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Frequently Asked Questions

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General Questions

Our system reads your appointment data, makes phone calls and/or sends text messages "in the cloud," then sends a report via email to you.

No, you don't need to do anything. Our system automatically reads your database and make phone calls accordingly.

No, you don't need to buy any software nor hardware.

Yes, a small setup fee is charged. Please contact one of our sales managers for more information.

A set of small programs are stored in your computer to retrieve data and send to our servers at the specified time.

Yes, we need to have access to a computer in your office, preferably the computer that hosts the appointment data. If necessary, our technical team can work with your IT department to get this done.

We only read appointment-related information from your database. We do not and will not access any information beyond what we need for making confirmation calls.

No, we don't. Our programs residing in your computer would only read the database and it will not write anything to the database.

The transmission is done through a data connection tunnel authenticated with a 2048-bit key, more secure than the regular https.

No, we make phone calls "in the cloud," that is, from one of our servers in our data centers.

Phone calls and text messages are delivered from one of our servers securely managed in data centers (i.e., in the cloud).

This is a confirmation service. In addition, patients can indicate if they need to reschedule their appointments.

We can do it either way. It's really up to you to decide. Some practices believe that new patients need to be reminded in a more personal way as there are forms to fill out or procedures to follow. Some others do not feel there is such a need. You have the option to call them yourself or let our system call them for you. Once you have decided, please let us know your preference so we can configure in our system.

Yes, you can. Please let us know all the appointment types you want to skip so we can configure in our system.

Please refer to Getting Started -- Some Information We Need in the two-page introduction document for all the information we need to start the service.

An email is sent to you so you can follow up. If phone calls/text messages are delivered in the morning, the report can be sent to you a couple of hours after the phone calls have been made (to give patients some time to respond). If phone calls/text messages are delivered in the evening, the report can be sent the next morning right before your staff starts working.

Typically, phone calls or text messages are sent out a day or two before the appointment date.

Some may choose to do it in the morning so reschedules can be routed back to the office directly and handled right away. Some others may choose to make phone calls early in the evening when most of their patients are available to respond to phone calls. For those who choose to use text messages as well, our recommendation is to send them out in the morning two days before the appointments. Then, phone calls are made to those who have not responded either that same evening or the next morning.

Yes, you can. It is also our hope that you fine-tune the schedule according to the responses to maximize the effectiveness of this service.

The personal interaction you have with your patients on a daily basis, and your experience and observation is much more real and valuable than experts can imagine. Therefore, we listen to your feedback and we always try our best to make the service fit your specific needs as closely as possible.

In general, yes. However, in some rare cases our server would not receive the appointment data properly when your office network is down or your computer was changed, or, due to natural disasters or other technical problems. If such problem occurs, it can be addressed between your IT team and ours, It is usually handled in a timely manner and phone calls will resume in a short time. However, if we are not able to reach them in timely manner or if the issue is beyond their ability and ours to resolve, your office staff may need to make phone calls manually to make sure patients remember their appointments. In the event of such a situation, it is our goal to do our best in resolving the issue and getting the calls/text messages to resume. Please let us know if there will be any change to your computer or network that could possibly stop the system from operating properly, so we can then work with your IT team beforehand to ensure the continued functionality of the service.

In general, the no-show rate should be reduced with reminder/confirmation phone calls. Many factors are involved when a patient misses his/her appointment. Our service helps but cannot guarantee the reduction of your no-show rate. What we guarantee is a more efficient way to help patients confirm their appointments.

In order to make it a successful tool, it is necessary to know your patients and their preferences. If a patient already has some complaints, this may be the last straw that breaks the camel's back. On the other hand, if it is handled properly, customer loyalty could increase. Please keep in mind that automated phone calls may be a powerful tool. You need to use it in a proper way -- and we are here to help, too.

Before starting the service, try to communicate to your patient about this service (i.e., expectation management). Once the service starts, please keep an eye on your patients' responses (as a whole as well as individually) so it can be properly adjusted to better fit their needs.

Confirmation rate increases when patients are reminded more times than they can ignore. However, be very careful as this is most often the point when the patients become irritated. Over inflating confirmation rate may often cause damage to your practice. Depending on how important or how eager you would like your patients to confirm their appointments. Some sort of incentive may be provided if they confirm, to increase your patient confirmation rate.

Yes, we can help you save time and money, so your staff can utilize their talents in a more valuable way. Regardless of how good our service may be, if it doesn't make a difference in your practice, or your patients' lives, it is useless. With proper communication and coordination, a 100% worry-free service that decreases patient no-show rate while increases their loyalty is achievable. Your suggestions are highly welcome and we look forward to providing you a service that helps your practice tremendously.


Multiple Doctors/Locations

Yes, it can. Please read the following for some precautions.

Yes, it can. Please read the following for some precautions.

