Why Patient Receive Reminders for Cancelled Appointments
Why Patients Sometimes Receive Reminders for Cancelled Appointments
It’s happened before — and it will happen again. A patient calls to cancel or reschedule an appointment, only to later receive a reminder for the appointment they just changed. Frustrating, right?
This article explains why this happens and how to set expectations with patients to avoid confusion.
How Appointment Reminders Are Generated
Each night during system rollover, Tops Ortho sends appointment data to Tops Reminders / TopsDPX. This includes:
- Existing appointments
- Newly created appointments
- Recently updated appointments
Reminders are generated for the next day and for future appointments up to 30 days out. Sending this data nightly allows reminders to queue and send based on your office’s customized reminder schedule.
Example: How Reminders Queue
Let’s say today is Sunday, February 1.
At approximately 12:30 a.m. on Monday, February 2, Tops Ortho completes its nightly rollover, including updating all appointment reminders.
If your office uses:
- a 30-day reminder
- a 3-day reminder
- a 2-hour reminder
Then on February 2, reminders will queue for patients with appointments on:
- February 2 → 2-hour reminder
- February 5 → 3-day reminder
- March 4 → 30-day reminder
Once these reminders are queued, they are scheduled to send later that day.
Why Cancelled Appointments May Still Get a Reminder
Using the example above, if a patient calls on February 2 to cancel an appointment scheduled for February 2, February 5, or March 4, they will still receive a reminder for the original appointment.
This happens because the reminder was already queued earlier that morning during rollover, before the appointment was cancelled or rescheduled.
Best Practice: Setting Patient Expectations
To prevent confusion, we recommend the following:
If a patient calls within 7 days of their scheduled appointment to cancel or reschedule, let them know:
“You may still receive a reminder today for your original appointment. Please disregard that message — your appointment has been updated.”
Setting this expectation upfront helps avoid confusion and unnecessary follow-up calls.