Messages is your practice’s text inbox. Patients reply to a reminder, ask a question, or text your number directly, and the conversation lands here for a person to answer.
Front Desk → Messages. Available when the MESSAGES feature is enabled.
What arrives here
- Replies to reminders that were not a plain confirmation
- Messages patients send to your practice number unprompted
- Replies to campaign sends
Confirmations handled automatically never appear here. They are applied to the appointment and logged, so the inbox stays a list of things that actually need a person.
Working the inbox
Each conversation shows the patient, their chart if they matched one, and the full history of both directions. Reply from the same view; the message goes out from your practice number, so the patient sees the number they already know.
Assign one person per shift to the inbox. A patient who texts a practice expects a same-day answer, and unlike a voicemail there is no signal that anything is waiting.
Unmatched senders
A text from a number not in your PMS still arrives. It shows as unmatched, and you can link it to a patient once you know who it is.
What not to send
SMS is not a secure channel. Do not send clinical details, test results, or account specifics by text. Confirm an appointment, ask the patient to call, or point them at the portal.
