YAPI's Early Arrival Reminder feature can tell a patients to come early for their appointment without you having to move them in your appointment book.  Read on to see how Early Arrival Reminders work and how you can set them u p for your patients.

If you want to set early arrival reminder based on procedure, see Setting Early Arrival Appointment Reminders for a Specific Procedure instead.

Table of Contents

• How Early Arrival Reminders Work
• Setting an Early Arrival Reminder for a Patient
  • Dentrix Users
    • For a Single Appointment
    • For Every Appointment
  • Open Dental Users
    • For a Single Appointment by Entering the Time
    • For a Single Appointment by Entering a Code
    • For Every Appointment 
  • Eaglesoft Users
    • For a Single Appointment
    • For Every Appointment
• Related Articles

 

How Early Arrival Reminders Work

Early Arrival Reminders adjust the time shown in YAPI's automated Appointment Reminders by telling your patient their appointment is earlier than it is on your schedule.  This is especially helpful for chronically late patients or for newcomers who need to fill out paperwork. Some patients might even request that their reminder is sent earlier if they know that they tend to run late. 

     

In most cases, you can use a simple code in the patient's notes, memo, or appointment note to mark how many minutes you want them to arrive early: [+number of minutes].  If you want your patient to arrive 10 minutes early, enter [+10]; for 15 minutes, enter [+15] and so on.  

Where you enter this code determines whether a patient's reminder will tell them to come early just once or for every appointment; see Setting an Early Arrival Reminder for a Patient below for more.

 

Setting an Early Arrival Reminder for a Patient

Dentrix Users

In Dentrix, there are two ways to set an Early Arrival Reminder for a patient: in their Appointment Notes for a single appointment or in their Patient Notes for every appointment.

For a Single Appointment

1. In Dentrix, double-click the patient's appointment.

2. In the Notes section of the Appointment Information pop-up, enter the number of minutes you want the patient to arrive early in brackets with a plus sign.  For example, for 10 minutes early, enter [+10].

   

3. Click OK.

 

For Every Appointment

1. In Dentrix, open the patient's Family File .

2. Double-click the Patient Notes section and in the Patient Note pop-up, enter the number of minutes you want the patient to arrive early in brackets with a plus sign.  For example, for 10 minutes early, enter [+10].

   

3. Click OK.

 

Open Dental Users

In Open Dental, there are three ways to set an Early Arrival Reminder for a patient: for a single appointment by setting a time or code in their Appointment Notes or for every appointment by using the native Open Dental setting in their Family Module.

For a Single Appointment by Entering the Exact Time

1. In Open Dental, double-click the patient's appointment.

2. In the Time Ask to Arrive box of the Edit Appointment pop-up, enter the time you want the patient to arrive.

   

3. Click OK.

 

For a Single Appointment by Entering a Code

1. In Open Dental, double-click the patient's appointment.

2. In the Appointment Notes section of the Edit Appointment pop-up, enter the number of minutes you want the patient to arrive early in brackets with a plus sign.  For example, for 10 minutes early, enter [+10].

   

3. Click OK.

 

For Every Appointment

1. In Open Dental, select the patient and click their Family Module .

2. Double-click anywhere in the Patient Information section and when the Edit Patient Information window pops up, enter the number of minutes you want the patient to arrive in the Ask to Arrive Early box.

   

3. Click OK.

 

Eaglesoft Users

In Eaglesoft, there are two ways to set an Early Arrival Reminder for a patient: in their Appointment Notes for a single appointment or in their Patient Memo for every appointment.

For a Single Appointment

1. In Eaglesoft, double-click the patient's appointment.

2. In the Notes section of the Patient Appointment pop-up, enter the number of minutes you want the patient to arrive early in brackets with a plus sign.  For example, for 10 minutes early, enter [+10].

   

3. Click Save.

 

For Every Appointment

1. In Eaglesoft, select the patient and click the Edit Patient icon.

2. Click Memo and in the Patient Memo pop-up, enter the number of minutes you want the patient to arrive early in brackets with a plus sign.  For example, for 10 minutes early, enter [+10].

   

3. Close the Patient Memo and click Save.

 

Related Articles

• Setting Early Arrival Appointment Reminders for a Specific Procedure
• Setting Premedicate Text Reminders for Your Patients
• Setting Patients to Receive Appointment Reminders in Spanish