Overview

TDO Comms+ is a web-based platform that allows practices to communicate with their patients via SMS. Patients can confirm their appointments via SMS and the system will update the patient's confirmation status inside the TDO v12 calendar. The biggest feature that separates Comms is customizable automation. The platform contains queries that can be configured to automatically send text messages for things such as appointment confirmations, appointment reminders, appointment follow-ups, balance reminders, and happy birthdays. These queries can be customized further where they can choose not to send messages before or after a certain time.

TDO Comms+ also integrates our new TDO Payments system. This allows you to link payment processing with your outbound SMS messaging efforts.

 

 

Minimum TDO Version Requirement is 12.405g

• Cloud Services is required
• TDO Payment Services required
• OpenVPN must be connected
• Includes 2000 messages monthly (inbound and outbound)
• $50 for additional blocks of 1,000 messages for US/CANADA

 

 

Main View

TDO Comms presents 5 main areas:

Header

The corresponding area is marked with Cyan in the Main View and in this area you will find:

• The TDO logo and version on the left side of the header
• All Practices tab, and a tab for any other additional locations if the office is a multi-location office. This will allow you to select a specific location you would like to send/check messages for the location. The All Practice tab will show all the messages for all the locations. Note: Practices that have multiple unreplicated locations can be included in a single URL or they can opt to have the links separate
• Communication Menu.
• In this menu you will be able to:

Configure the automation of sending out messages such as appointment confirmations, payment requests, patient check-ins and requests to leave a review.
Add/Edit/remove SMS templates
Configure the Valid Replies that will be used on the SMS templates

 

Communications Menu

This is where users go to customize their configurations for automation queries, create and edit templates, and create valid reply profiles.

 

SMS Template Designer

This is where users can create, edit and delete their SMS templates and categorize their templates.

In order for TDO v12 to automatically react to trigger actions such as appointment confirmations and reschedules, users must attach valid reply profiles under 'Allowed Replies'. See Valid Reply Designer below on how to create valid reply profiles.

Users can mark templates as the default for queries such as Patient Appointment Unconfirmed or Doctor birthdays.

  

This window will show all the templates that come with the module as well as any custom templates listed. In order to create an SMS template click on the plus  button.

Add a name to the template, and select a Category the template should fall into (Appointment Confirmation, Birthday, Check In Instructions, Financial reminders, Miscellaneous, and Post Treatment Follow Up). Select a Default for the query if any. Select a valid reply if any. And include the content of the text message in the “Text *’ box. 

‘Default for query’ field. This field is used for sending SMS as a batch. If a template has a specific query specified, the template will display automatically when the query is selected. See New Message + query designer. Add Field button  This button will list all the tokens available for TDO Comms that a user can use in an SMS template. 

Once the SMS template is completed, users can simply click on the Save button. 

Token Definitions: 

Patient Consent Link. This is the link that will direct the patient to the consent forms on the patient’s portal so the patient can only review the forms. Note: Patients won’t be able to sign the consent at this time. 

Days Old. This token details how long the patient has owed money. How many Days Old is the amount. This is taking into account the last Ledger transaction. This is useful when generating batch SMS. 

Doctor DOB. This is the Doctor’s Date of Birth as it appears on the Setup>Site Configuration>Edit Doctor information>Birthday field in TDO12. 

Doctor First Name. This is the Provider’s first name as it appears on the Setup>Site Configuration>Edit Doctor information>First Name* field in TDO12. 

Doctor Last Name. This is the Provider’s first name as it appears on the Setup>Site Configuration>Edit Doctor information>Last Name* field in TDO12. 

Doctor First Name from Insurance. Since some doctors have to change the last name depending on the location for financial reporting. This token comes from the name they define in the doctor setup as the name to use with insurance. Note: the field used for this token is found in Setup>Site Configuration>Edit Doctor Information>Insurance First Name field. 

Doctor Last Name from Insurance. Same as above but the token is for the provider’s last name. Note: the field used for this token is found in Setup>Site Configuration>Edit Doctor Information>Insurance Last Name field. 

X Minutes Before Next Appt Time. This token will allow users to use a different time for the patient’s appointment so the text message would indicate that the appointment is 15 min before the appointment time. Note: 15 min is the default, but the user can change it to any minute they want. 

Next Appointment. This token will populate the appointment date as it shows in the Calendar. 

Next Appt Time. This token will populate the appointment time as it shows in the Calendar. 

Patient DOB. This is the patient’s Date of Birth as it shows in the Patient Main page. Note: the field used in the Main page is the Birthday field. 

