preferred method of communication will provide your practice with a clear understanding of how to best communicate with the patient.

Note that your practice should limit information in appointment reminders to confirming the date and time of an appointment, and, if necessary, the location.  More sensitive information such as reason for the appointment, diagnosis or other treatment related information should be communicated in a more secure manner (i.e., use of a secure patient portal system).

Telephone Consumer Protection Act and Automated Calls to Cell Phones

/in /by

A recent change to the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA) has practices wondering whether they can make automated appointment reminder phone calls, or automated collection calls.  Both have become common practice in recent years.

The TCPA, at 7 U.S.C. §227, states:

(b) Restrictions on use of automated telephone equipment

(1) It shall be unlawful for any person within the United States, or any person outside the United States if the recipient is within the United States–

(A) to make any call (other than a call made for emergency purposes or made with the prior express consent of the called party) using any automatic telephone dialing system or an artificial or prerecorded voice–

(i) to any emergency telephone line;

(ii) to the telephone line of any guest room or patient room of a hospital, health care facility, elderly home, or similar establishment; or

(iii) to any telephone number assigned to a paging service, cellular telephone service, specialized mobile radio service, or other radio common carrier service, or any service for which the called party is charged for the call.

In essence, this means that you may not make automated calls to a cell phone without “prior express consent” from the customer (patient).  There is some debate as to what constitutes “prior express consent.”

For more information on establishing prior consent, and complying with TCPA requirements, refer to the article in the October 2015 issue of the American Practice Advisor.