Please let us know if a doctor's name should pronounce differently from appearance so our system can say it correctly. As for location, the names in your database may not be the names you want us to say. For example, you may want us to say "Broadway Office" even though it is "Old York" in the database. In this case, please do let your sales manager know so we can make the change accordingly.


Voice Phone Calls

You can choose the time for phone calls, depending on the demographic of your patients. Some choose to do it in the morning so office staff can follow up in the afternoon. Some others choose to do it early in the evening and office staff can follow up the next day.

Again, it really depends on the demographic of your patients. It may take some time to find out if you don't already make confirmation phone calls. Some factors to consider may be: their age group, life style, acceptance of technology, and so on.

It will be your CallerID that is displayed, one that patients are familiar with. It may be your main number or it may be a number dedicated for appointment making.

A call is composed of three major portions: Starting with a greeting which is customizable, followed by the main message with appointment details, then the part for your patients to respond.

Yes, you can. Please go to https://lima1.lefuturcorp.com:80/PetDemo/ for a test drive.

The default greeting says "This is a reminder call. Please stay on the line for your appointment information" which is played in the beginning of the message, before the main part starts.

Yes, you can record a personal greeting, with a voice your patients more familiar with. If you choose to do this, a phone number and a passcode will be provided to you to record the custom message. Please let your sales manager know if you want to record your own greeting so we can arrange accordingly.

Simply dial the number you are given and enter the passcode when prompted. Then, you will be in our recording system. There are 10 spaces (from 0 to 9) for you to record and you can record (and rerecord) before you decide which one to use. It is also possible to let your staff listen and help you choose the best one.

Please let your sales manager know the message number you want to use, once you have made a decision.

In general, speak slowly and make your recording clear and loud. Remember, we are using this greeting to encourage patients confirm their appointments.

No, it is a free service provided to you.

Something like this may work:

Hello, this is Dr. XYZ calling about your upcoming appointment. Please listen to the following message and confirm your appointment. I look forward to seeing you.

However, it is really up to your imagination as to help keep them on the line and confirm/reschedule their appointment.

Yes, you certainly can. As a matter of fact, our recording system allows you to record up to 10 different ones before you decide which one to use.

The system would say: This is a reminder call.

Yes, it can. However, it is also possible if you choose not to let our system say patients' first names. In this case, our system would simply say: You have an appointment on XXX at YYY ...

Yes, it can. However, if there is only one doctor in your practice, there is probably no need to mention doctor's name again if your already have a customize greeting.

Yes, it can. Please let us know whether or not you want us to skip new patients.

Yes, it can. Please let us know whether or not you want us to skip surgeries.

Yes, it can. Please give us a list of all appointment types you want us to skip.

In such case, you may or may not want phone calls to be made to the same phone number for all appointments.

Some are OK to receive phone calls and confirm them one after another. Some others are not comfortable with it. Some may even be irritated if they had not expected these phone calls. Therefore, by default our system only makes phone call for the first appointment and skips the remaining.

We can configure our system so it can either make phone calls as usual, or skip the subsequent ones with the same phone number. Please consider how your patients would react and let us know which way you prefer, so we can accommodate to your preference.

A typical message is like:

John has an appointment on Monday, March 22nd at 8:00AM with Dr. Smith at Main Street Office.

When phone calls are made, our program uses an algorithm to tell whether it's a human being or an answering machines picking up the call. If the system detects a sound like someone saying hello, it gives them the opportunity to respond during the call.

If such pattern is not detected, the system assumes it's an answering machine picking up the call, and an appointment message is left on their answering machine asking them to call back to confirm or reschedule.

Even though the algorithm works reliably most of the time, there are occasions when sounds from the other end are confusing to our system and the detection is incorrect.

If our system detects a human being answering the call, the following will be played (after the main appointment message mentioned above):

Press 3 to confirm, 0 to reschedule, or 1 to replay the message.

Patients have an option (by pressing 1) to replay the message as many time as they need to, in order to hear the message clearly, to write down or to remember the appointment.

Since we cannot tell if a patient hangs up accidentally or on purpose, the call will be categorized as "No Response." Many calls fall into this category because quite a few patients simply don't bother to confirm after they hear the message.

Yes, it can as long as your phone calls are made during your office hours. Please let us know the number to direct phone calls to and we will be glad to set that up.

They are given the opportunity to press a button to call your office later if they are in the middle of something, or, they can choose to stay on the line and the call will be connected to your office directly.

There is no need to worry. There are very few rescheduling calls

When phone calls are made, they are "paced out" to be about 1 call per minute. Our record indicates that only about 2% of the appointments are to be rescheduled. For a 50-appointment/day office, probably only one call is routed back to the office during the 50 minutes of phone calls to all patients. Therefore, there is no need to worry if rescheduling phone calls are rerouted to your office.

No, patients are not given the opportunity to cancel the appointment during the automated phone call.