Patient First Name. This is the patient’s First Name as it shows in the Patient Main page. Note: the field used in the Main page is the First Name field. 

Patient Last Name. This is the patient’s Last Name as it shows in the Patient Main page. Note: the field used in the Main page is the Last Name field. 

Patient Salutation. This is the patient’s formal title as it shows in the Patient Main page. Note: the field used in the Main page is the Salutation field. 

Patient Payment Link. This is the link that will direct the patient to the payment area on the patient’s portal so the patient can make payments online. Note: the office has to have the proper configurations to allow online payments. 

Practice Address. This is the full address of the practice as appears in the Edit Control Table>Practice Information tab in TDO 12. 

Practice City. This is the City where the practice is located. The field used is the City field in the Edit Control Table>Practice Information>City field in TDO12. 

Practice Name. This is the Name of practice as it shows in Setup>Site Configuration>Edit Control Table>Practice Information>Practice Name field in TDO12. 

Practice Phone. This is the practice phone number as it shows in Setup>Edit Control Table>Practice Information>Phone field in TDO12. 

Practice State. This is the state where the practice is located as it shows in Setup>Edit Control Table>Practice Information>State field in TDO12.

 

Valid Reply Designer

The practice must create acceptable replies for the system to recognize and update TDO accordingly.

Practices can choose to send out HIPAA confirmations and the HIPAA acceptance status will indicate inside the message details.

To configure a valid reply simply click on “Valid Reply Designer” and the Message Replies window will appear.

TDO Client. This field will display the practice name
SMS Action. This is the action that will trigger different actions. For example Cancel and Confirm Appointments will trigger the phone icon on a patient appointment block in TDO 12’s calendar. The Confirm HIPAA/Cancel HIPAA will trigger the status of the message. The Opt Out will trigger the ‘Send SMS” box on the patient's main page in TDO 12.
Description. This is where users can type in the description of the reply. This will make it easier to find in the Valid Replies list when adding/editing SMS templates.
Reply. This is where users can type in any word or letter they want the patient to reply back. Note: this word or letter has to be consistent with the word or letter that is in the SMS template message.

 

Send Query Automation

Allows users to customize the times for when the system automatically sends out messages and when to not send messages. It is configured in days or hours and the query can be customized to send out messages before or after an event such as unconfirmed appointments.

In this configuration window users will be able to:

• Enable/Disable box. The box is used to enable or disable the automation. Please make sure that the configuration is fully complete before enabling. This should be the last step when configuring TDO Comms.
• Automation Type. Automated messages can be sent to patients and doctors. If a text message is intended to be sent to a patient regarding an appt, you may want to configure a Patient Appointment Automation type for this purpose.
  Patient Automation Types:

New Patient Appointment: this automation type works a bit different than the rest of the automation types. Once it is configured, a text message will be sent as soon as an appointment is created in TDO12 depending on the timeframe configured for the SMS configuration process. This type of automation will be based on the Appt taken date.

Patient Appointment. This automation type can be used for patient follow up and Patient feedback text messages. 

Patient Appointment Confirmed. This can be used to send messages to patients who have confirmed appointments.

Patient Appointment Unconfirmed. This can be used to send messages to patients who have yet to confirm appointments.

Patient with Balance. This can be used to send messages to patients with due or overdue balance in their chart. 

• Time Before. Here you can select the number of hours or days before the date of the appointment.
• Increment. This is where users can select either hours or days for a test message to be sent before an appointment.
• Template. Here users can select the SMS template they want to send via automation.
• Don’t Send Before. Users can select the time they want the system to start sending automated text messages.
• Don’t Send After. Users can select the time they want the system to not send automated text messages. If there are SMS scheduled to be sent during off hours, the SMS will be sent according to the time specified on “Don’t Send Before”.
• Time Zone. Users can select the time zone when the office is located.
• View (eye button). Users can select the View button to verify the selected SMS template contains the right information.
• Duplicate. The system allows you to configure the same automation type for multiple options. For instance, you can set an Appointment Automation type for the patient feedback SMS template and another one for a follow up.
• Delete. Users can simply delete an automation type they no longer need.

 

Sub header

The corresponding area is marked with Green in the Main View
In this area you will be able to send single and multiple messages as a batch, search recipients or run an advanced search, order messages, and view the number of messages per page.

 

Communication Tab 

Here users can send either single or multiple text messages as a batch.

 

Single Messages

TDO Comms allows users to send messages to a specific party. It could be a patient, a provider or a staff member. In order to send a single message the user will click the “New Message” button. The New Message window will open.

