About this messaging program
Clinics, using the TellUs patient communication platform (operated by MotherCode Corp.), sends appointment-related text messages to established patients who have opted in to receive them. Messages include appointment reminders, pre-visit health check-in requests, appointment confirmations and rescheduling, and care-related follow-ups. Messages are sent only to patients who have an active text-message opt-in on file.
How patients opt in
Patients consent to receive text messages through their athenahealth communication preferences, in either of two ways:
- Self-service: A patient sets their own automated-messaging preferences, choosing the channels (email, phone, text) and the message types (appointments, health notifications, announcements, billing, prescriptions) they wish to receive. Selecting Text Message for a message type is the patient's active opt-in to SMS for that purpose.
- Verbal at the clinic: A patient gives verbal consent to receive text messages, and Clinics staff record that preference in the patient's athenahealth record.
In both cases, the consent is stored in athenahealth as a per-message-type text-message preference. Before sending any message, TellUs verifies each patient's text-message opt-in status through the athenahealth API and sends only to patients who have text enabled for the relevant message type. Opting in is not a condition of receiving care.
Patient opt-in screen
Clinics that use TellUs send text messages through the athenahealth platform, and patients opt in using athenahealth's standardized athenaPatient text-message opt-in screen. On this screen, a patient actively enters their mobile carrier and mobile phone number, can review the text-messaging Terms and Conditions, and must tap Submit to opt in or Decline to opt out. The screen displays the required disclosures: message frequency may vary, and message and data rates may apply.
The image below is a representative example of this athenaPatient opt-in screen, shown here for Advantia Health (an athenahealth client) to illustrate the standardized opt-in flow. Patients of clinics using TellUs complete this same athenaPatient opt-in process.
Where consent is stored
Once a patient opts in (or when staff record verbal consent), the preference is stored in athenahealth. The image below shows the athenahealth "Communicator Automated Messaging Preferences" screen, where each patient's per-message-type text-message opt-in is recorded, alongside the "Communicator Privacy Status" controls used to honor opt-outs of automated calls, emails, and texts.
Message program details & disclosures
- Program name: Clinics Appointment & Care Notifications
- Message types: Appointment reminders, pre-visit health check-ins, confirmations/rescheduling, and care-related follow-ups.
- Message frequency: Message frequency varies based on your appointments and care activity.
- Cost: Msg & data rates may apply.
- Help: Reply HELP for help, or contact us at (424) 587-0654 or contact@tellus.health.
- Opt out: Reply STOP at any time to unsubscribe from text messages.