Inbound SMS Workflows – Case Study 1

How Inbound SMS Workflow Helped Healthcare Clinics Streamline Patient Coordination and Enhance Engagement
Overview

A mid-sized healthcare network with eight suburban locations across New South Wales faced increasing pressure to manage high patient volumes while maintaining a personal, timely, and compliant standard of care. Traditional appointment systems, manual follow-ups, and task assignments caused inefficiencies, missed communications, and patient frustration.

By implementing inbound SMS workflows, this healthcare provider transformed the way its staff handled patient communication, appointment management, and internal coordination. The result was a fully automated, SMS-driven workflow that reduced manual workload, improved patient satisfaction, and ensured faster task allocation to staff across multiple locations.

Business Background

This provider specialises in general practice, pathology collection, and chronic disease management. With over 25,000 active patients and more than 200 daily appointments across its locations, maintaining communication efficiency was critical.

Before automation, they relied heavily on phone-based interactions and manual data entry. Patients would call to confirm or reschedule appointments, request test results, or follow up on prescriptions. This process required staff to monitor voicemails, return calls, and manually update patient records in the practice management system.

The result was an average of 40–50 phone calls per staff member per day, contributing to burnout and long response times. Missed calls frequently resulted in rework, scheduling errors, and patient dissatisfaction.

The Challenge

Several key challenges emerged:

High call volumes and staff fatigue
Front desk teams were overwhelmed with administrative tasks, such as appointment confirmations and reminders.

Inconsistent communication
Patients used various channels, including phone, email and walk-ins, which made it difficult to centralise and track requests.

Missed follow-ups
When patients failed to attend appointments or required test result follow-ups, staff could lose track of pending actions.

Manual task allocation
Requests arriving after hours or during busy periods were written on paper notes, received to a generic email or logged manually, leading to delays and errors.

A communication solution was needed that was simple for patients, integrated seamlessly with existing systems, and provided visibility for managers across all clinics.

The Inbound SMS Workflow in Action

An Inbound SMS solution was designed to manage four primary use cases:

• Appointment confirmations and reschedules
• Prescription refill requests
• Test result notifications and follow-ups
• General patient enquiries

Here’s how the workflow operated:

1. Appointment Management

When patients received their automated reminder SMS (sent via MedicaCare’s scheduling system), they could reply with simple keywords such as:

• “Yes” to confirm,
• “No” to cancel,
• or “Reschedule” to change their booking.

Edgility’s inbound workflow automatically recognised the keyword and triggered an action:

“Yes” updated the appointment as confirmed in the practice management system (via webhook) and automatically triggered an SMS confirmation reply.

“No” automatically cancelled the booking (via webhook) and freed the slot for other patients.

“Reschedule” triggered an automated SMS that included their unique appointment link (generated by PM system), and allowed the recipient to view other available time slots.

This reduced inbound calls for confirmations by over 80% within two weeks of implementation.

2. Prescription Requests

Patients text in:

• “Repeat prescription”
• or “Medication refill”.

Workflows detected the keywords (prescription, script, medication, refill) and routed the inbound message to the assigned nurse or doctor based clinic location; each location had a unique Virtual Number.

If received outside clinic hours, the system sent an automatic response:

“Thanks for your request. Your doctor will review this tomorrow. Please allow 24 hours for confirmation.”

This maintained patient engagement while keeping after-hours communication structured.

3. Test Result Notifications

When pathology results were available, the admin team would manually trigger a generic outbound message:

“Your test results are ready. Reply ‘Call me’ if you’d like a nurse to phone you.”

An inbound message containing “Call me”, automatically created a new task in the nurse’s daily queue (via webhook).

This reduced missed follow-up calls by 65% and improved compliance with clinical safety guidelines.

4. General Enquiries

For messages that didn’t match a predefined keyword (e.g. “I need to see Dr. Patel next week”), Edgility’s AI-driven rules routed the text to the reception queue, tagging it as a “non-standard request.” Staff could then assign it manually or respond directly from their dashboard.

Impact on Staff Efficiency and Patient Engagement

Reduced Administrative Workload – Staff reported spending 35% less time on phone calls and manual entry tasks.
Inbound SMS responses handled by workflows became a reliable “virtual assistant,” allowing staff to focus on direct patient care.

Improved Communication Clarity – All inbound SMS threads were logged automatically, eliminating lost notes and misunderstandings. This provided full transparency for compliance reviews and medico-legal documentation.

Faster Response Times – After deployment, 80% of patient SMS requests received an automated or human response within five minutes during business hours.

Enhanced Patient Experience – Patients appreciated the simplicity of SMS communication – timely, no app downloads, no waiting on hold. Satisfaction scores improved significantly in the clinic’s quarterly patient feedback survey, with “ease of communication” rising from 68% to 94%.

Measurable Outcomes

Within six months of implementing inbound SMS workflows, clinics recorded:

These results directly translated into higher clinic throughput, improved patient retention, and a stronger reputation for responsiveness.

Key Takeaways

Low-barrier adoption: Workflows only require that clients have a Virtual Number on our platform. Works seamlessly with existing patient management and reminder systems.

High ROI: Automates up to 80% of repetitive admin tasks without new hardware or complex setup.

Compliance-ready: All message logs are auditable and secure.

Scalable: Suitable for small practices through to multi-location clients.

Improves satisfaction: Offers real-time, convenient two-way communication.