The Patient Channel contains all messages sent to and from the patient on the specific Practice and line combination you are viewing. It also includes Internal Mentions and Event Messages related to patient updates.

Patient Channel Introduction

Key actions you can take in the Patient Channel include:

• Communicating with patients through manual messages, which involves:
  • Secure and unsecured messaging
  • Sending attachments
  • Using Smart Phrases and Quick Responses
• Managing appointment confirmations
• Updating the Patient Channel status
• Creating Internal Mentions

Patient Channel Overview

Open the Patient Channel by selecting the patient from the "All Messages" view.

Channel Messages

The conversation history in the Patient Channel is composed of inbound messages from patients and outbound messages to patients, organized by date. For each message, you can see a timestamp, the sender's name, and whether it was sent securely.

Outbound Messages

Messages sent to a patient from Artera will appear in black on the right side of the Patient Channel. An icon will indicate whether the message was sent via call, text, or email:

Outbound Message Delivery Method	How it Displays in the Patient Channel
Text
Call
Email

These messages are sent to patients from Artera through various methods, including Bulk Messages, AI Agents, Conversation Flows, Send MessageAPI (SMAPI), Campaigns or manually by a user. Messages can also be sent automatically via Triggers, After-Hours Auto-Responses, or holiday out-of-office messages. 

Below, you will find details on the different sender types you may see in a Patient Channel:

Outbound Message Type	How it Appears in the Patient Channel	What it Means
Manual		The message was sent to the patient manually by a user. If you were the one who sent it, the sender will appear as “You”.
Campaign		This message was sent to the patient via a Campaign.
Automation		This message was sent to the patient via Triggers, After-Hours Auto-Response, Holiday Out-of-Office Message, Conversation Flow, or Call-to-Text.
AI Agent		This message was sent to the patient via an Artera AI Agent.
Artera		This message was sent to the patient via the MPSP workflow. This will also appear as the message type for all non-manual messages sent to patients before 2024.
Outbound via API		This message was sent to the patient via MAPI.

Inbound Messages

Inbound messages from the patient appear in light gray on the left side of the Patient Channel. Each message displays the patient's initials, their name, a timestamp, and how it was sent (via text or email). It will also indicate whether their message was sent securely or unsecured.

Event Messages

Event Messages appear in the center of the Patient Channel and are not visible to the patient. These messages are time-stamped and indicate an action has occurred, such as a live update from the EMR, or an action taken by a patient or Artera user.

Common Event Messages include:

• A patient took action on an appointment

• Demographic information changed in the EMR

• Patient Channel has been marked as "opened", "closed", or pending 

• Multiple Patients Same Phone Verification

• Message delivery failure

• Conversation Flows activity

Click here to learn about Event Messages. 

Internal Mentions 

Internal Mentions allow you to tag a user or User Group directly within a Patient Channel. This is useful when you need to escalate a patient's conversation and get help from a teammate. Internal Mentions are not sent to patients and appear in red in the Patient Channel. 

Locate the Patient Channels you are tagged in from the "Activity" view. Click here to learn more.

Switching Lines

Only the conversation history for the line you are currently viewing is shown in a Patient Channel. If your Practice has multiple lines, or if the patient has communicated with different Practices, their conversations will be spread across different Patient Channels. 

Practices often use different lines for different purposes, such as one for scheduling and another for billing. As each line is unique, a single Practice can have multiple, simultaneous conversations with the same patient. This keeps content organized and secure by allowing you to separate conversations by topic. For example, a user with access to the scheduling line will not be able to see any details from the billing line if they do not have access to it. A single patient can have different conversations on multiple lines within a single Practice or across Practices, each with its own separate Patient Channel and status.
NOTE: Enterprise and Manager Users have access to all lines in a Practice. When adding a new Staff User, you determine which line(s) the user will have access to.  

Use the Practice-Line drop-down, located on the top-left corner of a Patient Channel, to view a patient's conversations. This will only display the other lines and Practices that the patient has previously communicated with and that you have access to. In this menu, select Open New Channel to start a conversation with the patient from a Practice and line combination they have not been communicated from.

Manually Update Channel Status

From the Patient's Channel, located in the top-right corner, you can manually change a Patient Channel's status to "Open", "Close", or "Needs Action".

Manually Messaging a Patient

To manually message a patient, navigate to the communication box in a Patient Channel. By default, text outreach is selected. Type your message in the communication box and leverage the appropriate Smart Phrase(s) to help personalize the outreach. 
NOTE: You can also send call or email messages from the Patient Channel. To do so, select the Text drop-down menu and choose Call or Email.