If a Trigger isn’t firing as expected, follow the below steps to identify and resolve the issue.

Why is my Trigger not Sending?

The first step of troubleshooting is to determine whether the Trigger is failing for an individual patient or on a larger scale. This will help narrow the possible cause and assist in solving the issue.

Individual Patient

If the issue is limited to a single patient or a small number of patients, consider the following:

1. Has the patient opted out of receiving messages? 
   1. Verify the patient’s "SMS Consent" status on their Patient Facesheet. Triggers cannot be delivered via text if the patient has opted out of the sending line.
   2. Ensure the patient is not set to Do Not Contact. Depending on how your organization handles communication preferences, review both the patient's contact preferences in your EMR and the Patient Facesheet in Artera.
2. Is the patient eligible to receive the Trigger? 
   1. Message deliverability depends on two factors: the patient's available contact information and the Trigger's configuration. Specifically, delivery logic changes based on whether Artera is syncing contact preferences from your EMR or not. To determine eligibility, please consult the Truth Tables in the linked articles.
   2. If your integration is supporting appointment-level contact preferences, review the appointment in the EMR to ensure that the patient's appointment-level contact preferences are not what is preventing the Trigger's message from sending.
3. Was the appointment rescheduled? 
   1. To prevent duplicate messaging, Artera will not resend an Appointment Trigger if it was already triggered for that specific Appointment ID, even if the appointment is rescheduled. Click here for more information.

Widespread Issue

If you have determined that the entire Trigger is not behaving as expected, review the following troubleshooting items: 

1. Is the Trigger on? 
   Make sure that the Trigger is on. Navigate to Automations > Triggers. Review the "Status" column for that Trigger and ensure it reads "on".
   
2. Is the Trigger configured correctly?
   Review the Trigger's "Send From" Resource and its filters. An incorrectly included filter can impact Trigger deliverability.
   1. Most customers associate lines with Location Resources. If that's the case for your team, ensure the "Send From" Resource for the Trigger is set to "Location". This ensures the Trigger sends from the line tied to the patient’s appointment location.
3. Is the Resource associated with the Line?
   Ensure that the Resource the Trigger is being sent from is associated to the line. To confirm, navigate to Settings > Practice Settings > Lines. Resources not associated with a line do not have a phone number from which to send messages, so the Trigger cannot be sent.
   
   • For Referral Triggers, ensure the Speciality is attached to the Practice and a line within that Practice. Click here to learn more about Referral Specialty Setup.
4. Is the Event or Resource that the Trigger is filtered by disabled?
   If the Event type or Resource for the Trigger is disabled, the Trigger cannot send to the patient. For example, if the patient has an appointment with Event Type "COVID Vaccine", but that Event is disabled on the Event page (Practice Settings > Events), a Trigger will not fire.
5. Was the Trigger recently turned off and then restarted? 
   When a Trigger is temporarily disabled and then restarted, messages that would have sent during the "paused" period will not be sent. 
   1. Tip: Check the Trigger's Edit History by selecting the hyperlink in the "Last Updated" column of the Triggers table. 
      
   2. Use the Edit History feature to see if the Trigger was disabled when the message should have sent. Please note that Triggers do not send while disabled, nor do they "catch up" on missed messages once restarted; any gaps in delivery during this window are expected.
6. How is the Trigger configured with regards to TCPA Hours? 
   Triggers configured to only send during TCPA Hours (8:00am to 9:00pm) will be delayed or not sent at all if the message was triggered to be sent outside of these hours. Click to learn more about how TCPA Hours function in relation to Triggers.
7. Are Holiday Hours configured? 
   If you have Holiday Hours configured at the Enterprise or Practice-level, ensure these are not responsible for the delay or shift in Trigger send times. 
8. Are Conversation Flows enabled for Voice and SMS? Click here to learn more about Conversation Flows.
9. Is the Referral Trigger firing within the Data Sharing Schedule? Connect with your Customer Success Representative for details on the set up of your organization's Referral Sharing Schedule.

Not Resolved

If following these steps did not resolve the issue, our Support Team is available to investigate these issues. To submit a case, click here.