Case # 1: The patient had an appointment @ 2:30 PM today. Yesterday morning (around 10 AM) we called the patient and asked her to come in at 2:00 PM instead. The patient agreed and we moved the patient from 2:30 PM to 2:00 PM. Today at 2:00 PM the patient didn't show up. We called her and she said, "I received a text confirming my appointment for 2:30 PM today. Sure enough, Demand Force kept the old time even though the appointment was changed 24 hours before.
Case # 2: The patient cancels the appointment. The name is taken from the schedule. Demand Force still sends reminders of appointment even though the appointment is no longer on Dentrix.
Who gets the blame for it? The front office. "Oh, those people in the front office are so disorganized!" If Demand Force does an update every 15 minutes, why is this problem still going on? It's unacceptable.
Guest
We have had two instances that we are aware of (who knows how many have happened and patients just ignore it and don't let us know). One I simply noticed that a text had been sent for the old appointment, the patient hadn't let us know it was wrong. The other, the patient texted back saying they had already rescheduled that appointment. In these two instances an appointment had been rescheduled many days prior to any timeframe for reminders/confirmations. There are DAYS for the program to refresh and update but it has sent reminders/confirmations for these original phantom appointments. So, yes, we look like idiots when we are simply trusting the system to perform as advertised.