In an increasingly digital world and with the ever increasing cost of post more and more patients and practices are turning to email as a cheap and efficient method of communication. You can utilise the Genie Email Module to communicate with both patients and doctors alike.
Note: It is important to mention that email is not a secure method of communication and as such the sending of sensitive information via email is not advised. Medically sensitive information should be sent using a secure third-party correspondence program.
Before you begin
You will need to configure the Genie Email Module before you will be able to email from Genie. To do this, please follow the instructions in Configuring the Email Module. Most practices still like to utilise their external email client applications (such as Microsoft Outlook or Apple Mail) to manage their email inbox because of the extra functionality these applications offer. As such we would recommend only configuring the Outgoing Mail settings.
Your intended recipient will also need to have their email address recorded against their record. If you are emailing a patient, then their email must be entered into the relevant field in their demographic window. If you are emailing a referrer or another doctor in your Address Book, then you must enter their email address into their Address Book record instead.
Any Merged Letter Template can be emailed from Genie to a patient. Anywhere that you can create a Merged Letter from you can create a subsequent email.
To email a Merged Letter Template, first highlight the patient in the Appointment Book or Patient List, and click on the 
icon . Alternatively, you can click on this icon from within the Patient Demographic window or the clinical window.
Next, double click on the template that you wish to email, to open the window. At the top left-hand corner of the letter writing window, you will find the email icon 
. Please click onto this icon.
You will then be provided with a list of options for how you would like this letter to appear for the recipient when they view the email as per below:
Send in body of email
This option will insert the text from your template directly into the body of the email. You should keep in mind that this option will mean the formatting of the letter will be lost and you will only be sending plain text.
Send as RTF attachment
RTF format files are most commonly used in word processing programs such as Microsoft Word. The receiver will need to have an appropriate software installed to open this kind of attachment.
Send as PDF attachment (recommended)
PDF attachments are the most common form of email attachment that we receive, and act as an image file rather than a text file. By selecting this option, the recipient of the email will receive a copy of the letter as it displays on your screen - all formatting, pictures etc will be retained.
Note: If you are using a Windows computer, you will need to have Ghostscript and a PDF Printer installed in order to use this functionality.
When you have chosen an attachment style, the New Email window will then open, and, depending on the selection you made, an attachment may be inserted. You will then be able to make any necessary adjustments or additions to the email before selecting the 'Send Now' option.
If you are sending a merged letter for a single patient this letter will be sent once the 'Send Now' button is selected.
If you are creating/sending letters for multiple patients at once then upon email creation these emails will be placed in the Outbox folder within the Email module. In order to ensure that correspondence is only sent once reviewed Genie will not immediately send these letters but rather the emails will remain in the 'Out' folder of the Email Module until such time as they are accessed and sent. In order for the emails to be formally sent you can either double click on the individual email from the 'Out' folder and choose the 'Send Now' option or alternatively, you can select the 'Get Mail' option at the top of the window, ensure the Send column has been selected and select OK.
Once the email has been sent the email will now appear in the 'Sent' folder within the email module.
Note: Merged Letter Templates should be emailed at the time of creation. Once a Merged Letter has been saved to a patient's record it is converted to a Referral/Reply letter and as such cannot be easily emailed to a patient.
Referral/Reply Letter Templates
You may also wish to email your Referral/Reply Letters to doctors in your Address Book. To do this, you would highlight the relevant patient in the Appointment Book or Patient List, and click onto the 
icon to open the letter. You can also open this window by clicking on the same icon in the clinical window or from within a record in the Address Book.
When you have finished modifying the letter and you are ready to send it, you can click onto the email icon at the top left-hand corner of the window.
As with the Merged Letter Template, you will be given a list of attachment types to choose from. If you are unsure which attachment to select, please read the attachment details under the “Merged Letter Templates” heading.
Once you have selected an attachment type, the New Email window will open, and your letter will be attached ready for sending. You can then adjust the email as needed and click Send. The email will then move into the Outbox in the Email Module temporarily while it sends, and then will move into the Sent box when it has successfully sent.
Genie allows you to send reminders to patients for their upcoming appointments via the Email Module. To send email reminders to patients, go to the day of appointments you would like to send messages for and go to Appts > Email Reminders to open the following window:
This window will only display those patients with an email address in their Patient Demographics window. It will automatically tick patients who have an email address and who have not already received an SMS reminder. The reason for this is that, if you send both an email and SMS reminder, then the patient may choose to reply to the email, and ignore the SMS, in which case you will lose the automated benefit of an SMS Reply. For this reason also, it is important that you send any SMS reminders before sending email reminders, because Genie can tell if an SMS reminder has been sent but is unable to tell if an email reminder has been sent.
Please note: even if you aren’t using SMS Reminders, you can still use the Confirmed column in the Appointment Book. You can type directly into it, or right-click and select Mark as Confirmed.
You can choose to select only those appointments that have procedures linked to them by ticking the Procedures Only tickbox. You can also select if you would like to view patients for all providers or select providers by selecting the respective radio button.
If you're wanting to save paper, or your patients would simply prefer a digital copy of their invoice, you can email the invoice as an attachment. To do this, you will need to:
- Save the invoice as a PDF
- Open a new email to your patient. This can be done using the Genie Email Module or your external email program.
- Attach the invoice file you have saved to pdf and then send.
If you're unsure of how to perform the steps above, please see the break down below:
Please note: If you do not receive the Print Settings window (as per the instructions below), you will need to navigate to File> Printing Preferences and ensure Ask for Print Settings is selected next to Accounts.
Save a New Invoice to PDF
Create your invoice as normal and select print. When you receive the Print Settings window, choose to print to PDF. If you're on a Windows computer, you will need to select your PDF printer from the Printer dropdown and click OK. You will be prompted to choose a location and name for your file. Once selected, choose Save. If you're on a Mac, select the PDF button in the bottom left and select Save as PDF. You will then be prompted to choose a name and location for your file.
Save an Existing Invoice to PDF
To save an existing invoice to PDF simply open the patients Account History and select the invoice in the list of invoices on the left. Click the printer icon in the top left corner. If you're on a Windows computer, you will need to select your PDF printer from the Printer dropdown and click OK. You will be prompted to choose a location and name for your file. Once selected, choose Save. If you're on a Mac, select the PDF button in the bottom left and select Save as PDF. You will then be prompted to choose a name and location for your file.
Emailing from the Genie Email Module
Open the Email Module via Open> Email Module. Select New at the top of the screen and a blank email will open. In the To: search bar type in your patient's name. A list of matching results will come up and you can simply select the appropriate option from here. Add a subject and any text you would like to include in the body. Choose the Attach option at the top and select your saved invoice. When you're happy with the email, simply click Send Now.
Emailing from an External Email Program
The following steps outline the basic process for creating and sending an email with an attachment, however this may vary slightly depending on the program you use.
Simply open a new email as you normally would and address this to your patient. Choose to attach your saved invoice and enter any appropriate text into the body of the email. When you're happy with it, simply send it off.
Letters sent from Genie will be held within the Sent box within the Open > Email window. You may choose to clear out this Sent box occasionally, so that it doesn’t get too full, as a full Sent box can cause the window to open slowly. You can set up the automatic deletion of emails of a certain age by opening the email Preferences window, and entering the Details tab. Within here, you will be able to dictate how long you would like to keep an email in the Sent box before it is deleted.
Note: Deleting an email from the Sent box of the Email window will not remove it from the clinical record of a patient.
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