⚡ Important Note: There is some setup involved before we can enable this feature at your hospital. To request the Client Chat feature, please have an admin from your practice email us at [email protected] to get started.
🔎 Overview of Client Chat
How it Works:
Our support team will help you get the integration with Twilio enabled
Ensure your practice has a way to capture Consent from your clients that Opt-in to Messaging Services
Enable notifications for each phone number a client approves
Send and Receive messages from your clients
Client’s can Opt-out (or back in) at any time simply by responding STOP (or START)
⚙️User Permissions
In order to use Client Chat your practice must have the Client Chat feature enabled and a hospital administrator will need to add the client_chat_full_access permission to the appropriate user role (or create a new one) in order for staff to send messages to clients.
For more information on how to enable permissions for users, check out our User Roles and Permissions Guide.
👤Client Account (one-time) Set-up
1. Obtain Consent From Clients
In compliance with paragraph 3 of the Instinct Science Messaging Services Addendum, the Telephone Consumer Protection Act of 1991, and other anti-spam laws applicable to SMS or similar communications, you will need to document client consent before sending the first message to each client. Clients will have the option to ‘opt out’ of receiving messages from your practice at any point by replying STOP.
We recommend creating a Messaging Consent Form template to be used in Charts, similar to the example below, to capture client consent.
2. Turn On Chat Notifications
Once consent is captured, notifications can be enabled for each phone number by navigating to the Account through the Business Office or by clicking on ‘Owner’ in the patient information bar to the left of the patient’s record.
Click on the 3-dot menu next to any phone number and select ‘Turn on chat notifications’.
📓 Please Note: There is no need to ‘Turn Off Chat Notifications’ in the Account modal unless you intend to block a client from opting back in later.
The icon to the right of the phone number indicates whether it is disabled or enabled for chat notifications.
Client Chat Disabled Client Chat Enabled
✅ Opt-In or Opt-Out of Messages
Clients will receive a message with opt-out instructions the first time a message is sent from your practice. This opt-out message will not be visible in the message thread within Instinct.
“You are now subscribed to receive messages from <Practice Name>. You may unsubscribe at any time by replying “STOP”. Carrier rates may apply.”
When a client replies STOP, they will receive a message that they have been successfully unsubscribed. This reply will also automatically disable the ‘Type a message…’ field in the Client Chat modal, preventing staff from messaging the phone number.
Clients can opt back in at any point by texting START (as long as notifications are still enabled in the Account modal for that phone number).