Patient Notification

Patient Notifications are automated emails or texts that are sent to patients to inform them that they have VSC documents to fill out. Automated notifications can be sent both to patients with accounts and patients that have not created an account.

The message that will be sent is based on the REMOTE_PATIENT_NOTIFICATION template* that is found under the email templates on the file management tab. This template can be customized so that the message is specific to the clinic using the software. The message should be thoroughly tested before sending it to actual patients.

Notifications are set to go out at a certain time every day, and they work by looking at patients/documents loaded into VSC. They do not look at the schedule. All patients that qualify to receive notifications will receive a message if they have had new documents added in the 24 hours prior to the notification time. They will also receive a notification if they are due for a reminder because of an upcoming document completion date.

When using Rules in combination with automated notifications, it is important that there is some mechanism in place to avoid documents being re-added to patients who have already filled out the document (e.g. a tracking OBS term). If such a mechanism is not in place and Rules are looking at the same day multiple times, documents may be added more than once and patients will be sent messages asking them to fill out documents multiple times.

The following settings affect the sending of notification messages:

REMOTE_AUTOMATE_PRE_REGISTRATION_BY_EMAIL: Email notifications will be sent to patients that do not have accounts if this is set to TRUE.
REMOTE_AUTOMATE_PRE_REGISTRATION_BY_SMS: Text Notifications will be sent to patients that do not have accounts if this is set to TRUE
REMOTE_PATIENT_NOTIFICATION_LOCATIONS: A comma separated list of LOC for Notifications can be entered here
REMOTE_PATIENT_NOTIFICATION_TIME: The time that notifications will be sent
REMOTE_PATIENT_NOTIFICATION_TIME: Must be set to TRUE for automated notifications to be sent. Otherwise only manual messages can be sent
REMOTE_UPCOMING_DOCUMENT_NOTIFICATION_IN_HOURS: Number of days in advance of the “Due On” date that reminder notifications will be sent. 48 will send a notification 2 days before and then the day before. 24 will send a notification the day before.

Remote Patient Notification Templates

These are the email and text templates that are provided with VSC:

REMOTE_PRE_REGISTRATION: This is the template for an email message sent when a single patient is added manually from the Home Signature Management tab. Depending on how VSC is configured and being used by an organization, this message may either invite a patient to create an account to fill out their documents or sign in as a guest to fill out their documents.
REMOTE_PRE_REGISTRATION_SMS: This is the template for the text message that gets sent when a single patient is added manually from the Home Signature Management tab. Depending on how VSC is configured and being used by an organization, this message may either invite a patient to create an account to fill out their documents or sign in as a guest to fill out their documents.
REMOTE_PATIENT_NOTIFICATION: This is the template for the content of automated emails or texts (notifications). Depending on how VSC is configured and being used by an organization, this message may either be sent only to patients with accounts or it may also be sent to patients without accounts, inviting them to create an account to fill out documents or fill out documents as a guest.
REMOTE_REGISTRATION: This is the template for the message a patient receives if they create an account. It typically confirms that they have completed an account and provides the URL for the patient to sign in to their account.
REMOTE_FORGOT_USERNAME: This is the email message that gets sent when a patient indicates that they need their username resent. The message will be sent to the email address entered in the forgot username request if there are any usernames associated with that email.
REMOTE_FORGOT_PASSWORD: This is the email message that gets sent when a patient indicates that they have forgotten their password. It will send a message with a link to reset the password to the email address associated with the username entered in the forgot password request.

Below is the content of the default Remote Patient Notification template. The template uses Thymeleaf (https://www.thymeleaf.org/index.html) to create the email or text message that is being sent. All variables used should be defined in the header. The div that begins with "<div th:if=">${useEmail} == true">" contains the information that will be sent in the email message. The title will be the subject line of the email. The div that begins with "<div th:unless="${useEmail} == true">" contains the information that will be sent in the text. This template should serve as a starting point and can be customized to deliver the desired message for a particular organization.

<!DOCTYPE html> <html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" xmlns:th="http://www.thymeleaf.org" lang="en-us"> 












<title>Visual Signature Capture - Documents to Complete</title>
<body>
<div th:if="${useEmail} == true">
Hello <span data-th-text="${firstName}"></span> <span data-th-text="${lastName}"></span>,
<br/><br/>
<div th:if="${not #lists.isEmpty(newDocuments)}">
New documents have been added to your Visual Signature Capture account.
<br/><br/>
<div th:if="${not #lists.isEmpty(upcomingDocuments)}">
Additionally, one or more documents must be completed within the next day.
<br/><br/>
</div>
</div>
<div th:unless="${not #lists.isEmpty(newDocuments)}">
<div th:if="${not #lists.isEmpty(upcomingDocuments)}">
A friendly reminder that one or more documents in your Visual Signature Capture account must be completed within the next day.
<br/><br/>
</div>
</div>
<div th:if="${isPortalPatient} == true">
<a th:href="${loginUrl}">Home Signature Login</a>
<br/><br/>
If your email client does not support HTML and you are unable to click the link above, you may use the following URL:
<br/>
<p data-th-text="${loginUrl}"></p>
<div th:unless="${isForceSend} == true">
<br/><br/>
If you do not wish to receive these emails, you may <a th:href="${unsubscribeUrl}">click here</a> to unsubscribe from all notifications.
</div>
</div>
<div th:if="${invitePatient} == true">
You may complete these documents from any location via our home signature service.
<div th:if="${guestLoginEnabled} == true">
Use this service with the following PIN:
<br/>
<b data-th-text="${pin}"></b>
<br/><br/>
And access the home signature service via the following link:
<br/><br/>
<a th:href="${registrationUrl}">Home Signature Access</a>
</div>
<div th:unless="${guestLoginEnabled} == true">
You can register for this service using the following PIN:
<br/>
<b data-th-text="${pin}"></b>
<br/><br/>
And following the registration process at the following link:
<br/><br/>
<a th:href="${registrationUrl}">Home Signature Registration</a>
</div>
<br/><br/>
If your email client does not support HTML and you are unable to click the link above, you may use the following URL:
<br/>
<p data-th-text="${registrationUrl}"></p>
<div th:unless="${isForceSend} == true">
<br/><br/>
If you do not wish to receive these emails, you may <a th:href="${unsubscribeUrl}">click here</a> to unsubscribe from all notifications.
</div>
</div>
</div>
<div th:unless="${useEmail} == true">
<div th:if="${not #lists.isEmpty(newDocuments)}">
New documents have been added to your VSC account.
<div th:if="${not #lists.isEmpty(upcomingDocuments)}">
Additionally, one or more documents must be completed within the next day.
</div>
</div>
<div th:unless="${not #lists.isEmpty(newDocuments)}">
<div th:if="${not #lists.isEmpty(upcomingDocuments)}">
One or more documents in your VSC account must be completed within the next day.
</div>
</div>
<div th:if="${invitePatient} == true">
Complete here:
<p data-th-text="${registrationUrl}"></p>
<div th:if="${guestLoginEnabled} == true">
Use the PIN:
<b data-th-text="${pin}"></b>
</div>
<div th:unless="${guestLoginEnabled} == true">
Register using the PIN:
<b data-th-text="${pin}"></b>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</body>
</html>