PATIENT APPOINTMENT REMINDERS - AUTOMATED, HIPAA COMPLIANT AND
TWO-WAY

FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

​

​How do you remind patients of appointments?

Reminders send automatically as text messages, triggered off your schedule through an EHR integration or a data feed. A typical sequence runs several messages - an early confirmation when there is still time to rebook, a reminder closer in, and any prep or arrival instructions the visit requires. Patients reply in the same thread to confirm, cancel or reschedule.

​

How is this different from the reminders our EHR already sends?

It is a fair question and worth pricing out before you buy anything. Native EHR reminders are usually one-way notifications: they tell the patient something and end there. The differences that matter are what happens on a reply, whether a cancelled slot refills itself, whether you can run different cadences per department without a support ticket, and whether the message can carry translated content, forms and trackable links. If your native tooling already does those things well, you should use it.

​

Does Dialog Health sign a Business Associate Agreement?

Yes.

​

Do you need patient consent to text appointment reminders?

Under HIPAA, appointment reminders are treatment communications and do not need separate authorization. Consent obligations come mainly from TCPA and its state equivalents, and those rules have changed more than once in recent years. We will tell you exactly how the platform handles messaging so your counsel can make the determination - we will not tell you that you are automatically covered.

​

What can a HIPAA-compliant appointment reminder include?

Name, appointment date and time, location, and a number to call. Keep out diagnoses, procedures, test results and anything else that reveals a condition. Name the facility rather than the service line, since a department name on a lock screen can disclose more than the message body does.

​

Can patients reply to an appointment reminder?

Yes, and this is the core of how the platform works. Replies arrive in a priority inbox where staff can answer directly, and a cancellation writes back to your scheduling system so the slot can be offered to the next eligible patient.

​

Do patients actually read text reminders?

Text messages sent through the platform see a 95-97% open rate*. That gap against phone and email is the main reason appointment reminders for patients moved to SMS in the first place.

​

What languages do you support?

130+, through AI Translator. Translations are built for healthcare context and medical terminology, your staff compose in English, and patients need no app.

​

Is "HIPAA certified" a real credential?

No. No government body or accreditor certifies HIPAA compliance, so any vendor advertising itself as "HIPAA certified" is describing something that does not exist. Ask for the specifics instead: a signed BAA, the compliance standards they actually hold, and how the platform handles message content and consent.

​

How soon should we expect results?

Staff time savings show up first, usually within the first weeks, as confirmation calls stop. No-show movement takes longer and needs a couple of rounds of adjustment to cadence and wording. The organizations that see the clearest results are the ones that documented a baseline before going live.
 

*Client results vary depending on usage of the platform.