Streamline patient communication and reduce hold times by allowing patients to seamlessly switch from waiting on hold to texting directly with a member of your staff. Call-to-Text and Abandoned Calls functionality integrates with your existing phone tree to provide additional ways to engage with your patients. 

Click here for instructions on how to manage inbound Call-to-Text and Abandoned Call Conversations.  

Functionality Overview

When implementing Call-to-Text and Abandoned Calls in your phone tree, you can choose to implement either or both use cases. 

Call-To-Text

By giving your patients the option to seamlessly transition from being on-hold to texting directly with your clinic, you can reduce patient frustration with long hold times.

Allowing your patients to move from an on-hold queue to direct messaging:

• Increases the number of patients your staff can handle;

• Increases patient satisfaction;

• Reduces active call volume and hold times;

• Reduces abandoned call rates; and

• Simplifies patient engagement with your practice.

How it Works 

After a patient has been on hold for a pre-set amount of time (e.g. 30 seconds) they will be prompted to press a specific number (e.g. 5) to connect with a Call Center team member through text rather than remaining on hold. 

When the patient selects the number, they will automatically receive a message such as, “This is [Practice Name], we apologize for the hold, how can we help?” This message can be customized as desired and is limited to 255 characters.

Abandoned Calls

When a phone call is dropped or abandoned, an automatic text outreach can also be initiated. This is designed to easily re-engage callers to ensure that your conversation can continue.

How it Works 

When an on-hold caller hangs up or gets disconnected, the patient will automatically receive a text similar to, “This is [Practice Name], It looks like we got disconnected. How can we help you today?” This message can be customized as desired and is limited to 255 characters.

Technical Configuration

Artera securely provides an API Webhook URL for each use case that must be placed within your Call Center software. At set trigger points, your Call Center software will call these webhook(s) and provide the caller’s phone number as a parameter.

In response to this call, Artera will automatically initiate a text to the caller from a pre-configured phone number. Any text responses will appear within a dedicated inbox for a user to reply.

Artera Configuration

Below, we will review the key setup steps that must be taken within Artera to prepare for Call-to-Text and Abandoned Call follow-up. 

There are a few things that are unique to the configuration of this functionality:

• Unverified Patients: Since anyone can call into your phone tree (patients, non-patients, spam, etc.) and Artera is not pulling in MRN/Patient ID numbers, all patients will be created as Unverified Patients. Note: Because patients are Unverified, you cannot use Secure Messaging to communicate with the patient.
• Practice Setup: This feature generates a high volume of Unverified Patients. A separate Call Center Suite Practice is recommended to support the feature. 

Enterprise Default Settings

We recommend enabling the Allow Practices to Message and Search For Any Patient across Enterprise setting when using this functionality. This will allow the full name of patients that exist in other Practices to match inbound messages as they are sent into your Call Center Practice. 

Please review this functionality with your compliance department prior to enablement to ensure you are correctly safeguarding any Protected Health Information (PHI).

Practice Setup

As noted above, Call-to-Text and Abandoned Calls functionality is commonly set up within a separate Practice. This functionality does require enabling at least one Phone Line per Practice. If you need to manage multiple Call Centers, each can be set up as its own Phone Line within a Practice but most Customers will separate Call Centers into their own Practices. These Practices will not have any Resources or Events.

Practice Settings: Practice Hours and After-Hours Messages

Practice Hours

For separate Call Center Practices, we recommend setting the Practice Hours for the hours your staff will be available to address inbound patient messages. 

After-Hours Messages

If your phone tree does not support After-Hours Messages, you can also include an After-Hours Auto-Response message within Artera. If you would like to set up an After-Hours Auto-Response, we recommend including any supported translations directly into the message. Because the patients will be unverified, there is no way to pull in language preference. For the following example, we included the English and Spanish translations directly in the message.

Tip: Write out the English translation of the message, then click + Add Translation. 

Once you have selected the desired language, copy and paste the translation into the original message and delete the translation.

Add Users

Add the Staff and Manager Users who will be handling these conversations to the Practice. 

