Communication

Open Setup > Communication > Communication to prepare appointment and due-date reminders. Everyone with access to Setup can see these settings; people whose role can manage reminders (owners, clinic admins and front desk by default) can change them.

Reminders go out on their own once a rule is active. To see what was sent, how patients answered, and to resend or export, use the reminder log.

The page has five tabs: Sending identity, Reminder rules, Templates, Announcements, and Quiet hours and policies.

Sending identity#

Email#

Reminder emails come from a shared sending domain until you set up your own. The tab shows the address patients see, such as reminders@ followed by the domain.

To send from your own domain:

1. Under Send from, choose Your own domain.
2. Enter the domain, for example mail.yourclinic.example. A subdomain keeps your everyday email untouched.
3. Set the Sender name (your practice name if you leave it empty) and the part of the address before the @.
4. Click Save Email Sending. A table of DNS records appears: one to prove you own the domain, one SPF record and two DKIM records.
5. Add each record at the company that hosts your domain. Use the copy buttons next to each host and value.
6. Click Check Domain Status. DNS changes can take a few hours, so check again later if it still says Pending verification.

Until the domain shows Verified, reminders keep going out from the shared domain. If a check shows Failed, compare the records at your domain host with the table and check again.

Text messages#

Reminder texts come from a toll-free number for your clinic. Click Request Text Number to get one. Carriers verify toll-free numbers before texts can go out; click Check Number Status to see where it stands. The panel also shows how many texts went out this month and how many segments they used.

Fax#

Click Request Fax Number to give your clinic its own fax number. Faxes sent to it land in the fax inbox, and it is the reply number on every cover page. The panel also shows the pages sent and received this month. Fax is an add-on: without it the panel does not appear. See Fax documents and the fax inbox.

Additional fax numbers#

The Fax add-on includes one number. To give a team or a referral source its own line, click Add Fax Number under Additional numbers, enter a label such as Intake referrals and click Add Number. Each additional number costs $5 a month on every plan, Enterprise included: adding one charges the rest of the current billing period right away, and it renews with your subscription. Faxes sent to any of your numbers land in the same fax inbox; outgoing faxes always show your first number.

Use the row menu to Rename a number or Release it. A released number stops receiving faxes at once and drops off your next invoice (no credit for the rest of the period). Faxes it already received stay in the inbox. A clinic can hold up to 10 additional numbers.

Removing the Fax add-on releases every additional number the same way. The confirmation lists the numbers first; see removing an add-on.

Reminder rules#

A rule says who gets reminded, about what, how and how far ahead. Click New Rule on the Reminder rules tab.

Reminders about due items go to providers by email and never name a patient. Patient responses apply only to appointment reminders for patients and their contacts.

When you edit a rule whose template was turned off, the template stays on the rule marked (inactive); pick an active template before you save. Changing the channel or what the rule reminds about clears a template that no longer fits.

Text messages count toward your plan's monthly allowance. If your plan stops texts at its allowance and the month's segments are used up, texts are not sent and show as failed with the reason usage cap reached; see plan usage and packs.

The rule editor also sums up your quiet hours and response cutoffs, since every rule follows them.

Use the row menu to Edit, Activate, Deactivate or Delete a rule. A new clinic starts with two rules that show Waiting for sender: a patient email two days before an appointment and a patient text one day before. Each turns on by itself once its sender is ready:

• the email rule, when you save a sender name on the platform domain or your own email domain is verified;
• the text rule, when your text number is verified.

If you edit, activate or deactivate a starter rule yourself, it stops waiting and stays as you set it. Consent still applies to every reminder: texts go only to contacts who agreed to receive them, and email goes to everyone who has not opted out.

Templates#

A template holds the words of a reminder: a subject and message for email, or a message for a text. A new clinic starts with an email and a text appointment reminder and an email summary of due items for providers. Use Copy in the row menu to make your own version and keep the starter as it is.

Reminders to patients never include health details. They name your practice and carry a link; the patient opens the link to see the date, time and location and to confirm or respond. The patient's name, the visit time, the provider and the location cannot be added to a patient reminder.

While you write, the preview fills the template with sample values and the phone of your first location, and lists anything that would stop the template from saving. If the preview cannot load, click Retry; your draft stays as you typed it.

Merge fields#

Use Insert field above the subject or message, or type {{, to add a value that fills in when the reminder is sent. Only the fields that fit the template's channel and use are offered. The text replies below have the same Insert field button, limited to the practice name and phone.

Text message limits#

• A text is billed in segments of up to 160 standard characters, or 70 when it has special characters or emoji. The counter under the message assumes every merge field at its longest, so it waits until the merge fields load; if they cannot load, it says so and offers Retry. A text may run to 3 segments at most.
• Texts never include diagnosis or service details. A template whose text looks like a diagnosis or procedure code cannot be saved.
• End each text with an opt-out line such as Reply STOP to opt out.

Languages#

When your clinic sends in more than English (see Message languages), the template editor shows a tab per language above the subject and message. A tab marked Missing has no text yet; patients who read that language get the English text until you add it. The preview follows the tab you are on, and the same rules and limits apply to every language. The Languages column of the templates list shows which languages each patient template is missing. The starter appointment templates come with Spanish text. Provider summaries stay in English.

