SMS Templates & SMS on Demand

SMS messaging in MediRecords helps you stay connected with your patients through appointment reminders, results follow-ups, and quick updates, reducing no-shows and helping important information reach patients in real time. Within MediRecords, you can check your SMS balance, purchase additional credits, view recently sent messages, and manage SMS Templates to save time and maintain consistency across your practice.

Contents:

1. Viewing your SMS Balance
2. Purchasing SMS
3. Viewing Recently Sent SMS
4. Where can SMS be Sent from?
5. Creating an SMS Template
   • Mail Merge Functions in SMS Templates
6. Appointment Type SMS Template Configuration
   • Configuring SMS Template for Appointment Type
7. Editing an SMS Template
8. Deleting an SMS Template
9. Troubleshooting

Viewing your SMS Balance

Your SMS Balance is conveniently viewed from above your calendar in the Appointments tab.

It appears as a credits counter above the calendar, showing how many SMS credits remain on the account.

You can also view it from the Billing section:

1. Click More, select Settings, and click Subscription Details.
2. Click Billing.
   
    
3. Click the Payments tab.
4. The SMS balance is displayed on this page.

Purchasing SMS

1. Click More, select Settings, and click Subscription Details.
    
2. Click Billing.
    
3. Click the Payments tab.
    
4. Click Buy SMS Credits.
    
5. Click Quantity and select the amount of credits.
    
6. Click Save to complete the purchase.

The SMS credits have been added to your account.

Viewing Recently Sent SMS

You can check recently sent SMS from either the Activities icon or from within a Patient record. The steps are the same either way:

1. Click on the Activities icon.
    
2. Click on Tasks.
    
3. Click on Filters.
    
4. Turn on Completed under Status.
    
5. Remove the name in the Assignee field.
   
    
6. Choose Reminder (for all bulk reminders sent to patients) or SMS on Demand (for messages sent to specific patients).
    
7. Find the appropriate message.

Note: If the message has a Status of Completed, this means the SMS message was sent from MediRecords.

Where can SMS be Sent from?

Patients List

Open the Patients List by clicking the Patient icon in the MediRecords menu ribbon.

Click the tick-box next to the patients you wish to send to, click More, then click SMS on Demand.

Patient Record

Open a Patient Record. If necessary, confirm the patient has a valid Australian mobile phone number. This is located in the patient record under Details > Demographics.

From the patient dashboard, click the SMS on Demand icon. This opens the SMS on Demand pop-up directly from the patient's dashboard, without needing to open a specific appointment or piece of correspondence.
 

Secure Messaging Inbox

1. Click the Secure Messaging icon.
    
2. Click Inbox.
    
3. Open a piece of correspondence, then click the SMS on Demand icon to send an SMS to the patient associated with the item.
    
4. The SMS on Demand window will open. Choose a template or type a manual message, then click Save.

Appointments

An SMS reminder can be scheduled from the appointment book or sent instantaneously.

To schedule an SMS appointment reminder, create a New Appointment, change the Reminder via SMS setting, and select the time frame. It is configurable to be sent instantly or up to 7 days before the appointment date.

For more information about appointments, refer to our Appointments Series 1: Viewing & Creating Appointments.

To send an SMS instantaneously from the appointment book, open an existing appointment and click the SMS on Demand icon.

You will be presented with the SMS on Demand pop-up. Select an SMS Template or enter your SMS text, then click Send.

Creating an SMS Template

To do this, navigate to SMS Templates by selecting More, followed by Settings, then SMS Template.
 

The first time you use SMS Templates, the template will appear blank without any content in the message box.

To create a new SMS Template, click the Plus sign.

Enter a Name for the template.

Next, enter the SMS Content and Merge Fields to create an SMS message. If the message is the default SMS message being sent to patients, click the Default tick-box. Click Save to save the SMS Template.
 