It is our goal to help your patients keep their appointments. Therefore, cancelling of an appointment is not an option in the automated call. Having them choose to reschedule would give your staff an opportunity to find out more and turn a cancel into a reschedule.

If our system determines it's an answering machine, the following will be played:

Sorry we missed you, if you need to reschedule for any reason, please call us at xxx-xxx-xxxx. Again, that's xxx-xxx-xxxx. Have a wonderful day!

If phone calls are made during the day, it is more than likely your phone number left in the message. For evening calls, a toll free number will be given to them so they can call back throughout the night.

If you choose to use your own number so they can call in and leave message, that is OK, too. However, our system would not be able to catch the calls and properly reflect patient responses in the email report if they respond to the office directly.

Our system waits 10 minutes and then will try again, for a maximum of three attempts. It gives up after the third time if there is still no answer.

The answering machine is there for a reason. Nowadays, a lot of people rely on their answering machines to filter calls. It better to respect their decision and privacy.

It may be possible that someone would eventually answer. However, it not a good idea to keep calling people. After all, the purpose of these calls is to engage appropriate communication with your patients.

In general, we only call the first number in your system. If you believe there is a need to call all the numbers, we can accommodate your needs.

Yes, it is possible. We can send you email and/or text message when phone calls start and when they end (with number of phone calls made). Please let your sales manager know you want to be notified so we can set it up for you.

No, it is a free service provided to you.


Text Messages

It really depends. For some, a text message is not as intrusive as a voice call. For some others, a text message is too expensive to use.

If most of your patients don't use text messages or don't even use cellphones, then text message service is not a good idea for your practice.

Without a subscription, it may be costly to receive text messages. Some may even be upset when they have to pay extra fees to receive such texts.

You can choose the time for text messages, as long as you leave enough time for patients to reply.

It doesn't really matter, as long as you leave enough time for patients to reply.

It is a mobile number that we use to send, receive, and process patient replies. Therefore it will not be your office CallerID.

However, we make the message clear enough so patients know it's a message from your office.

A typical message we send to your patients looks something like the following:

From Best Health Clinic
John has an appt. on Mon 3/22 at 8:00AM in Main Street Office w/Dr. Smith
Reply '1' to Confirm, '0' to Stop notification
Call (987) 654-4321 to Reschedule

Yes, it is possible. We can send you email and/or text message when delivery of text messages starts and when it ends (with number of messages sent). Please let your sales manager know you want to be notified so we can set it up for you.

No, it is a free service provided to you.

Most of those who receive this message reply within minutes. Some may take hours to reply. Therefore, always leave them enough time before the email report is sent to you.

If most of your patients use text messages, between 20 to 40% would confirm.

Besides those who do not respond at all, mostly because the numbers do not have SMS capability.

About 2% would call to reschedule, and some will reply "0" to Opt-out. Others might reply with messages that don't follow the simple format we request (i.e., 1 or 0). Messages such as "Thank you" or "I cannot come this time, how about next week?" or even "1 Life is good."

All texts that do not follow our requested format are provided back to you as Unknown in the email report for your review.

It may be possible that someone would eventually confirm. However, it not a good idea to keep sending texts to people, especially when some need to pay to receive text messages. After all, the purpose of this service is to engage appropriate communication with your patients.


Report eMail

It’s really up to you. Our recommendation is to have it delivered a few hours after phone calls end, or next morning, so patients have some time to respond.

The report is composed of two major parts. The first part lists those who have confirmed, those who want to reschedule, and those who have messages left on their answering machines but never replied, as well as several other categories.

In the case of text messages, the report also includes those who have replied with unknown messages (so you can read and see what exactly they want to communicate to you) and those who want to opt out of the texting service.

Second part lists responses according to appointment time in chronological order.

For those you want to skip phone calls or text messages, which may include surgeries or time periods that are blocked or special purposes, they are listed in the Skipped category. Each appointment is followed by the reason why it was skipped.

Yes, please go through the report and follow up accordingly, especially for those who want to reschedule or did not hear the message.

Even if an option is given to the patients to connect to your office directly if they want to reschedule, it is still possible they did not get the opportunity to talk to your staff and had it taken care of. Therefore, check your schedule to see if such appointments have been changed and follow up accordingly. It is very important to be attentive to patient need to reschedule.

Please also contact those whose phones were unanswered or were busy at the time of the phone calls, because they never received the message.

If there is more time available, your staff may want to reach out to all those who have not replied in order to make sure they are coming to the appointments.

You can always log into our web portal to read the report.

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Why Choose Us

ConfirMED has its own telecom infrastructure to make phone calls and send text messages. Calls are highly customizable, because most technologies were develop in-house.

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Up to 80% Discount on Setup Fee

Instead of $499, setup fee may be lower depending on your referral code. Please talk to your EHR/EMR sales rep or contact us directly.