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#47662
08/07/2012 7:20 AM
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Joined: Dec 2007
Posts: 79
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We have collected email addresses on our flu shot reminder cards which patients, but have never used them. We were thinking of using them this year to send a mass reminder email.
Sanofi Pasteur has a "First-2-Know" free service where you upload an Excel spreadsheet and I believe it will send the email for you. I haven't logged on to it yet to check it out.
For people that do send bulk emails I was wondering how you do it and if you like the method you are using.
Philip, IT for wife's Family Medicine Practice
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Joined: Apr 2011
Posts: 2,316 Likes: 2
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Joined: Apr 2011
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I use mail merge in Outlook. Lets you send bulk personalized email to a contact list. You can do this for letters, envelopes, labels, etc. E.g. Dear <<NAME>>, We are writing to inform you of your appointment on <<APPTDATE>> at <<TIME>>. Looks like you wrote it to them, but it's really a bulk message. If you assign an appoint slot to that user, you can include that in the message too assuming you already have it in a spreadsheet or something.
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Joined: Jun 2011
Posts: 255
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Joined: Jun 2011
Posts: 255 |
This would be a very nice UPDOX feature, to be able to mass email patients to their portal.
David Lee, MD
IM
Dallas, TX
David Lee, MD
IM
Dallas, TX
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Joined: Dec 2009
Posts: 1,205 Likes: 8
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Joined: Dec 2009
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For our clients that use our front desk scheduler, we use SQL Server Integration Services to send mass emails if the client can provide an email address (most can). For example, we will go into a client's front desk database and pull all patients that have an appointment, say, 3 days into the future. Here is the package screenshot: ![[Linked Image from ]](/ub/attachments/usergals/2012/08/full-2117-340-package.jpg) The first step runs the following SQL Statement to pull data from the actual appointments database: SELECT Patient.ID as PatientID, Patient.LastName, Patient.FirstName, Appointments.[Date] AS apptDate, Appointments.[Time] as apptTime, Patient.emailAddress
FROM (Appointments INNER JOIN
Patient ON Appointments.PatientID = Patient.ID)
WHERE appointments.date = date() + 2 Notice how I am using the Date() function to get the current date, then add 2 to it to get the day after tomorrow's date. The next step then executes the code, in C#, to send the emails. Here is a snippet: while (tbltemp.EOF == false)
{
if (tbltemp.Fields["emailAddress"].Value.ToString() == "" || IsValidEmail(tbltemp.Fields["emailAddress"].Value.ToString()) == false)
{
emptyEmails = emptyEmails + tbltemp.Fields["PatientID"].Value.ToString() + Environment.NewLine;
}
else
{
try
{
string messageBody = emailBody(tbltemp.Fields["LastName"].Value.ToString(), tbltemp.Fields["FirstName"].Value.ToString(), (DateTime)tbltemp.Fields["apptDate"].Value, (DateTime)tbltemp.Fields["apptTime"].Value);
myMessage = new MailMessage(clientEmail, tbltemp.Fields["emailAddress"].Value.ToString(), "Client Appointment Reminder", messageBody);
//myMessage = new MailMessage("notifications@southtxfoot.com", "email@somewhere.com", "South Client Appointment Reminder", messageBody);
STFSSMTP.Send(myMessage);
}
catch (System.FormatException)
{
emptyEmails = emptyEmails + tbltemp.Fields["PatientID"].Value.ToString() + Environment.NewLine;
}
}
tbltemp.MoveNext();
} The SQL Statement gets all appointments on that date and puts them into a record set which the above code loops through. Using this technique, we can format the body of the email to exactly what the client wants and make various other adjustments on the fly. Using SSIS to build a very similar package like the one above, we also send text files to House Calls to they can call the patient for the reminder. The same thing can be done for Amazing Charts' scheduler. Keep in mind, however, that SQL Server 2008/2008 R2/2012 Standard Edition is required to get SSIS. JamesNT
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Joined: Sep 2003
Posts: 12,899 Likes: 34
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Joined: Sep 2003
Posts: 12,899 Likes: 34 |
