What determines which types of appointments can e added to the short notice filler?
You can only add patients to the short notice list if:
Their appointment is within the date range stipulated in your settings (this is set to between 7-90 days by default)
The patient has a valid mobile/cellphone or work number which is at least 7 digits long
They have the 'SMS' option ticked under 'Communication methods' in their patient details (in the legacy details screen, this will appear as 'Receive SMS' = 'Yes')
What are the criteria for an appointment to be shown as a match in the short notice filler?
When you are in the short notice filler and looking to fill a slot, you will see a list of suitable patients' appointments. Only appointments/patients who are eligible according to the below criteria will be shown in the list and available to contact when a slot is available.
The patient has indicated they are happy to be contacted, and you have added them to the short notice list
Their appointment is booked to take place within the eligible date range from today (the default is more than 7 days from today, but less than 90 days from today - this is editable in your short notice settings)
Their appointment duration is less than or equal to the available gap
The patient is not due for lab work (ie. their lab status says 'None required' OR 'Received'
The patient must have a valid mobile/cellphone or work number which is at least 7 digits long
The available practitioner matches the preference indicated when they were added to the short notice list
The patient has less than 2 FTAs (failure to attend) within the last 30 days
The patient has not been contacted using the short notice filler more than 3 times in the past 7 days
Their appointment is not part of the same treatment plan as two or more other future booked appointments
Their appointment is the first of all future appointments they have booked (appointments 2, 3 etc. will not be eligible)
Their patient record is not set to prevent appointment booking
Their appointment is not in the past
They have not already received an SMS from your practice via short notice filler today
How are appointments ranked when sending SMS messages to patients using the short notice filler?
When you have clicked 'Fill a slot' on one of the slots in the short notice filler, the list of suitable appointments is optimised to display patients in the best/more efficient order for you:
Appointments which are marked as high priority will be at the top of the list.
Appointments which are longer/the exact length of the available slot will be shown above appointments which are shorter/wouldn't fill the whole slot.
Treatment appointments will rank higher than exam or scale & polish appointments
Appointments which were added to the short notice list longer ago will appear higher than appointments added more recently to the short notice list