Practice field. if the practice is a single office, the practice location will show by default.
Note: if a location tab in the header is selected, the Practice field will show the selected location by default. If the ‘All Practices’ tab is selected, then the user can select the specific location to send the SMS.
Phone Number field. Users can type the phone number of the party that the SMS is intended to go to. Once a number is added, the system will automatically display the First and Last Name of the patient, provider or staff as long as a record exists in TDO 12. The system also allows you to send SMS to any party that is not added, simply add the phone number, First and Last names as required.
First Name and Last Name fields. Users can enter the first part of the first name or last name, so the system will display a list of possible patients with similar names or last names for the user to select. Once a patient's first or last name is selected, the phone number will automatically display.
Select template. Select a template from the dropdown.
Message. Once a template is selected, the content of the template will display in this area. If a template has tokens, the tokens will populate with the patient information. Users can also add/edit the content of the text before sending the message, however, this will not affect the SMS template. Customized messages are also allowed to be sent in the system.
Signature field. This field is available for any additional info to be shared. This info can be entered manually. This field will also allow for the practice logo or Doctor signature to be supported.

 

New Message + query designer (Batch SMS)

In addition to sending single text messages, TDO Comms also supports the sending of text messages as a batch. To send text messages as a batch, click on the ‘New Message + query designer button , the Send Message Query Designer window will appear

Practice field. if the practice is a single office, the practice location will show by default. Note: if a location tab in the header is selected, the Practice field will show the selected location by default. If the ‘All Practices’ tab is selected, then the user can select the specific location to send the SMS.
Recipients Query/Filter. Select from the dropdown the query to be used for the batch. Note: if a query is assigned to an SMS template and that query is selected, the SMS template will display automatically.
From Date / To Date. Enter the beginning date and the end date so the system will list all the appointments within that date range.
Template. It will show the template to be used for the batch SMS. Note: If a template shows when a query is selected, the user can still select a different template from the dropdown.
Template to use. This box will display the content of the SMS template and the tokens used
Sample message. This is a sample of how the template will look like when received by the recipient

 

Search Recipients

The module allows users to search for all the messages sent to a specific party by entering either the name, last name or phone number. Once a name, last name or phone number is entered in, and depending on the inbox selected at that time, it will show all the SMS for that recipient in the middle panel.

Advanced Search. By clicking the arrow button next to search recipients, you can find a specific message on a date range specified. Simply enter in the recipient's name or phone number, the initial and final dates, Reply status in case the message you are looking for has a reply, otherwise you can select Show All, and Triggered action, if any. The Advanced search also allows for searching messages in the Archived Messages box.

 

 

 

Order by

By default, new messages are set to show on top, however, users can arrange the messages based on their preference. From Newest to Oldest, Oldest to newest, ascending or descending.

 

 

Left Panel

The corresponding area is marked with Yellow in the Main View
All messages are distributed in different boxes. This panel will display all the inboxes available in Comms. See inboxes

Inboxes

Inbox. This is the default location for all incoming messages.
Unread. This will show messages (subset of “Inbox”) that were not read yet by user
Sent. This box will show all outgoing messages. This includes all messages from single, batch and automated messages. This is an area to view all the sent or successfully delivered messages.
Unknown. If message not falling into any other category (box) will be listed here
Awaiting Reply. This box will show all the messages that require a reply. These are messages that have been replied to but are waiting for an automatic action trigger. For example, replying “Yesh” to confirm instead of “Yes”
Valid Reply. This box will show all messages that have triggered an automatic action such as appointment confirmations or appt reschedules/cancels and these actions were successfully executed
Invalid Reply. This box will show all the messages with a reply that was received but was not recognized as a ‘Valid Reply” (a word not added in the “Valid Reply Designer” settings)
Failed Action. This box will show all the messages that failed to trigger an action, or the action failed. Messages with a “Trigger Action Occurred” error should show in this box

Archive. This box will show all the messages that are marked as “Archived” either manually or automatically.
Sent Failed. This box will show all the messages that failed to be sent due to an issue. Issues can be internet connection, an error when communicating with Twillio, AWS. If an error occurs or if massages fall under this box, the user should contact Support for troubleshooting.

 

 

Middle Panel

The corresponding area is marked with Dark Green in the Main View

This panel will display a preview of all the messages based on the inbox selected on the left panel. For instance, if the Sent inbox is selected, the module will list all the SMS messages that were sent listed with the new messages on top by default. If using the “Order By” feature, the messages will show listed depending on the order specified.

In the preview, the users will see:
The recipient's name and phone number
The practice name
The date and time. Most recent response within that conversation window (or message)
The first line of the message
If messages have a valid reply associated, this panel will show an arrow with a color indicating if a valid response is received (green arrow) or if a valid reply is yet to be received (yellow arrow). 

