Life is busy and sometimes things can fall off the radar – like remembering upcoming medical appointments. Beginning Tuesday, July 19, 2022, Primary Care Associates of Appleton will utilize an automated appointment reminder system to help our busy patients keep track of their PCA appointments. Text messages and automated reminder calls significantly help patients remember their appointments and reduces the number of no shows. Designed with your privacy in mind, these simple reminders show up automatically on your mobile device and provide the date and time of your appointment.

We use the SolutionReach platform to send out appointment reminders via text and phone (voice messages) for patients. Patients will receive reminder texts or voice messages within hours upon scheduling, as well as 1 week and 1 day before their appointment, excluding holidays. SolutionReach follows the Telephone Consumer Protection Act of 1991 (TCPA) and thus, reminders will only be sent between 8:00 a.m. to 9:00 p.m. local time of the patient.

This platform is for appointment scheduling management only and should not be used to communicate medical messages or inquiries to your provider team. We encourage our patients to utilize MyChart for those types of needs.

This new service allows our patients to focus on the areas of life that need the most attention. When it comes to your upcoming appointments at Primary Care Associates, leave the remembering to us!

APPOINTMENT REMINDER INFORMATION

TEXT MESSAGE REMINDERS
If your primary phone number listed in your demographic record here at PCAA is a phone number that accepts text, you will receive a text message reminder about your appointment. You will be given options to confirm or cancel the appointment. The information that will be included is the patient’s first name, the appointment date, time, and provider name. The phone number that messages will be sent from is 1-920-996-1060.

AUTOMATED REMINDER CALLS
If you do not have a mobile device or a phone that accepts text messages, SolutionReach will then contact you on your landline phone. You will be given options to confirm or cancel your appointment. If you do not answer the call, a message will be left on your voicemail. The information included on these calls is the patient’s first name, the appointment date, time, and provider name.

Initial Reminder of Appointment Scheduled:
Patient will receive an initial notification of visit scheduled after three (3) hours. Message will include the patient's first name, the appointment date and time, and provider name/resource (e.g. lab, dexascan, ultrasound, etc.). Note: If visit is scheduled within this 3-hour timeframe, patient will not receive reminder. If patient is in-clinic for visit and sent for additional ancillary services, patient will not receive reminder. Initial reminder example below:


Seven Day/One Week Reminder (7 days prior to visit)
Patients will receive reminder text or voice message 7 days/1 week prior to visit requesting confirmation or cancellation.


One Day Reminder
Patients will receive reminder text or voice message one day prior to visit. If patient has not confirmed or cancelled appointment prior, they will be prompted to do so once again. The one day reminder will also provide more specific information associated with the visit type, such as:

• Mammogram appointment: "No lotions, powder, or perfume on skin. Do not apply deodorant to underarms. Wear a two-piece outfit."
• Lab appointment: "Please remember to drink water even if fasting. You may be asked to provide a urine sample."
• Ultrasound or CT appointments: "Follow instructions given at time of scheduling exam. Please call our office with questions."
• Diabetic follow-up appointment: "Please bring your blood glucose monitoring device to your visit."

At this time, patients with multiple visits scheduled on the same day will receive multiple text or voice reminders, i.e. lab, mammogram and provider visit.

Once a patient confirms or cancels their appointment, the patient will receive one of the following messages:

• "Appointment for [Patient First Name] is confirmed. We look forward to seeing you."
• "Your request to cancel has been noted. Please call Primary Care Associates of Appleton at 920-996-1060 to reschedule. Thank you."

For answers to other frequently asked questions, please see below.