If your office is facing an unexpected closure - due to natural disaster, inclement weather, or local emergency - we know you don’t have a lot of time to act. Below are ten ways you can use Adit tools to manage your practice, keep your patients informed, and and ensure uninterrupted communications in uncertain times. Click the links to learn more about how to use each of the features mentioned!
Download the Adit Mobile App to your phone or mobile device.
In case of an unexpected office closure, downloading the Adit Mobile App will allow you to access important practice information,
use your Adit Voice phones, keep tabs on your practice’s text communications, and send important updates to patients, all right from your phone. Most features available in the Adit desktop app are also available on the mobile app. The Adit Mobile App is available for
Apple,
Android, and
Google phones and can be downloaded for free from their respective app stores - just search for “Adit” to get started!
Use Call Override to forward your calls to an external number.
If you will be out of the office unexpectedly for any period of time, you might consider
forwarding your incoming calls to another number that will be monitored while the office is closed. Doing this ensures that your patients' needs are taken care of, their questions are answered, and any appointments are rescheduled in a timely manner. You can also use Adit’s built-in Call Override to temporarily send all calls to voicemail with a specialized message (see the next point for more on this). If you are an Adit Voice client, it is easy to
create a temporary call override. We also make it easy to reverse the override to the original call flow when things go back to normal.
Update your office voicemail message.
With an unexpected office closure, you’ll need an easy way to get important information to patients who call you, even if you aren’t able to answer your practice phones. We recommend
updating your recorded voicemail message with the latest information for your patients, an alternate number to call in case of an emergency, and instructions on how to reschedule their appointment. Don’t forget to let patients know when you will return to the office, and direct them to your website for more information if needed. If you are a client with Adit Voice, you can use Call Override to override your existing call flows and send all calls directly to voicemail with a specialized recording, or you can
update the voicemail recording in your existing call flows.
Turn on “Missed Call” text messages.
If your office is forced to close unexpectedly and it is not feasible to forward your calls, you can turn on Missed Call Texts. This Adit feature allows you to
automatically send a text message in response to any call that is not picked up by your practice. In the case of an office closure, you can use this to notify your clients about your unexpected circumstances. For example: “Thank you for your calling [Your Practice Name], we are unexpectedly closed due to [inclement weather]. All appointments between [Date - Date] are canceled and will be rescheduled at a later date. For more information, visit our website/ email us at: [add info]”
Send an email campaign to let patients know about your closure.
A mass email is an efficient way to let your patients know that your office will be closed, that there was an unexpected change, or that all appointments are canceled (and exactly how to reschedule). Email campaigns work best if you know about the closure in advance, such as a mandatory evacuation due to flooding, but you can also
send a mass email after the closure to keep patients updated. Using the Adit platform, it is easy to
pull a list of patients you can send the email to. Depending on your specific circumstance, you can choose pull a list of: all patients, only patients with appointment dates affected by your closure, or patients scheduled to be seen by a specific provider or in a specific operatory.
Send a Mass Text to patients to let them know about your closure.
If you want to communicate with your patients more urgently than email, a mass text is a great way to get a message out right away.
Use a mass text to notify patients with appointments scheduled on dates affected by your closure to let them know they will be rescheduled. As a best practice, we recommend including information on how they can reach you in an emergency, and how to reschedule their appointments. You can
choose a patient list or segment to make sure your message gets to the patients who need it.
(Important note: Mass text messages will incur an additional charge of $0.01 per message, plus applicable carrier fees. Your practice may be limited in the number of mass text messages it can send per day; please make sure your 10DLC brand registration is complete to ensure you can send the maximum number of mass texts per day. If your 10DLC brand registration is not complete OR if you do not want to incur additional charges, we recommend sending an email campaign instead.)
Update your automatic Appointment Reminder texts in Engage.
Your office has set up automated reminders to inform your patients of upcoming appointments. To avoid any confusion, consider turning off these reminders temporarily, or
updating the wording of the reminders to inform the patients that they will need to reschedule their appointment due to the unexpected closure. You have probably set up multiple reminders to go out at multiple time intervals, so make sure to update each one according to the nature of your closure.
Update your Google Business (GMB) page.
Google is an important source of information for your patients and potential patients. If you know your office is going to be closed, or your hours are going to be changing temporarily, make sure to update your GMB page with this information to avoid any confusion about whether or not your office is open. If you are a marketing client with Adit, simply email your Client Success Manager at
support@adit.com and tell us the updates you need, and we will make the temporary change for you.
Add a message to your website.
If you know that your office will be closed for an extended period of time, consider putting a temporary banner or pop-up on your website that contains the information most relevant to your patients. This message should include as much helpful information as possible, including: the extent of your closure and when you plan to reopen, how to contact your office in the meantime, where to look for updates, how to reschedule, how to
pay their bill, etc. If you are a marketing client with Adit, email your Client Success Manager at
support@adit.com with the above information and we will happily update your website for you.
Update your social media pages.
In an unexpected closure, your patients and potential patients will be looking for updates from you, and the more you can keep them in the loop, the better. Social media is a great way to communicate immediate updates with your patients such as: “Due to the inclement weather and for the safety of our patients and employees, we have closed the office today. Please check back tomorrow for more news. If the weather clears up, we look forward to opening back up as soon as possible. To reschedule, please contact our office via our website/ email/ phone”. Once your office has reopened, it is important that you update that your office is back to normal.
We hope you find these tips helpful, both before and during an emergency closure. Your Adit Voice phones, faxes, and texting will continue to work anywhere you have internet access, including through your mobile phone carrier. We definitely recommend having a plan in place for how to deal with an emergency, and we hope that Adit’s platform makes it easy to communicate information to your patients and help keep them and your staff safe.
One last suggestion - don’t forget to reverse any changes that you made to your call flow, voicemail, text reminders, social media pages, and website once your office reopens!