The WELL automation module allows you to create workflow rules, manage translations, and check for multiple message conflicts among many other things. This feature is incredibly useful to create automatic appointment reminders, appointment confirmation, etc. so the staff does not have to reach out to patients individually. These automations can be created as a Practice and an Enterprise, but automations at an Enterprise level will not allow selections/filters on From and To. The majority of this article will focus on automations created at the practice level, to learn more about automations at the Enterprise level, read about it here. Once you are comfortable creating automations, you are ready to manage automations.

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Navigating to Automations

Automations are available for an Enterprise or a Practice. Both options are available under their respective settings. 

 

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Creating Automations

Type

You can determine what type of Automation (Appointment, Procedure, or Recall) and add a short description. More often than not, you will be creating Appointment automations.

 

Send From

Select which resource to send the automation from (e.g. Provider, Location, Device etc.). Make sure the resource(s) are connected with a Phone Line. If you create an Default Automation, you don't have the option to determine which resource it will come from. 

 

Send To

With most automations, you will want to determine who will receive the automation. You can narrow down who can receive each automation by Event, Resource, Appointment Status, etc. Since there are many filters to choose from, it is best to review the top statement to understand which filters are best for you. For example, will the below configuration, this automation will be sent to “All Patients scheduled for an Appointment of type FOLLOW UP with Dr. Alex Limpert.”

If you create an Default Automation, you don't have the option to filter by Event, Resource, etc.

Exclusions

When building automation, there are cases when it only applies to all but a few resources or type of event. Now you can choose to exclude those specifics instead of building automation to include each and every one.

When building an automation and selecting "Who would you like to send this to?"

1. Select the Resource or Event that you would like to exclude.
2. The description will say All patients schedules for an Appointment "of type" [Event] "with" [Resource].
3. Click the blue "of type" and it will become "NOT of type"
4. Click the blue "with" and it will become "NOT with"
5. These will now be excluded.

Message Content

Messages can be customized by delivery method.  Texts are usually shorter, Emails are often longer and require a subject line, and Voice calls can have a special message. You can also have reminders go out as just calls, just emails, or all three. If you select multiple delivery methods for your reminder, the patient will NOT receive all three. First, we will attempt to send them a text message, then a call, then an email. The delivery method is dictated by their preferences- if a patient has a landline, then they will not be able to receive a text. Any of these delivery methods can include an Smart Phrases. 

Text

You can customize your text as needed. It is best practice to include at least one Smart Phrase pertaining to the patient, like {clientFirstName}, so that the text does not get marked as seen as spam by a carrier. If a carrier sees this message as spam, it could eventually block your line from sending this message and future messages to the patient.

While creating your message, you can view the amount of characters are in your message in real time. In the top right corner of the message box is a running character count making sure you know when you've gone over your character limit for one message. All messages are sent in 160 character blocks, if you go over that limit it will be sent over SMS as multiple messages. It is best practice to keep messages 160 or below.

 

Call

Before creating a message that is sent via phone, it is always best to validate the message and test the reminder. To do so:

1. Click the phone icon under you message. When you hover over it, it should say “Preview Phone Call”
2. Enter a valid phone number to send the preview to.

Avoid using abbreviations in your call verbiage, as the call may not recognize the abbreviation.

Multilingual Support

When entering Automation Message Content you can automatically translate messages for 18 different languages. You can do so by:

1. Write your message in your preferred language.
2. Click Add Translation.
3. Select which language you would like the message to in.
4. Have someone verify the translation to make sure it is correct.

Read more about language preferences here. You can always delete it as well by clicking the red X next to the language it is in.

 

Attach Form

If you want a form to be sent with the automation, you can pick which ones from your practice. To better understand forms, read the following article.

 

Timing

You have a number of options for how to set up your automation. To determine:

1. Select from the drop down menu what event you’d like. Ex: Appointment Time
2. Determine specific time before or after that event for automation.
3. Toggle Send only on Business Days? If you would like messages to only be sent during practice hours. If your practice is open during weekends and this is selected, automations will still go out on those days.

There are a few things to make note of while setting this up.

If you restrict an automation to be sent during business hours and the automation is a 1+ day reminder of an appointment, if the patient has an appointment on Monday, they will receive a reminder during your last business day, probably Friday.

if you set the automation to occur upon Patient Status Change or System Status Change, the automation will go out regardless of business hours. It depends on when your management system sends over the information to WELL. Some management systems happen in more real-time while other update everyday at midnight. Before setting an automation to Patient Status Change, it is always best to check with your internal IT department about when your system updates.

 

 

Merging Messages

If a patient has multiple appointments in the same day, that would receive the same automation, you can ensure that they only receive one. For example, if an automation is a reminder for all appointments with one doctor and a patient has a consultation and a biopsy with that doctor, this is feature is used to have the patient only receive one text instead of two. NOTE: You cannot merge multiple distinct automations.

1. Choose to Merge messages for Same Day.
2. Select Next.
3. Enter message that will be sent for merge messages using Smart Phrases.

 

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Creating Automations From Template

If you have already created an automation that you want to use as a template:

1. Go to the Action Menu of the automation by clicking the 3 dots on the far right.
2. Select Use as Template.
3. Edit the appropriate sections.