Sms and Email Notification Howtos

The email/sms notification module is used to notify a patient about an upcoming event/appointment. The module consists of two parts, a front end setup and a back end engine. The front end is used to set the message template, access for the Sms/email engines and specify if a certain patient should receive notifications. The back end is set to query the database every hour for upcoming events which are set to send notifications and send them.

Gateways Supported as of 3.2 are:

• tm4b http://www.tm4b.com/sending-sms/ - Outside USA only
• clickatell - http://www.clickatell.com/

Setup Sms/email notification module you need follow these steps for version 4.0:

1. In Administration->Globals->Notifications and adjust the configuration as appropriate for your setup: Email Notification Hours - limits when messages should be sent SMS Notification Hours - limits when messages should be sent SMS Gateway Username - user name used for sms gateway access SMS Gateway Password - access password SMS Gateway API Key - used to interface with clickatell

Notification Email Address - Where will the message come from Email Transport Method - select SMTP, SENDMAIL or built in PHPMAIL SMTP Server Hostname - email outgoing server host/ip SMTP Server Port Number SMTP User for Authentication - outgoing server user SMTP Password for Authentication - outgoing server password

These globals from 3.2 seems to be missing in the admin tool --Tony - www.mi-squared.com 21:01, 2 March 2011 (UTC)

• $GLOBALS['smtp_use_ssl']
• $log_folder_path - this is the path where the back end process will save the logs. You must set this with write access for the user which will run the cron jobs.

(Note: at the moment only two Sms engines are supported Tm4B - http://www.tm4b.com and Clickatell - http://www.clickatell.com)

2. In order to install back end notification processes you need to add cron_email_notification.php and cron_sms_notification.php in system crontab to run every hour. Do this in the command *LINUX* command line. Note: Need windows instructions written

bash$ crontab -e

then put in the following lines:

* */1 * * * /var/www/html/openemr/modules/sms_email_reminder/cron_sms_notification.php

* */1 * * * /var/www/html/openemr/modules/sms_email_reminder/cron_email_notification.php

(note: make sure you adjust the path as per your configuration)

BELOW (3) is missing for V4.0 --Tony - www.mi-squared.com 21:03, 2 March 2011 (UTC)

3. Login into openEMR and go in section Admin.Notification and there you will find three new sections:

- SMS notification - set provider name and the body of the sms message

- E-mail notification - set subject, provider name and the body of the email message.

4. In openEMR front end, under Patient/Client => summary (-page)=> Edit Demographics => Choices

In this section you will find two options: 1. Allow E-mail and 2. Allow SMS.

This is to be set as required if you want your patient to be notified about an upcoming appointment.

5. Go to Administration => Other => Database.

Find the table automatic_notification:

Edit the 2nd row in which email is the default value. Only change "provider name", "message subject" and "message send from". Write the body as per your requirement in the "message" section. --Dr.Arnab Naha

6. Some useful Annonations:

***NAME*** - for entering the name of the patient automatically

***DATE*** - for entering the date of the appointment automatically

***STARTTIME*** - For entering the start time of the appointment

***ENDTIME*** - for the end time of the appointment

***PROVIDER*** - to state the provider automatically with whom the appointment is fixed --Dr. Arnab Naha

7. You need to configure mercury mail in your xampp or separately to be able to send mails. Mercury Mail acts as a secure mail server on your local machine. Dr. Arnab Naha

Patient Appointment Reminders via automated voice system -- Sherwin - ww2.openmedpractice.com 10 Sept 2013

Complete and ready for use.

The call reminders will require only the click of a button to start the calls going out. The system will be able to make up to 100 simultaneous call. So if your office has 30 appointments on the schedule. All 30 patients will be called at once. The patient will be asked to select 1 to confirm appointment and that selection will be recorded. The second selection will be recorded which is to cancel appointment. This information will be gathered within one hour and posted back to the EMR for viewing.

Contact Open Med Practice for a demo/test call.

The patch can be downloaded from http://omp.openmedpractice.com/pacs/Call_Reminder_Patch.zip

To install the patch:

1. Simply unzip it and copy the folders inside the patch-callback folder to your instance of OpenEMR.

2. Go to Administration => Other => Database and select Import. Navigate to your local copy of the patch and into the SQL folder and import the call_reminders.sql and the reminder_content.sql.

3. Next go to http://callback.openmedpractice.com/register-now and submit the payment form.

Once we receive your payment we will email you the IVR username and password.

4. Once you receive those go to Administration > Globals > Notifications and check the box to activate the IVR and copy and paste the username and password that was sent. Program will be activated and ready for use as described above.

Reach us here for any questions:

https://sourceforge.net/p/openemr/discussion/202504/thread/04c47fc7/ Or direct at sgaddis-at-jse.net

We have started working on the voice reminders for the clinical reminders. We will keep everyone posted on our progress.