This guide contains information for medical staff about the Vensa mobile kiosk. This functionality is included in all TXT2Remind plans at no additonal charge (SMS are being counted against your monthly bundle). Patients do not need to download any app nor do they need to create any log-ins.

Medical Centres can choose to enable either the appointment reminders or the check-in functionality, or both, on a per provider basis.

Appointment Reminders 2.0
Online Cancellations
Updating Contact Details
Appointment Check-In

1. Appointment Reminder 2.0

The new appointment reminders 2.0 can replace or supplement the 'regular' appointment reminders from TXTRemind as needed. With these cloud-based reminders, patients receive a text reminder for their appointment as usual, but this now now contains a link that enables them to cancel their appointment or update their contact details.

"Mickey, Your ph or in-person appt at Hauora Medical is on 15 May 2025 at 1.30pm. If you need to cancel or update your details, click here www.vensa.com/abc123

Things to keep in mind:

You can exclude patients from receiving a reminder by adding ** to the beginning of their appointment book notes
Sent cloud based reminders are not logged in the TXT2Remind outbox not the patient outbox in the PMS (WIP)
For each provider you'd like to enable, there needs to be a unique HPI Number in the Medtech staff setup (we supply dummy HPI as needed)
The practice team cannot mange the activation of new providers themselves - this needs to be requested with Vensa
Patients can not 'Reply Yes to confirm or No to Cancel' anymore like they can on TXT2Remind

2. Appointment Cancellations

When patients receive a cloud based appointment reminder, they have the option to cancel their appointment online.

The online cancellations can be set up with a time limit, ie., in the initial setup, the clinic determines a cut-off time, from which patients can no longer cancel online as it is too close to the consult time. The clinic also determine if patients can cancel appointments online when they have more than one appointment scheduled for the day.

When a patient cancels online, the appointment template gets updates to vacate their slot. In the patient appointment view the appointment gets marked as cancelled by ALEX and gets inactivated. There is no other step needed for the cancellation and no further record of this - the appointment book slot simply frees up, which, if you are using online bookings, makes the slot available online for another patient to book into.

4. Mobile Check-In

When you choose to enable Check-In, patient will receive a text message 15-20min before their scheduled appointment time. The text is being sent in addition to their regular appointment reminder. The Check-In text advises patients to check-in for their consult online when they arrive at the clinic.

"Mickey, when you arrive at Hauora Medical check-in here www.vensa.com/abc123 and head to waiting area. For ph consults, simply wait for our call."

When accessing the link, a prompt will ask patients to allow GPS location tracking on their phone so we can determine their location and ensure they have arrived at the medical centre. Once the patient proveeds with the Check-In, they will be automatically arrived in the Medtech appointment book.

Actions triggered by the patient's Check-In

Patient is arrived in the appointment book and the timer columns starts indicating waiting time
Patient appointment book notes are appended to add 'Vensa Check-in' at the beginning of any other notes
Patient is arrived in the clinician view of the appointment book (name turns green and timer starts indicating waiting time)

Functionality and available settings

Choose which specific appointment books you want to enable and assign specific templates (please note each activated provider needs to have a unique HPI number in the staff setup - we provide dummies)
Determine how long after the scheduled appt time patients can still check-in online
Exclude patients from receiving the check-in text based on their account group (please note we cannot exclude patients from online check-in based on their account balance)
Exclude individual patients by adding ## to the beginning of their appointment book notes
Determine what happens for patients that have multiple appointments booked in the same day. When these patients check-in online, they can either be arrived for all their appointments or just the first one
Please note: the 'No-SMS' tick is currently not being honoured, ie. patients with the No-SMS box ticked will receive a check-in message (WIP).

Updates and improvements on our roadmap

Ability for patients to update more details on their patient register such as NOK, street address and preferred name
Writeback of sent appointment reminders and Check-In reminders to the patient outbox
Honouring of No-SMS box if ticked on patient register
Adding of queue indicator after Check-In (showing users how many patients are ahead of them in the queue)
Exclude patients if they are in debt or asking patients with a balance to settle this online before checking in
Ability to capture patient's smoking status and alcohol consumption during Check-In

Looking for something else?

See other services included in any TXT2Remind plan

Provider support

Online Patient Kiosk

See a quick introductory video for our Check-In functionality below