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OutSmart Guide

Appointment Confirmations

The Appointment Confirmation Email is an automated message sent to a patient immediately after an appointment is booked. It serves as a booking confirmation and delivers any relevant information you’ve included in a Custom Confirmation Message.

Why Confirmations Are Email Only — Never SMS

Confirmation messages go out by email only, never by SMS. The reason is in what a confirmation needs to carry:

  • The custom message you’ve written for the event type
  • Any intake forms the patient should fill in before the visit
  • Any document attachments you’ve configured
  • Practitioner-written context for the visit

None of that fits in an SMS. If a duplicate SMS confirmation went out alongside the email, patients would risk dismissing the email as redundant — and then miss the intake forms they were supposed to complete. So at booking time, only the email goes. SMS is reserved for the reminder window closer to the appointment, where there’s nothing custom to carry. See Appointment Reminders for the reminder flow.

The Email Templates

One or two separate emails may be sent depending on how you have configured your confirmation settings. If you have not included a custom message, then only the initial appointment confirmation email will be sent. If you have added a custom message, attachments, or intake forms, then a 2nd email will be sent which includes this package of information.

What does an appointment confirmation look like in my Patient's inbox - shows the two appointment confirmation emails that are sent when an appointment is booked that has attachments or intake forms.

Two confirmation emails are sent if you have configured a custom message and added attachments.

Initial Appointment Confirmation Email

What does an appointment confirmation email look like - shows an appointment confirmation email sent to a patient. The first of two emails that are sent.

The first confirmation email confirms the appointment details.

Additional Email With Custom Message and Attachments

How does a patient see the attachments or intake forms I've sent them by email - shows the second of the two confirmation emails which includes the custom message, intake form, and document attachments.

The second confirmation email includes the custom message
and any attachments.

The Confirmation “Package”

The Confirmation Email contains a “package” of information. A Confirmation Package includes:

  • A custom confirmation message (required for the package to be sent)
  • Smart Form Questionnaires (optional)
  • Attached documents (optional)

How to Send the Confirmation Email

The Confirmation Email is sent automatically for online bookings, as soon as the patient completes the booking.

For appointments that are manually booked in the calendar by practitioners and staff, there are 2 ways to send the confirmation email.

  1. At the same time as you create the booking, or
  2. After the booking is created.

Sending the Confirmation Email when creating the booking

When you create a booking in the calendar, the Confirmation Email will be automatically sent if you click “Save and Send” when saving the event.

When creating an appointment, how do I send the confirmation email and attachments to my patient - it shows the bottom half of the create event panel from the calendar with an arrow pointing towards the "Save and Send" button.

When manually booking an appointment, the confirmation package
is only sent if you click on "Save & Send".

Sending the Confirmation Email after the appointment is created

You may want to send the confirmation email after the appointment is created because you either forgot to click on “Save and Send” when creating the appointment, or you want to send the confirmation email again in case the patient says they did not receive it.

To send it again, click once on the event in the calendar, and this will open up the Event Card with information on that booking. Click on the “Send Confirmation” link to send the confirmation email again to the email address on file for the patient.

How can I send a patient email confirmation of an appointment quickly from the calendar - shows the calendar event card that shows up when clicking on an event with an arrow pointing to the "Send confirmation link."

Click once on an event in the calendar to bring up the Calendar Card

Global vs. Event-Specific Confirmations

OutSmart offers two ways to configure a confirmation package:

How OutSmart Determines Which Package to Send

The system prioritizes event-specific settings.

  1. Check for Event-Specific Message: If a Custom Confirmation Message has been entered for a specific event type in the Event Manager, OutSmart sends the Event-Specific Confirmation Package for that appointment.
  2. Check for Global Message: If no custom message has been specified for the event type, OutSmart defaults to sending the Global Confirmation Package.
  3. Default Message: If there is no message in the Global Confirmation Package, a default system-generated confirmation message is sent.