Best practices for improving patient care with text messaging

The patient experience influences processes, clinical outcomes, and hospitals’ reputations, making it crucial to establish clear communication channels early. Short Message Service (SMS) offers a straightforward way to connect with patients, and Text-Em-All helps you make these interactions friendly and efficient. From appointment reminders to crucial updates, SMS keeps patients informed and engaged while helping your hospital stand out as patient-centric.

When choosing a messaging number for healthcare communications, it's important to understand the differences between short codes, toll-free numbers, and 10DLC (10-digit long codes). Short codes are ideal for high-volume, urgent messages and offer great deliverability, while toll-free numbers provide a flexible, recognizable sender option with two-way texting. 10DLC numbers are tailored for business messaging and balance cost-effectiveness with compliance. Selecting the right type depends on your messaging volume, the need for two-way interaction, and compliance requirements—so consider your organization's goals and patient preferences when deciding which number to use.

How mass texting improves patient experience

Short Message Service (SMS) can enhance the patient experience in two ways. First, it allows you to send essential notifications—like appointment reminders and wellness tips—right to their phones. Second, it’s useful for keeping your teams aligned, ensuring staff updates and patient coordination happen quickly. Text-Em-All helps you accomplish both with ease and reliability.

If you’re worried that your patients might find SMS unprofessional; don’t be. Research suggests many patients prefer or respond positively to text-based communication, especially for quick or routine updates (e.g. in diabetes self-management settings). Even better, Text-Em-All’s platform helps you reach everyone quickly while keeping messages clear, friendly, and effective.

Older studies also reaffirm that patient SMS is welcome and well-received. Multiple surveys indicate that a majority of patients want to receive healthcare texts — for appointment confirmations, reminders, or care instructions. Text-Em-All’s platform ensures those messages are convenient, reliable, and patient-friendly.

Is mass texting HIPAA compliant?

Yes, with safeguards:

• Use secure platforms
• Obtain patient consent
• Limit sensitive data in texts
• Sign a Business Associate Agreement (BAA) when required
• Only give access to authorized personnel
• Keep detailed records of all messages sent and received
• Ensure recipients give informed consent
• Implement regular staff training, clear policies, and risk assessments

You can stay HIPAA-friendly by keeping texts general (e.g., appointment reminders) rather than sharing detailed PHI. Text-Em-All provides user-friendly options to help you stay compliant without overcomplicating your workflow.

While we don't provide messaging encryption at rest, and standard SMS cannot be encrypted in transit, we want you to have all the facts. Because SMS isn't inherently HIPAA-compliant for protected patient information, we recommend using our services to share non-sensitive updates, like appointment reminders or general announcements, instead.

What we do offer is a secure text messaging service that never sells your information, plus we're happy to sign a Business Associate Agreement to give your team extra peace of mind.

7 use cases for text messaging in healthcare

Hospitals can use mass texting to keep in touch with patients and caregivers. This includes reminders about upcoming procedures, quick check-ins, and updates on post-visit care instructions. Clear communication helps boost patient satisfaction, reduces confusion, and frees up staff to handle more in-depth support.

1. Appointment reminders

Sending out appointment reminders is a smart way to ensure patients show up on time, and Short Message Service (SMS) makes it quick and easy. Meta-analyses and controlled trials show that SMS reminders can significantly cut no-show rates. With Text-Em-All, you can send those reminders at scale, helping reduce missed appointments and keep schedules efficient.

2. Medication and aftercare reminders

Follow-up care is integral to any hospital's patient experience. This element is particularly important for long-term patients who appreciate reminders to do physical therapy exercises, change bandages, or take medications.

3. Emergency and urgent updates

In emergencies or unexpected situations, text messaging is a quick way to get in touch with patients. Even if you use mass texting for nothing else, it’s easy to see the advantage of having an emergency alert system that allows you to reach patients and staff with instant updates or instructions.

4. Patient feedback

SMS can be used to collect patient feedback, which can then be used to improve patient hospital care. SMS surveys may be more effective than traditional methods of gaining feedback as they give patients the option to answer a quick question via text and provide immediate hospital feedback.

5. Bill reminders and payments

Patients often forget about upcoming bills or miss due dates—it happens to everyone. By sending timely alerts directly to patients' mobile devices, healthcare providers can significantly reduce the number of missed or late payments, improving their revenue cycle management in the process.

6. Answer questions and increase patient engagement

Healthcare providers can proactively ask patients if they have questions before they arrive at their appointment. This pre-appointment interaction helps alleviate patient anxiety and ensures they are well-prepared for their visit. Text messaging also provides an accessible platform for post-appointment engagement–a useful tool since patients often think of additional questions or realize they've forgotten to ask something during their visit.

7. Open-shift alerts

When it comes to healthcare, having adequate staff coverage is crucial. Reach staff to cover shifts by alerting staff of openings through mass text messaging or automated calling. Instead of spending valuable time manually calling each staff member, managers can send out a single mass text or automated call. This way, the information reaches everyone simultaneously, and the first available employee can claim the shift.

4 Best practices for texting patients

As healthcare providers increasingly turn to text messaging as a tool for patient communication, it's crucial to follow best practices that ensure effective and respectful interactions. Here are key strategies for texting patients, consolidated for clarity and impact:

• Be Mindful of Message Frequency: Only send messages when necessary to avoid overwhelming patients.
• Keep Messages Clear and Concise: Use straightforward language and limit messages to 160 characters (the standard SMS limit) so patients can quickly understand essential details.
• Ask for Confirmation: Encourage appointment confirmations via text to reduce no-shows and keep your schedule organized. Text-Em-All users have found SMS reminders can boost response rates up to 45%.
• Personalize Your Messages: Include specific details like the patient's name, appointment time, doctor’s name, or location to create a more human connection and improve engagement.

Following these guidelines will help you engage patients better, protect their privacy, and deliver higher-quality care.

1. Be mindful of how many messages you send

It's important not to send too many messages to patients as frequent messages can be annoying and intrusive. Only send messages when necessary and make sure they contain meaningful information your patients want to receive.

2. Keep your messages clear and concise

Keep your messages short by cutting out unnecessary information and writing clearly. The patient should be able to understand what they need to know from the message in just a few seconds.

3. Ask for confirmation

Ask your patients to confirm their appointments to reduce no-shows, eliminate frustration, and keep your schedule clean. With Text-Em-All, you can send out a quick survey, and we’ll break down the answers into a simple graph you can use to gauge how often patients are canceling their appointments.

4. Personalize your messages

Personalizing your text messages offers a more human approach to communication. You can personalize your texts with information such as:

• The patient’s name
• The doctor’s name
• Appointment time
• Appointment location

How Text-Em-All improves patient satisfaction

Text-Em-All can help to improve the patient experience and patient satisfaction in hospitals, and our goal is to help you make missed appointments, shifts, and forgotten medications a thing of the past. Our easy-to-use platform gives you the tools to send important text messages and calls quickly to patients and staff, no matter how many people you need to contact.

Give us a try today by creating your free account and see how we can help you take your patient satisfaction to new heights!

Conclusion

Texting patients is transforming healthcare communication by making important information more accessible, reducing no-shows and missed payments, and improving overall patient satisfaction. By following best practices and understanding compliance, providers can use SMS to strengthen relationships and streamline operations. Embracing secure and thoughtful mass texting solutions positions healthcare organizations to deliver timely, effective care and build lasting trust with patients and staff alike.