# Visit preparation

> Visit preparation helps patients arrive ready for their appointment. Intavia gives them the instructions, arrival details and reminders your practice agrees, so your team spends less time on last-minute questions.

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

## At a glance

- What it does: Gives patients their pre-visit instructions and arrival details
- Channels: Outbound calls, with additional channels available
- Integrations: Your practice management system, such as Dentally
- What you can customise: Which appointments are included, what patients are told, when contact happens and what happens next
- What your team sees: A campaign summary and tasks for anything that needs a person
- Setup: Done for you by our team, around what patients need before each kind of visit

## How it works

Visit preparation runs as a campaign built around your practice. Our team does the setup work: we agree with you what patients need to know before each kind of visit, turn that into campaign rules, and Intavia applies them whenever the campaign runs, on a schedule or when a trigger event happens.

1. Plan: we agree with you what patients need before each kind of visit, from how to prepare and what to bring to arrival details, and the next step for every outcome. Our team builds the campaign rules from that.
2. Eligibility: each time the campaign runs, Intavia reads upcoming appointments from your practice system and selects the ones that meet the rules, such as first visits or particular treatments.
3. Contact: patients are contacted within your contact window, at the point before their appointment that you choose, following the attempt schedule.
4. Conversation: identity is confirmed before any appointment details are shared. Intavia goes through the instructions you approved for that appointment and answers questions from your practice information.
5. Outcome: every attempt ends with a recorded outcome.
6. Next step: the outcome decides what happens next, such as another attempt, a written copy of the instructions or a task for your team.

## 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 event happens, like a new booking being made |
| Eligibility | Which appointment types, clinicians and locations are included, and any exclusions |
| Timing | How far ahead of the appointment patients are contacted |
| Instructions | What patients are told for each kind of visit, such as how to prepare, what to bring, where to go on arrival and anything to do beforehand |
| Contact window | The days and hours contact can happen |
| Attempts | How many attempts are made, how far apart, and on which channels |
| Written copy | Which details are also sent in writing, such as by text or email |
| Hand-over | The situations that become a task for your team |
| Fallbacks | Alternative routes that keep things moving, such as sending the instructions by text, 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 |
| --- | --- |
| Instructions given | Recorded, with a written copy sent |
| No answer | The next attempt is scheduled, if any remain, and a follow-up message can be sent |
| Wants to change the appointment | Handled under your booking rules, or passed to your team as a task |
| Call back requested | A task is created for your team |
| 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.
- Patients are only given instructions your practice has approved.
- Clinical questions are passed to your team rather than answered.
- 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

- [Appointment reminders](https://www.intavia.ai/capabilities/appointment-reminders): Reminders that confirm attendance and handle changes in the same conversation.
- [Texts to callers](https://www.intavia.ai/docs/texts-to-callers): Booking links, confirmations and useful information sent by text during or after a call.
- [Practice knowledge & pricing answers](https://www.intavia.ai/docs/practice-knowledge): Clear answers about your services, prices and practice, from information you approve.
- [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.
- [Multi-channel communication](https://www.intavia.ai/docs/multi-channel-communication): Conversations with patients by phone, text, email, WhatsApp and your website, inbound and outbound.

## FAQs

### Which channels can visit preparation use?

Calls are the default. Instructions can also go by text, email or WhatsApp, on their own or after a call, where those channels are set up for your practice.

### Can different appointments have different instructions?

Yes. Each appointment type, clinician or location can have its own instructions, so a first visit and a routine check-up don't get the same message.

### Can it remind patients about forms they need to complete?

Yes. Intavia can remind patients about anything your practice needs before the visit and send them the link you already use. The form itself stays with your existing system.

### 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.