Custom merge fields for appointment reminders

Custom merge fields can provide additional information in your appointment reminders. This might be a specific clinic location, advise the patient that this is a phone consult or even remind them to bring along their drivers licence for their drivers licence medical appointment.

 

How it works:

Your clinic team can add a specific code into the appointment book notes, such as #phone#. When we see this specific code, we then insert customisable, additional text to your appointment reminder text that is sent to this specific patient.

Your regular appointment reminder might say:

'Hi Mickey, this is a reminder of your appointment on 1 Aug 2025 at 12.30pm at Hauora Medical. Reply YES to confirm or call to reschedule to avoid a fee.'

This will now automatically be edited slighly to say

Hi Mickey, this is a reminder of your appointment on 1 Aug 2025 at 12.30pm at Hauora Medical. This is a phone consult, please wait for the doctor to call you. Reply YES to confirm or call to reschedule to avoid a fee.'

You can set up multiple different codes, which then merge different text as needed.

 

 

To set this up for your medical centre you need to follow three steps:

1. Initial set up of new merge codes and custom text

2. Add new merge fields to the appointment reminder template

3. Use the codes on the appointment book notes.

 

 

 

Initial set up of new merge codes and custom text

1. To get started, check that you have the latest TXT2Remind version. Open TXT2Remindand head to Options > Message Receiving
2. Check that you have the custom merge button on the bottom. If you do not, please email email your IT provider (cc support@vensa.com) to inform them that Vensa needs to update your TXT2Remind. 
   
   
   
   
   
   
3. Click the 'Edit Custom Merge' button. This will open a folder in file explorer.
4. Find a file that is named 'Custom Merge'. Right click on it to Open With > Notepad. Thiswill open the file like below.
   
   
   
   
   
   
5. You can now add additional codes to this file. You need to follow the formatting exactly.
   - Each code need to be in a new row
   - The code you want to use is written first using only lower case letters and numbers
   - then a comma with no space after
   - followed by the merge text in double quotation marks.
   
   For the phone consult example, we will be adding
   phone,"This is a phone consult, please wait for the doctor to call you."
   

    

6. Add as many codes and merge field messages as needed.
   
   
   
   
   
7. Click on File > Save. You can then close the window.
   
   

 

 

Add new merge fields to the appointment reminder template

Now that the merge codes and text have been added to the file, we can edit our appointment reminder template and decide where in the template the merge fields are being used. 

1. On TXT2Remind, head to Template > Template Management
2. Double click on the template you'd like to add merge fields to or create a new template.
3. Now type all the codes you have set up in step one. Choose the location in the template where you want the merge text to appear.
   You need to follow the formatting exactly:
   - only use lower case letters and numbers when typing the merge codes
   - the merge code need to be enclosed in two hashs ## - ie. #phone#
   - if adding multiple codes, add them without blank spaces in between, ie. #phone##driver#.
   Select Save.
   
   

We recommend to conduct testing of the new appointment book template before using it on real patients. You can do this by setting up a new TXT2Remind template that includes the merge codes and then assigning this template on Options > Appointment Books to a provider that does not have 'real' appointments, but only Mickey Mouse appointments.

You can contact support@vensa.com for the complementary initial setup and support.

 

 

 

Marking appointment book notes with custom merge codes

1. Locate an appointment on the Medtech appointment book that you want to customise the appointment reminder for.
2. Click into the appointment book notes field and add the appropriate merge code.
   Ensure to follow the formatting exacly - the code needs to be the exact same as you have used in the template, using only lower case letters and numbers, ie. #phone# not phone nor #Phone# nor #PHONE#. The text can be used anywhere in the notes, and any other notes can be present before or after the code without issue.

 

In our example above, Mike Mouse does not have a merge code added and will receive the standard appointment reminder.

'Hi Mickey, this is a reminder of your appointment on 18 Aug 2025 at 8.00am at Hauora Medical. Reply YES to confirm or call to reschedule to avoid a fee.'

John Smith will receive the standard reminder with the merge text that has been set for the #phone# code:

Hi John, this is a reminder of your appointment on 18 Aug 2025 at 8.30am at Hauora Medical. This is a phone consult, please wait for the doctor to call you. Reply YES to confirm or call to reschedule to avoid a fee.'

Minnie Mouse will receive the standard reminder with the merge text that has been set for the #driver# code:

Hi John, this is a reminder of your appointment on 18 Aug 2025 at 8.30am at Hauora Medical. Please bring your drivers licence to your appointment. Reply YES to confirm or call to reschedule to avoid a fee.'