# Appointment rebooking

> Appointment rebooking helps patients who cancelled get back into your diary. Intavia contacts them and books a new appointment, so cancellations are followed up without your team chasing them.

Type: Workflow (Outbound)
Last reviewed: 3 October 2026
Web page: https://www.intavia.ai/docs/appointment-rebooking

## At a glance

- What it does: Contacts patients who cancelled and books them in again
- Channels: Outbound calls, with additional channels available
- Integrations: Your practice management system, such as Dentally
- What you can customise: Which cancellations are included, when contact happens, how often patients are contacted and what happens next
- What your team sees: New bookings in your system, a campaign summary and tasks for anything that needs a person
- Setup: Done for you by our team, around your rebooking policy

## How it works

Rebooking runs as a campaign built around your practice. Our team does the setup work: we agree with you how each situation should be handled, turn that into campaign rules, and Intavia applies them whenever the campaign runs, on a schedule or when an appointment is cancelled.

1. Plan: we agree with you how rebooking should work, from which cancellations are included to the next step for every outcome. Our team builds the campaign rules from that.
2. Trigger: cancellations in your practice system are picked up soon after they happen, or on the campaign's schedule.
3. Eligibility: Intavia checks each cancelled appointment against the rules and leaves out patients who have already booked again.
4. Contact: eligible patients are contacted within your contact window and any volume limit you set, following the attempt schedule.
5. Conversation: identity is confirmed before any personal or appointment details are shared. Available appointments are offered and booked directly in your system.
6. Outcome: every attempt ends with a recorded outcome.
7. Next step: the outcome decides what happens next, such as another attempt, a task for your team or removal from the campaign.

## Campaign rules

These are the options we agree with you, not fixed settings. Each one can be shaped around how your practice works, and anything not listed here can be built into the plan.

| Rule | What we agree with you |
| --- | --- |
| Schedule and triggers | When the campaign runs, such as on a regular schedule or when an appointment is cancelled |
| Eligibility | Which cancelled appointment types and locations are included, how recently they were cancelled, and any exclusions |
| Contact window | The days and hours contact can happen |
| Volume | The maximum number of patients contacted over a given period |
| Attempts | How many attempts are made, how far apart, and on which channels |
| Booking | The appointment types, clinicians and locations that can be offered |
| Hand-over | The situations that become a task for your team |
| Fallbacks | Alternative routes that keep things moving, such as offering other times or locations, trying another channel or passing the conversation to your team |

## Outcomes

Each outcome has a default next step. Any of them can be changed to suit your practice.

| Outcome | What happens next |
| --- | --- |
| Booked | The new appointment is created in your system |
| Already rebooked | Recorded, with no further attempts for this cancellation |
| No answer | The next attempt is scheduled, if any remain, and a follow-up message can be sent |
| Call back requested | A task is created for your team |
| Chose not to book | Recorded, with no further attempts for this cancellation |
| Wrong number or opted out | That number isn't contacted again, for this campaign or all your campaigns, as you prefer |
| Needs the practice | A task is created with the details already captured |

## Safeguards

- Identity is confirmed before any appointment details are shared.
- Existing bookings are checked before contact, so patients who have already booked again are left out.
- Only the appointment types, clinicians and locations you allow are offered.
- Contact only happens inside the agreed window.
- Anyone who asks not to be contacted, or whose number is wrong, isn't contacted again, for this campaign or across all your campaigns, whichever you prefer.

## Works together with

- [No-show follow-up](https://www.intavia.ai/docs/no-show-follow-up): Patients who missed an appointment are contacted and helped to rebook.
- [Waitlist filling](https://www.intavia.ai/docs/waitlist-filling): Short-notice gaps offered to people waiting for an earlier appointment.
- [Appointment booking, changes & cancellations](https://www.intavia.ai/capabilities/appointment-booking): Appointments booked, moved and cancelled during the call, directly in your system.
- [Identity verification](https://www.intavia.ai/docs/identity-verification): Identity confirmed before personal details are shared, including for people calling on someone's behalf.
- [Outbound calling](https://www.intavia.ai/docs/outbound-calling): The shared rules for every outbound call: who is contacted, when, and how often.
- [PMS & booking system integration](https://www.intavia.ai/integrations): Live information from your practice system and appointments handled directly in it.

## FAQs

### Which channels can rebooking use?

Calls are the default. Text, email or WhatsApp can be added to the attempt schedule.

### How soon after a cancellation is the patient contacted?

That's one of the rules we agree with you. Contact can start soon after the cancellation, within your contact window, or as part of a scheduled run.

### Does this cover patients who didn't turn up?

Rebooking follows up appointments that were cancelled. Patients who missed an appointment without cancelling are covered by no-show follow-up, which can run alongside it.

### Can the rules change after launch?

Yes. Tell your support team what you need and they update the campaign. There's nothing for you to configure.