NeatPractice never translates for you: write or review each language's text yourself.

A template that a rule uses keeps its channel and kind, and cannot be turned off while an active rule uses it. Delete works only for a template no rule uses.

Announcements#

An announcement is a short notice for patients and families, such as a snow closure, holiday hours or a new location. It shows as a banner on the check-in kiosk and on the page that opens from a reminder link, at the locations you choose and between its first and last day.

1. On the Announcements tab, click New Announcement.
2. Enter a Title (up to 128 characters) and the Message (up to 2,000 characters).
3. Pick the First day and, if it should stop on its own, the Last day.
4. Choose Locations, or leave it empty to show it at every location, then click Create Announcement.

The Status column says whether each announcement is Upcoming, Showing or Ended. Edit an announcement to change its dates or text; changes show on the patient pages right away.

Sending an announcement by email and text#

You can also send an announcement to patients and families, or to your staff, by email and text message. Texts need the Text messages add-on.

1. In the announcement's row menu, click Send by Email and Text.
2. In Send to, choose Patients and families or Staff.
3. For patients and families, choose Send by (email, text message or both), the Patient statuses (Active to start with) and, if you like, Locations. Turn Send to patients and Send to guardians and caregivers on or off. Guardians and caregivers are the contacts marked as legal guardians, caregivers or reminder recipients.
4. For staff, choose Roles, or leave it empty for every active member. Staff get the announcement by email.
5. Check the count at the bottom, then click Send Announcement.

Each address gets one message, so a family with two patients gets the announcement once. Messages start going out as soon as you click Send Announcement, and never during quiet hours: anything sent inside a quiet window waits until it ends. If sending cannot start right away, the messages go out within about 15 minutes instead. Anyone who opted out of texts or email is skipped. A text ends with Reply STOP to opt out.

The announcement goes out exactly as written, with your practice name in front of the title. It must never name or describe a patient.

Delivery log#

Click Delivery Log in the announcement's row menu to see every send: when it went out, to whom, and how many messages were delivered, sent, still waiting, failed or skipped because the person opted out. Each person's message also shows in the reminder log as an Announcement.

Quiet hours and policies#

Quiet hours#

Reminders due inside a quiet window wait until it ends. Times follow the clock of each patient's location, so a window from 8 PM to 8 AM holds texts until 8 AM wherever the appointment is. A window that ends earlier than it starts runs overnight, and its days are the days it starts on. A new clinic starts with one window from 8 PM to 8 AM every day. Quiet hours must leave some time each week when reminders can go out.

Response policies#

Set how close to the appointment a patient can still cancel, or ask for another time, from a reminder. Use 0 to allow it until the appointment starts. Both start at 24 hours.

Text replies#

Patients can text standard words back, such as STOP to opt out, HELP for help and START to opt back in. The text service answers STOP, HELP and START itself and NeatPractice records the opt-out or opt-in on the chart. Add your own opt-out and help words and edit the replies NeatPractice sends back for them. Replies can use {{practice_name}} and {{practice_phone}} and must fit in one text.

NeatPractice sends texts only to phone numbers with recorded consent to receive them, and an opt-out stops all texts to that number. Email reminders go out unless the person opted out of email.

Message languages#

Reminders can go out in English and Spanish. Under Message languages, turn on Send in Spanish and pick the Default language, then click Save Languages. English is always on.

Each patient's reminders use their Message language from the chart's Demographics tab. When it is set to Automatic, NeatPractice uses the chart's primary language if it names a language you send in (for example Spanish or Español), and your default language otherwise. If the template has no text in that language, the reminder goes out in your default language, and in English when that is missing too. The reminder log shows the language each reminder was sent in.

The page a patient opens from a reminder, the text replies NeatPractice sends back and secure document emails use the same language. Your own help and opt-out replies above are the English ones; Spanish speakers get fixed Spanish replies.

Spanish words patients can text back:

In English, CANCEL is a carrier opt-out word, so English speakers cancel an appointment with X.

An email that bounces, or a text the carrier could not deliver, shows as Bounced or Failed in the reminder log so staff can check the address or number.

Patient feedback survey#

Send patients a short survey after each visit they attended, by email and, with text messages, by text. Turn on Send a survey after each visit, then choose how many hours after the visit it goes out, how often one patient may be asked and how long the link stays open, and click Save Survey Settings. Consent, opt-outs and quiet hours apply as for reminders. See Patient feedback for who gets it and how to read the answers.

Staff message retention#

Choose how long staff messages are kept. Messages are kept until you set a limit. Turn on Remove old staff messages, enter how many days to keep them (30 to 3,650) and click Save Retention. Each night, messages older than that are removed, along with conversations left empty. Linked charts are never affected. Only owners and administrators can change this setting.

Response notifications for you#

Each person chooses how they hear about patient replies to reminders: an email for each response, a daily summary, or both. See Notifications.

Export and print#

On the Reminder rules and Templates tabs, click Export CSV to download that list or Print for a PDF of it. See Import, export and print.