Program overview

Patients may choose to receive operational text messages related to their relationship with the medical practice. Consent is optional and is not a condition of receiving medical care or services.

How verbal consent is obtained

Only authorized staff members may record consent. Staff cannot consent on a patient's behalf.

1. The staff member confirms the patient's mobile telephone number.
2. The staff member reads the complete SMS disclosure shown below, without omitting the message categories, frequency, rate disclosure, STOP instructions, HELP instructions, or the voluntary-consent statement.
3. The patient is asked directly whether they agree to receive the described text messages.
4. Staff records consent only after receiving an affirmative response such as “yes.” Silence, a preexisting telephone number, or failure to object is not treated as consent.
5. The application stores the consent status, telephone number, date and time, staff user, consent method, and disclosure version.
6. A patient may revoke consent at any time by replying STOP or by contacting the medical practice.

Exact verbal consent script

Authorized staff members read the following disclosure to the patient in person or by telephone.

Sanitized representation of the internal consent screen

The actual application is restricted to authorized medical staff. This public representation shows the disclosure and controls used without exposing patient information or protected health information.

Consent recordkeeping

The system maintains an auditable record of the patient's SMS consent status.

Sample messages

Initial confirmation message

Appointment reminder example

HELP response example

STOP confirmation example

Public policies and contact information

The following public resources provide additional information about the messaging program.