In the past, about a week before a dentist appointment my dentist’s office would call me to confirm. Because they would usually call at an inconvenient time, they usually ended up leaving me a voicemail message. When I got around to listening to my voicemail, they would inevitably be closed for the day. Then, for the next few days I would remember to call them too late in the day. Finally, about a day or two before the appointment I would remember to call them early enough. While not a big deal in the grand scheme of things, this twice a year hassle was an annoyance.

When my most recent appointment drew near, I was expecting to go through this hassle again, but I was pleasantly surprised. Instead of a phone call, I got a text message reminding me about the appointment. Even better, I could confirm the appointment by responding. And, just in case I sent the confirmation and forgot about it, about 2 hours before the appointment they sent me another reminder text message.

Not only did this change make the appointment confirmation process go much smoother for me, it’s a labor savings for the dentist’s office. Before, a receptionist would need to spend an hour or two calling people to confirm, and then handing callbacks; now with one click a receptionist can send the reminder messages to everyone, and replies are processed automatically.

There’s no major technological breakthrough here — automated text message send/receive systems have been around for a while, and so have patient appointment databases. Like with many innovations, the solution to the inconvenience of appointment reminders did not require new technology; it just needed someone to connect existing technologies in a new way.