This guide explains how to configure the available delivery window for automated notifications (SMS and calls) sent. This feature allows you to define specific timeframes for when automated messages are sent to patients.
Feature Overview
The Automated Message Delivery Window feature provides granular control over when automated communications, such as appointment reminders and other notifications, are delivered to patients via SMS and calls. This helps ensure messages are delivered at appropriate times, respecting patient preferences and adhering to regulations..
Understanding the Previous Delivery Window Behavior
Previously on 1.268 Release, Curogram used a hardcoded sending window for automated notifications, typically from 8:00 AM to 8:00 PM, in alignment with regulations like the TCPA (Telephone Consumer Protection Act) to prevent late-night calls or texts. If a message was scheduled after the 8:00 PM end time (for example, at 8:30 PM), the system would automatically adjust the sending time to be within the last hour of the hardcoded window (7:00 PM to 8:00 PM). This mechanism was in place to prevent notifications from being sent late at night.
The Enhancement: Configurable Delivery Windows:
This hardcoded system has been replaced by configurable delivery windows. You can now define specific start and end times for automated messages, with separate settings for weekdays and weekends, offering more precise control over your communication delivery times.
Accessing Delivery Window Settings
You can find the settings for the automated message delivery window within the Patient Care Journey section, under the Automated Messages toggle.
Configuring Weekday and Weekend Delivery Windows
Within the Automated Messages settings, you will see two distinct configuration options:
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- Weekdays Delivery Window: This allows you to set the start and end times for automated message delivery on weekdays (Monday to Friday).
- Weekends Delivery Window: This allows you to set the start and end times for automated message delivery on weekends (Saturday and Sunday).
- Weekdays Delivery Window: This allows you to set the start and end times for automated message delivery on weekdays (Monday to Friday).
For both weekday and weekend settings, you can configure the following:
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- Start Time: Define the earliest time of day automated messages can be sent.
- End Time: Define the latest time of day automated messages can be sent.
Automated notifications will only be delivered to patients within the configured start and end times for the respective day.
Federal Guidelines Warning
When setting your delivery windows, particularly if you choose a start time earlier than 8:00 AM or an end time later than 9:00 PM, you may encounter a warning prompt. 
This warning indicates that the chosen time falls outside the recommended federal guidelines for contacting consumers (patients in this case). While Curogram allows you to set times outside these guidelines, the prompt serves as a disclaimer:
- It will state that federal guidelines suggest consumers should only be contacted between 8:00 AM and 9:00 PM.
- It will include a disclaimer that your practice is responsible for any consequences that may arise if patients complain about receiving communications outside these recommended hours.
Please Note: Curogram will still save your chosen delivery window even if it falls outside the federal guidelines, but the warning will remain visible to inform you of the potential implications.
Error Prompt: Invalid Time Configuration
You will encounter an error prompt that prevents you from saving your settings if you attempt to configure an End Time that is earlier than the Start Time for either the weekday or weekend delivery window.
This is a validation to ensure the delivery window is logically configured. If you encounter this error, adjust the Start and End times so that the End Time is after the Start Time. The error prompt will disappear once the times are set correctly.
By utilizing these configurable delivery windows, your practice can better control the timing of automated patient communications, respecting patient preferences and adhering to recommended contact guidelines while maintaining the flexibility to define hours that best suit your practice's operational needs.
Impact of Changing Delivery Window End Time on Unsent Messages (Release 1.270):
It is important to understand how changing the End Time of your Available Delivery Window can affect automated notifications that were scheduled but have not yet been sent. This specific behavior was updated in Release 1.270.
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If you change the End Time of the Available Delivery Window, and there are automated notifications scheduled for times that were within the original window but are now outside the new window, those unsent notifications will attempt to be sent within the last hour of the new Available Delivery Window. This will only happen if that last hour has not yet passed at the current time.
- Example: Your window is 8:00 AM to 7:00 PM. Notifications are scheduled for 4:00 PM, 5:00 PM, and 6:00 PM.
- If the current time is 2:00 PM and you change the End Time to 3:00 PM, the last hour of the new window is 2:00 PM to 3:00 PM. Since the current time (2:00 PM) is within this last hour, the 4:00 PM, 5:00 PM, and 6:00 PM notifications (which are now outside the new 8:00 AM - 3:00 PM window) will be sent between 2:00 PM and 3:00 PM.
- If the current time is 2:00 PM and you change the End Time to 1:00 PM, the last hour of the new window (12:00 PM to 1:00 PM) has already passed. The 4:00 PM, 5:00 PM, and 6:00 PM notifications will not be sent.
- If the current time is 2:00 PM and you change the End Time to 1:00 PM (messages not sent), but later at 2:30 PM you change the End Time to 3:00 PM, the last hour of this latest window (2:00 PM to 3:00 PM) has not yet ended (since it's 2:30 PM). The 4:00 PM, 5:00 PM, and 6:00 PM notifications will now be sent.
- Example: Your window is 8:00 AM to 7:00 PM. Notifications are scheduled for 4:00 PM, 5:00 PM, and 6:00 PM.
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Specifically for Creation Notices, Confirmation Requests, and Reminders that were scheduled but not yet sent: If the last hour of the new Available Delivery Window has already passed at the current time when the End Time is changed, these notifications will no longer be sent. To send them, you would need to adjust the End Time again so that the current time falls within the last hour of the updated window.
Understanding this behavior is important when making adjustments to your delivery window End Time during the day to ensure your automated messages are sent as intended.
Update based on 1.270 Release (December 17, 2024)