Reminders and reactivation messages only work if they reach patients, and they only stay a good idea if they follow the rules. Three sets of rules matter most: the TCPA for texts and automated calls, CAN-SPAM for marketing email, and HIPAA for what any message says. This is a plain-language overview, not legal advice; check the details with a healthcare attorney.
Texts and automated calls: the TCPA
The Telephone Consumer Protection Act and the FCC’s rules require consent before sending texts or making autodialed or prerecorded calls to cell phones. Stated conservatively:
- Appointment reminders and other care-related messages generally need the patient’s prior express consent. Ask for it on your intake form, in plain words that cover texts and automated calls.
- Marketing messages, such as promotions or whitening specials, generally need prior express written consent, which is a higher bar. Keep marketing and reminder lists separate.
- Record the consent for each phone number: when it was given, how, and for what kind of message.
- Honor opt-outs promptly. Patients can revoke consent by replying STOP or by any reasonable means, including telling the front desk. Make sure the opt-out reaches every system that sends messages.
Some states have their own texting and calling laws, including limits on the hours you can send. Check the rules in your state.
Email: CAN-SPAM
Under the FTC’s CAN-SPAM rules, commercial email, such as newsletters and promotions, must not use misleading sender information or subject lines, must identify itself as an advertisement where required, must include your physical postal address and must offer a working way to opt out. Opt-outs have to be honored within 10 business days. Messages about an existing appointment are treated as transactional and are mostly outside these requirements, but they still must not be deceptive.
What a message may say: HIPAA
HIPAA allows appointment reminders as part of treatment, but every message should carry only the minimum necessary information. A text, postcard or voicemail might be seen or heard by someone else.
- Use the practice name, date and time. Leave out procedures, diagnoses and balances.
- Honor reasonable requests for a different contact method or number, such as a patient who doesn’t want messages at home.
- Sign a business associate agreement with any reminder, texting or email vendor that handles patient information.
- If a third party is paying for a campaign, check with your attorney first, because HIPAA treats that kind of marketing differently.
Mail still works
Letters and postcards don’t need TCPA consent and reach patients whose numbers have changed. Keep anything visible on a postcard as general as a voicemail would be. More detail on the rules behind patient communications is in the compliance guides.