Setup
Automation rules
Set up "when this happens, if these hold, do that" rules that create tasks, notify a role, send a patient notice or call a webhook, and check every run in the run history.
An automation rule does a routine follow-up for you. You pick what starts it, optionally narrow which records count, and choose what it does. Rules only create tasks, send notices and call webhooks: they never change a note, an appointment, a claim or any other clinical or billing record. Open Setup, then Automation Rules under Communication. You need permission to manage practice settings.
Create a rule#
- Click New Rule.
- Enter a Name staff will recognize, such as
Call back after a cancellation. The name shows on the tasks and notices the rule creates, so never put a patient's name in it. - Under When this happens, choose the trigger.
- Optionally add Conditions.
- Add one or more Actions, then click Create Rule.
New rules start active. A rule acts on changes made after it is saved, usually within a minute.
Triggers#
| Trigger | Starts when |
|---|---|
| Appointment booked | A patient is booked on an appointment |
| Appointment cancelled | A patient's appointment is cancelled or late cancelled |
| Appointment marked no-show | A patient's appointment is marked no-show |
| Note signed | A clinical document is signed |
| Claim denied | A payer denies a claim, from a remittance or a posted payment |
| Authorization needs attention | An authorization alert goes out: few visits or units left, expiring, used up, expired, a usage milestone or no renewal |
| Patient alert added | A new alert is added to a patient's chart |
Conditions#
Each condition compares one value of the record with a list you pick, and holds when the record matches any of them. Every condition must hold for the rule to run. Leave the list empty to run for every event of the trigger.
| Condition | Available for |
|---|---|
| Location | Appointments, signed notes (the visit's location), denied claims |
| Discipline | Appointments (the episode's discipline), signed notes, authorization alerts |
| Appointment type | Appointments |
| Provider | Appointments (any booked provider), signed notes, denied claims (the rendering provider) |
| Payer | Appointments (the booked coverage), denied claims, authorization alerts |
| Authorization alert | Authorization alerts, for example only Used up and Few visits left |
| Document kind | Signed notes, for example only evaluations |
Actions#
Actions run in the order listed. If one fails, the others still run.
- Create a task: a task with your title, an optional due date a number of days out and a priority. Assign it to a role's queue, or leave the role empty for the clinic's shared queue. The task links to the record: the patient, the signed document, the claim or the authorization.
- Notify a role: every active member of the role gets a notification with your text and a link to the record. Write the text without naming a patient.
- Send the patient a notice: for appointment triggers only. Sends the booked, moved or cancellation notice the reminder engine uses, by email or text, with the same consent, quiet hours and opt-out rules as reminders.
- Call a webhook: posts a signed notice to one of your webhook endpoints with the rule's id, the trigger and the record's id only.
Pause, resume and delete#
Use the row menu to Pause a rule. A paused rule ignores everything that happens until you Resume it; it does not catch up on what it missed. Delete stops a rule for good; its past runs stay in the run history.
Run history#
Run History, below the rules, lists each time a rule ran, newest first: when, which rule, the trigger, the outcome and what each action did.
| Outcome | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Succeeded | Every action worked |
| Partly failed | Some actions worked and some did not, such as a notice to a patient with no email or text number |
| Failed | No action worked |
| Skipped: repeat | The rule already ran for the same record in the last 10 minutes, for example when an appointment is cancelled twice |
| Skipped: loop guard | The change came from other rules' actions too many steps in a row, so the rule stopped to avoid a loop |
The history shows record ids and fixed wording only, never patient details. Runs are kept for about 13 months.