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Documentation Index

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StrataEMR sends automated appointment reminders to patients via text, email, and voice. Reminders are configured practice-wide in the Setup area, and enabled per patient on their individual account. Once enabled, reminders send automatically each day for any patient who is on the schedule and subscribed. Automated appointment reminders reduce no-shows and cancellations, freeing your staff from manual confirmation calls.
Access: Configuring practice-wide reminder settings requires Therapy Director permissions or above (blue menu bar > Settings > Patient Engagement). Enabling reminders on individual patient accounts is available to all staff.

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Enabling Reminders for a Patient

Patients are not subscribed to appointment reminders by default. Staff must manually opt each patient in to avoid carrier spam filtering issues. To enable reminders for a patient, navigate to their case: Patient Menu Bar > Patient Info > Patient Engagement. Toggle the patient to subscribed and select their preferred reminder method — text, email, voice, or a combination. The reminder type can also be set from the patient’s Demographics page using the Appointment Reminders dropdown.
Patients are unsubscribed by default. This is intentional — bulk-subscribing patients without explicit consent increases the risk of messages being flagged as spam by carriers. Subscribe patients individually at intake or at their first visit.

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Reminder Channels

  • Text (SMS) — The most commonly used channel. Reminders are delivered as one-way SMS messages. Patients cannot reply to text reminders.
  • Email — Delivered to the email address on the patient’s Demographics page.
  • Voice — An automated phone call delivered to the patient’s phone number on file.
All three channels can be active simultaneously for a single patient.

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Practice-Wide Settings

Reminder scripts, lead times, and delivery times are configured at the practice level: Menu Bar > Settings > Patient Engagement. Settings you can configure:
  • Script content — The message text for each reminder type. Use the special keywords described in the legend to auto-populate patient name, appointment date and time, facility address, and contact information.
  • Lead time — How far in advance the reminder is sent. The default is 1 day in advance.
  • Approximate delivery time — The time of day reminders go out. The default is 3 PM.
Click Save after making any changes. Updates take effect at the next scheduled reminder delivery.

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Patient Confirmation and Check-In

By including the special keyword ConfirmationLink in your reminder script, StrataEMR adds a direct link to the reminder message. When the patient clicks Confirm My Appointment, their schedule status updates automatically from Scheduled to Confirmed. This gives front desk staff real-time visibility into which patients have confirmed before the day of the appointment.

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Testing Reminders

Each reminder type has a Test button in the Setup area. Before going live with changes to your reminder scripts, use the test functions to verify delivery:
  • Voice — Enter a phone number in the Place a Test Call To field and click Place Test Call. You’ll receive the call at that number.
  • Text — Enter a phone number next to the text test button and send a test message.
  • Email — Enter an email address next to the email test button and send a test message.
Always test after editing scripts. Special keywords pull dynamic content (patient name, appointment time, facility info) that varies in length. The keyword itself is short, but the populated content may push a text message over the 160-character limit. Test with realistic data to verify the full message length.

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Text Message Considerations

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160-Character Limit

SMS messages have a general limit of 160 characters, including line breaks. While some phones and carriers can reassemble split messages, this is not guaranteed. Keep text reminder scripts at 160 characters or under to maximize reliable delivery. When using special keywords, the character count is based on the populated content — not the keyword length itself. For example, a keyword that inserts a full facility name and address may be much longer than the keyword suggests. Always test with real content before deploying.

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SMS Opt-Outs

If a patient replies STOP (or an equivalent) to a text reminder, they are automatically opted out of all future SMS reminders. StrataEMR cannot re-enable messaging for that patient without their consent. When a patient opts out:
  • Appointment reminders are automatically turned off for that patient
  • A task is created on the dashboard: “Received mobile unsubscribe request for [phone number]”
To re-enable text reminders, the patient must reply UNSTOP to a reminder message or contact their carrier directly to reverse the opt-out. Once they have done so, the appointment reminder setting on their Demographics page must also be re-activated manually.

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Voice Reminder Cutoff

Occasionally patients report that voice reminders are cut off at the beginning of the message. This is caused by variability in how different voicemail systems detect the start of a recording. To work around this, duplicate the script in the reminder setup — the second pass of the message will be heard in full even if the voicemail picks up late.

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Emergency Notifications

When your clinic needs to communicate an unexpected closure or change, Emergency Notifications mode temporarily replaces regular appointment reminders with a custom one-time message. To activate: Menu Bar > Settings > Patient Engagement → select Emergency Notifications from the Current Reminder Mode dropdown. Enter a custom message script and/or phone script, then manually send using the Send Messages or Place Calls buttons. Emergency notifications are limited to once per day and are not sent automatically — they require manual triggering each time.
Use Emergency Notifications sparingly. Frequent use of mass messaging increases the risk of messages being flagged as spam by carriers, which can affect your regular reminder deliverability.