In addition to the colors, the message will also show an icon indicating if the message is a SMS  or an email message  (not yet implemented)

 

Right Panel

This panel will display the content of the message selected in the middle panel. The content of a message will also be a thread of messages between the office and the recipient.

This are will display:
Date. This is the date and time the message was sent
HIPAA Accepted/No Accepted. This status will update automatically as soon as the message with the valid reply associated with it is received. This status will mostly be used for offices that belong to a DSO.
From: this is the sender name, which is this case will be the Practice Name
To: this is the recipient’s name and phone number in parenthesis
The content of the message. This is the conversation with the recipient, this includes the trigger actions if the patient confirms or reschedules an appointment. If a patient confirms or reschedule an appt via text message, the phone icon in TDO’s calendar will display, green for confirmed appointments or red for rescheduled appointments. NOTE: for the phone icon to show in the calendar, this has to be properly configured in TDO under Setup> Program Setup>Format String, click here for detailed instructions.

This area has four different action buttons:

Archive button. This button will allow users to archive a message. All messages marked as archived will show in the ‘Archive’ inbox.
Mark Unread button. This button can be used during busy times for messages that need attention. The message marked as ‘unread’ will show in the “Unread” inbox until it is read again.
Send to Notes button. This button allows users to send the message or thread to the patient’s Notes page in TDO as a locked message
Action button. This button allows the user to Confirm or Cancel the appointment.

 

 

 

Troubleshooting Notes

 

• If patients don’t have the Send SMS box selected in the Main Page, the automation will not send a SMS for that patient even if scheduled.
• If the appt is rescheduled/copied/pasted, the automated SMS won’t be sent again, because the appt has a reply ID already associated with it. The best option would be to delete or create another appt.
• Using negatives will allow the SMS to be sent after the time for the event (Automation).
• SMS is based on Pt appt.
• When a patient replies STOP, he immediately receives a response saying “You have successfully been unsubscribed. You will not receive any more messages from this number. Reply START to resubscribe.”

If the patient replies START, the patient will receive a response saying “You have been re-subscribed to messages from this number. Reply HELP for help. Reply STOP to unsubscribed. Msg&Data Rates May Apply.”

• When a Cancel/reschedule reply is received, it does not move the appt to the cancel/reschedule/No show column (this has to be done manually by the user) in the Calendar in TDO. If the pt appt block has not been moved to the cancel/reschedule/No show column, the patient will still show listed when sending a SMS using the Patient Unconfirmed query. This is how it currently works in TDO 12.
• HIPAA SMS. If the setting in the database is configured, when a patient replies HIPPAOK (for any DSO), the patient will receive a response saying “HIPAA Accepted ''. On the user’s side, the message in TDO comms will change from HIPAA Not Accepted '' to “HIPAA Accepted”.

• The valid replies have to be unique for each one of the SMS templates that needs a valid reply.
• Opt Out. If a patient has replied OUT to Opt out, Comms will trigger the “Send SMS’ box on pt Main Page in TDO. If the “Check Send SMS automatically” is configured (box checked) in Edit Control Table>Application Settings, TDO will automatically check the box on the patient's Main Page upon refreshing.

NOTE: to use the TDO Opt Out, TDO has to have the latest version installed, 12.405g or newer.

• Referring Doctor tokens. For the Ref Dr First Name and Ref Dr Last name tokens to populate, there has to be a mobile phone number in their record. And an appt created for the pt since the SMS is based on patient appt (#8 above). Russ mentioned the query needs to be re-structured.
• Doctor tokens. For the Doctor’s tokens to populate the Doctor/Provider has to have the Mobile number added in Edit Dr Info in TDO12. In addition, there has to be an appt created for the patient/tooth a treating dr is assigned to, since SMS is based on Pt appt. (bullet #4 above).
• The “X Minutes Before Next Appt time” token format has to be used one per template: <<Format_NextApptTime:15>>.
• if a letter is added in the integer the “X Minutes Before Next Appt Time” token will default to 15 min. For instance, if adding 1hr (<<Format_NextApptTime:1hr>>) to have the token to populate 1 hr before the appt, the token will default the x time to the default (15 min), If a user wants to have the patient to be in the office 1 hr / 1hr 30 min before the appt, it is best to use 60 (<<Format_NextApptTime:60>>) to indicate the appt is 60 min before the appt, and 90 (<<Format_NextApptTime:90>>) to indicate the appt is 1 hr and 30 min before the appt time.