Philip, If you don't use your Excel method, this is the easiest way. When you collect email addresses, put the email address in the email address field. If you want to select certain ones for mass mailings later like flu shots, you would do the following: For all patients with email: Go to Search and in the Category field, select Demographics. In the Field field, select Email. In Operator, select Contains. In the Value, enter "contains @". Run a query, and this will bring up every email in your practice. For all patients with email and want influenza shots: For flu shots, when you enter the email or go back and add to an email, type influenza one space or more after the email address. This could be flu or Mickey Mouse. So, for the flu shot mass mailing you would enter "contains @" in line one, and "contains influenza" in line two. Make sure the AND is chosen in the place where it says, If more than two lines. Run a query. This will give you the emails of all people who signed up for flu shots. Once in the Query Results, choose Select All and then select Mail Email. This will load the following windows: ![[Linked Image from ]](/ub/attachments/usergals/2012/08/full-4-341-mass_email.png) It is self explanatory after that. I use Outlook, and it loads over 1,000 emails in the BCC field. I am not sure how it works with Outlook Express, etc. It certainly wouldn't work with webmail.
Bert
Pediatrics
Brewer, Maine
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Joined: Dec 2007
Posts: 79
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Thanks for the ideas. Everyone is so advanced!
We use webmail (google apps) so that rules out most of these ideas I think. Webmail has worked fine for our needs for 5 years, but this is a case where maybe it pays off to send emails in-house.
I guess I was more thinking has anyone used this Sanif Pasteur service or is there are similar service which is maybe better?
Since we use google I was thinking maybe Google Groups, send emails that way. This Sanif thing does phone/email/text but we're thinking we'd just do want email.
I guess I will just trying the Sanif thing with a small test and see if it works well. Otherwise consider Google Groups as an email-only service.
Philip, IT for wife's Family Medicine Practice
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Joined: Sep 2003
Posts: 12,899 Likes: 34
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Joined: Sep 2003
Posts: 12,899 Likes: 34 |
Sounds like Sanofi Pasteur would work fine. Is it free? I'm with Sandeep. Outlook is considered by "many" to be the best email program there is. It is a very powerful email program. You don't have to use Exchange to use it.
I just like having my email right on my hard drive. (for me it is on the server). You can use mail merge or distribution lists or whatever. There are many programs that can be used.
I just thought using AC's built-in program was a decent idea.
Bert
Pediatrics
Brewer, Maine
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Joined: Apr 2011
Posts: 2,316 Likes: 2
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Posts: 2,316 Likes: 2 |
Mail merge works well for envelopes and letters too. It's a good thing to know. I remember several years back my dad wanted me to send out 400-500 Christmas Greeting Cards. Would've taken like week. Being the lazy person that I am, I loaded them into Microsoft Word and printed off 500 Envelopes and Cards using Mail Merge in Word.
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Joined: Sep 2003
Posts: 12,899 Likes: 34
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Joined: Sep 2003
Posts: 12,899 Likes: 34 |
I could never get mail merge to work, lol. Being the lazy person that I am Yeah, right.
Bert
Pediatrics
Brewer, Maine
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Joined: Apr 2011
Posts: 2,316 Likes: 2
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Just make a spread sheet with headings, e.g. First Name, Last Name, etc. Press that mail merge button, point to your excel file. The column headings will be used as fields in the resulting document. Works in Word, Publisher, Outlook, etc.
Dear <<FirstName>> <<LastName>>, etc.
Definitely a very useful thing to have in an office environment.
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Joined: Apr 2011
Posts: 2,316 Likes: 2
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Lol, I'm so lazy I didn't even want to install Win 7 on all the new computers. Used WDS Server to deploy a Win 7 image loaded with everything. Probably saved me like a week.
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