If the above SMS template was sent to a patient named Paul, regarding his appointment with Alex Chen, this is how it would translate into an SMS message:

"Hi Paul, this is a reminder about your appointment on 10/24 at 8:00 AM in MR Clinic with Alex Chen, please confirm."

To create another SMS Template, click the Plus icon.
 

An unlimited number of SMS Templates can be created, so that SMS reminders can be sent to patients for a multitude of reasons.

Mail Merge Functions in SMS Templates

1. <AppConfirm> If you add this to the template, it will generate a link in the SMS received by the patient to confirm their appointment.
   
   This is how it looks when the patient clicks on the link to confirm their appointment.
2. <AppDate> This mail merge field indicates the date of the appointment.
3. <AppDuration> This mail merge field indicates the duration of the appointment, or how long the appointment will take.
4. <AppLocation> When creating an appointment, the New Appointment form gives an option to add a Room. When this has been added when creating the appointment, and the <AppLocation> mail merge is used on the template, the location or room of the provider is also indicated on the SMS sent to the patient.
     
5. <AppTime> This mail merge field indicates the time of the appointment.
6. <AppTime24> This indicates the time of the appointment in Military Time, including the time zone.
7. <AppTimePatientDate> This mail merge field indicates the time of the appointment including the date of the appointment.
8. <AppTimePatientDate24> This mail merge field indicates the time of the appointment in Military Time with time zone, including the date of the appointment.
9. <AppType> This indicates which kind or type of appointment the patient was booked under.
10. <CoviuURL> If this mail merge is added to the template, a link or URL will be sent through the text message for the patient to access their Coviu Telehealth Appointment.
11. <PatFirstName> Patient's First Name.
12. <PatFullName> Patient's Complete Name.
13. <PatSurname> Patient's Last Name.
14. <PracticeName> This indicates the name of the practice or clinic.
15. <ProviderName> This indicates the name of the provider.

Appointment Type SMS Template Configuration

Appointment Types can now be configured with an SMS Template to enable automated, appointment type specific messaging to patients. This enhancement allows different appointment types to send tailored instructions, such as fasting requirements or preparation notes, improving automation and reducing manual communication.

MediRecords follows a priority order when sending SMS reminders: user-level template overrides take precedence first, followed by the appointment type template, and finally the tenant default template as a fallback.

Configuring SMS Template for Appointment Type

1. Go to Settings.
2. Select Appointment.
    
3. Select the Practice.
    
4. Click Appointment Types.
    
5. Click the appointment type you wish to configure.
    
6. This will open a window for the appointment type you selected.
    
7. Locate the SMS Template dropdown.
    
8. Select your desired Template.
    
9. Click Save.

Upon initial creation of an appointment and selection of the configured appointment type, the patient should automatically receive an SMS reminder based on the template assigned to that appointment type.

You can also verify whether the SMS has been triggered by checking the Activities section under Tasks.
 

Editing an SMS Template

To edit an SMS Template, click the name drop-down and select the SMS Template you wish to edit, then click the Pen icon.
 

Deleting an SMS Template

To delete an SMS Template, click the Minus icon.
 

Click Yes to acknowledge that the SMS Template will be deleted.

Note: The default SMS Template cannot be deleted. De-select the default setting by editing the template.

Note: There is no character limit per SMS, however we charge one credit for every 160 characters (including spaces).

Troubleshooting

A patient didn't receive their SMS appointment reminder

Cause: SMS reminders are not sent for group appointments, and are also not sent when the appointment's status is Unavailable, Completed, At Billing, With Provider, Cancelled, or Reserved.

Resolution: Check the appointment's type and status. If it's a group appointment, or in one of the statuses above, no reminder is expected, this is by design.

Escalate: If the appointment was a standard (non-group) type and its status wasn't one of those above, but the reminder still didn't send, contact MediRecords Support with the appointment and patient details so we can investigate.

Further Reading

• Activities - Tasks, Clinical Actions, and Work Lists
• SMS Appointment Reminders & Confirmations