Build Quick Responses

Add Practice-specific Quick Responses to more efficiently address common patient needs. Since language preferences are not supported for Unverified Patients, if your organization uses multiple languages we recommend creating a Quick Response in each supported translation. Click here for a brief video demonstration. 

Common Quick Responses 

FAQ

Does the caller get to input the phone number where they would like to be contacted? 

No, the text message will automatically send to the number they are calling from. 

What if the number the patient is calling from is a landline or non-textable number?

The text will fail to send if the number cannot receive text messages for any reason. 

What if the patient tries to call the phone number they receive the text from? 

Each Phone Line will be set up to automatically forward inbound calls to the desired main phone number.

When should we give patients the option to receive a text instead of remaining on hold? 

We have seen customers who also have implemented a callback function (press 2 to hold your spot in line and request a callback from our next available representative) to include the option to switch to text conversation as part of that prompt. This typically occurs 90 seconds into the call. 

How will callers show up in Artera?

Anyone can call into the phone tree, which means that each time the SendMessageAPI is triggered, Unverified Patients will be created within Artera. This is because Artera is not pulling in an MRN or CSN. There will be two types of Patient Channels that users will interact with:

1. Patients that are verified in another Practice: These are typically existing/returning patients
2. Individuals whose phone number does not match an existing patient: These can be new patients, relatives of patients, patients with new contact numbers, etc. 

What will happen if Allow Practices to Message and Search for Any Patient is not enabled to Show Outside Patients across the Enterprise?

Users will be unable to search for callers and patients in the separate Call Center Practice because they are considered Unverified Patients. Click here to learn more before enabling this setting. 

Is there a text limit on messages?

Yes, the automated text message that is sent at the start of a Call-to-Text workflow is limited to 255 characters.

Are there limitations when messaging callers?

The same limitations that exist with messaging Unverified Patients today also apply to messaging these callers. This means that when sending Manual Messages, users will not be able to use email or Secure Messaging. Broadcast Messaging is also not supported.

Are multiple languages supported?

To support different languages, a separate webhook for each language must be created. Your phone systems' inbound call workflows will need to be updated so that these webhooks are used after a patient has selected a different language while navigating their phone systems' inbound call tree. 

Is Merged Messaging supported?

Merged Messaging is not supported at this time.

Are Smart Phrases supported?

Smart Phrases are not supported in the initial outbound Call-to-Text or Abandoned Call Message to the patient. However, users will have the ability to use General and Staff Smart Phrases when responding back to Inbound Patient Messages.

Does this API work for voice or email?

No. Artera Call-to-Text is designed specifically for diverting calls over to SMS. 

Can limitations be configured for the specific days and hours texting is available?

When Artera receives a request from your phone system, it will deliver a text nearly immediately. You should configure your phone system workflows so that Call-to-Text is only active on specified days and in between specific hours when your Call Center staff is available to monitor text messages. 

Patients are free to text into the Call-to-Text activated phone line at any time. Using Practice Hours, you can ensure that patients receive an automated response if they send a text message during after-hours or on a holiday when Call Center staff is unavailable. 

Is there a way to test the API before it is deployed to Production?

Yes, during implementation the Project Manager will provide webhooks associated with your Artera Demo Enterprise. Only after successfully testing each in-scope workflow will the Project Manager then generate webhooks associated with Production.

How can we identify which Artera webhook is which?

Webhooks starting with https://stage.well-health-app.com/webhook/jive/ correspond to the Demo site: https://demo-app.well-health-app.com/ 

Webhooks starting with https://www.well-health-app.com/webhook/jive/ correspond to the Production site: https://app.wellapp.com/ 

Will the endpoints change to http://artera.io domain?

The well-health-app.com domain will continue to be available into 2023 as we go through the Artera rebrand. Customers will continue to be updated as endpoints change.

For CALLER_ID_NUMBER, can the customer provide 11-digit or E.164 formatted numbers?

No. At this time, the Call-to-Text API only accepts 10-digit US phone numbers.

Are URLs supported in messages?

Yes, URLs are permitted in posts to the API.

Can the Call-to-Text/Abandoned Calls API be configured to send between the hours of operation for your organization?

There is currently no option to adjust the messaging workflow based on hours of operation.