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Case Study: Dental Software ZaWin32® by MARTIN Engineering AG
Dental offices send appointment reminders and arrangements for over ten years through ASPSMS
As part of the ongoing digitization of both medical and administrative areas, a high number of dental offices and dental clinics manage appointments in electronic form. This allows the staff to plan appointments efficiently and quickly close occurring gaps in the schedule.
No-Shows are - in addition to the annoyance - also a cost factor possible to eliminate
As we know, no one is all too happy to go to the dentist or dental hygiene. The problem of No-Shows is persistent. With the introduction of electronic appointment systems, this became more transparent and could be more precisely quantified.
With more than 1200 installations for about 7 to 8'000 PC workstations, MARTIN Engineering is Switzerland's leading provider of administrative solutions for dentists and dental clinics.
Indispensable SMS functionality through ASPSMS
Since already more than ten years the feature automated appointment book was implemented to the ZaWin32® software. The highly reliable ASPSMS perfectly suited the needs for communication by SMS. The dental software offers the option if a patient is allowed to be contacted by SMS.
What was seen as a marketing gag in the beginning is an indispensible feature today.
Once the mobile phone number is entered and the permission to send SMS is confirmed by the patient, several SMS communication options are available.
- Individual, personal SMS
- SMS for automatic appointment reminder
- Invitation to book appointment for dental cleaning or inspection by SMS
The first option must be entered and sent manually by the user. The other options are automated. It can be defined by parameter control, how much in advance an appointment reminder should be sent. In addition, a customized time span can be set for patients who are always late. This means the patient can be automatically called out earlier. In general, the system also takes into account off-times during which an SMS cannot be delivered. This is usually the time between 21-6 o'clock. Of course, these off-times can be configured by the user.
High level of acceptance and appreciation
With the introduction of this feature in 2001, Martin Engineering assumed that this service would be be used in particular in the cities by adolescents / young patients. The practice has an interesting but far different outcome result. The first SMS were sent in traditional country side dental offices. Amazingly, especially the elderly very much appreciated this feature as a perfect service.
Meanwhile, SMS reminders have become an indispensable component. Patients in all areas and in all ages have been accustomed to SMS reminders and dental office risk no-shows if they do not send an SMS in advance of an appointment.
And that's how it's done:
Software sending SMS manually:
APIs automated sending of SMS:
(programmers interface)
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