Staff can send a message to a patient directly from the Patient Channel. This article explains how to send a manual message, how to choose the way it is sent, and how Artera Harmony Federal Edition (AHFE) pre-selects a message type for you.

Sending a Manual Message

1. Navigate to the appropriate Patient Channel.

2. In the message composer, check the message type. To change it, select the message type drop-down and choose another option.

3. Enter your message. You can also choose a Quick Response instead of typing a message.

4. Select the send button. Its name matches the message type you chose, for example Send Call.

NOTE: Selecting @ Mention sends an Internal Mention to a staff member instead of a message to the patient. Internal Mentions are never sent to patients.

How AHFE Pre-Selects the Message Type

When you open a Patient Channel, the composer pre-selects a message type. AHFE chooses it in this order:

1. The message type of the last message in the Patient Channel, as long as the patient can still receive it.

2. The patient's preferred contact method, as long as the patient can receive it:

• A preferred contact method of Voice pre-selects Call.
• A preferred contact method of SMS pre-selects Text.

3. If neither applies, AHFE uses its usual order: Text, then Call, then Email, whichever the patient can receive first.

This only changes which message type is pre-selected. You can choose any other available message type before you send. This applies to the Patient Channel only.

What Counts as the Last Message

Any message in the Patient Channel counts. This includes messages staff sent manually and messages sent by a Trigger, a Campaign, or a Bulk Message. It also includes messages the patient sent to you. Event Messages, such as an appointment status change, do not count.

Internal Mentions are not sent to the patient, so they are not messages to the patient. They still affect which message type is pre-selected: 

• If the Patient Channel has only Internal Mentions and no messages to the patient, the composer uses the patient's preferred contact method. A preferred contact method of Voice pre-selects Call.
• If the Patient Channel already has a message to the patient and the newest item is an Internal Mention, the composer pre-selects Text. An Internal Mention has no message type of its own. This happens even if the last message to the patient was a call.

When a Message Type Is Available

• Text: The patient has a phone number that can receive text messages and the patient has given SMS consent.
• Call: The patient has a phone number that can receive calls.
• Email: The patient has an email address on file and manual email outreach is enabled for your Enterprise.

If the pre-selected message type is not available for a patient, AHFE moves to the next step in the order above.

A TEXT Label Is Not the Preferred Contact Method

The Preferred Contact field on the Patient Facesheet shows the patient's primary phone number with a TEXT or CALL label. That label only tells a user whether the phone number can receive text messages. It is not the patient's preferred contact method and the message composer does not use it. 

A patient's preferred contact method is synced from your EMR and is not displayed in AHFE. To check it, review the patient's record in your EMR. This means a patient whose Preferred Contact shows TEXT can still open the composer on Call, if their preferred contact method in your EMR is Voice.

Do Not Contact

If a patient is set to Do Not Contact, the Preferred Contact field on the Patient Facesheet shows that in place of a phone number. The composer then uses the usual order: Text, then Call, then Email.