What to put in a new-patient text message: seven templates for dental practices and med spas

A new patient gets five or six texts from a practice between the first call and the review request, most written in a hurry on the day the software went in. Then one lands at 6 am, one names the procedure, one keeps arriving after the patient typed "stop", and one never arrives because a carrier filtered it. Here are the three rules every clinic text has to pass, the registration step that decides whether it is delivered, and seven templates to paste into your reminder system.

Why text, and what text cannot do

Patients prefer it for reminders. In a Phreesia survey of nearly 14,000 patients, 48% preferred a text reminder, 29% a phone call and 21% an email. But when patients want to cancel or reschedule, the same survey found 64% prefer to phone and about a quarter prefer to text. The text starts the conversation; the phone finishes it, which is the problem at the end of this guide.

The three rules every text follows

1. Consent, and the FCC's reminder conditions

The FCC ruled in 2015 that a patient giving a phone number to a healthcare provider is prior express consent under the TCPA, and exempted care-related texts that meet its conditions: free to the patient, sent only to the number the patient gave, carrying the provider's name and contact number, limited to purposes such as appointment confirmations and reminders, with no advertising, billing or debt-collection content, "160 characters or less", no more than one a day and three a week per provider, with a STOP reply honored immediately. Ask for the consent out loud anyway; our new-patient phone script puts the question in the call.

Promotions are different. The wireless industry's messaging principles say a consumer "should agree in writing to receive promotional texts", and the FCC exemption bars marketing in a care message. A special never rides on a reminder; it goes to a separate list with its own written consent.

2. Content: the HIPAA minimum

HHS says the Privacy Rule permits reminders and unencrypted electronic messages to patients, with reasonable safeguards: checking the address before sending and "limiting the amount or type of information disclosed through the unencrypted" message. For a reminder it suggests "leaving only its name and number and other information necessary to confirm an appointment." So: the practice name, the day and time, a number, how to confirm, and never the procedure, the result, the diagnosis or the balance. The vendor sending the texts holds patient names and numbers, so it needs a BAA.

3. Opt-out: the April 2025 rule

Since April 11, 2025, the FCC's revocation rules require a sender to honor an opt-out made by "any reasonable method", and treat a reply of "stop," "quit," "end," "revoke," "opt out," "cancel" or "unsubscribe" as reasonable on its face. The request must be honored "within a reasonable time not to exceed ten business days". One confirmation text is allowed, within five minutes and with no marketing in it; it may ask whether the patient meant all messages or one kind, and with no answer, everything stops. The provision that makes a revocation in reply to one message type cover all of a sender's texts was delayed to April 11, 2026, so treat it as in force unless the FCC has extended the delay. The carriers' code adds the mechanics: STOP as the standard wording, one final confirmation "per campaign", nothing after it.

Hours are a courtesy for care messages: the TCPA's window applies to telephone solicitations, which may not be made "before the hour of 8 a.m. or after 9 p.m." local time. A reminder is not a solicitation, but a 6 am text reads like one.

Getting delivered: the registration step

If your texts go from a local ten-digit number through software, US carriers expect the sender to be registered: a brand (your practice) and a campaign (what you send) through The Campaign Registry, where "Brands and Campaign Service Providers (CSPs) are verified prior to being allowed to send messages." A practice does not register directly; its messaging provider does. Bandwidth's compliance guide says "unregistered traffic is at a high risk of being blocked" and that blocks "can be in place for up to 30 days." Before you rewrite a template, ask your vendor two questions: is our number registered, and under which campaign. Then put the practice name at the start of every message and STOP at the end, because the campaign was approved on that promise.

Seven templates

Each is under 160 characters with a practice name and number filled in, names the practice first, gives a number a person answers, and says nothing about treatment.

1. Booking confirmation, with the forms link

Sent while the caller is still on the line, so the forms arrive before the goodwill fades.

2. Confirm or change

The deadline is a day and a time, not "48 hours", and it lands before your notice window closes so the slot can be offered to someone else; our no-show policy covers the timing and the call to anyone who does not reply.

3. Day-of practicalities

4. A slot opened up

Only to patients who asked for a short-notice list at booking.

5. After a missed appointment

Concern before policy. The second-miss conversation happens on a call, not in a text.

6. After the visit

Aftercare instructions go on paper; the text says how to reach someone, and it has to be true after 5 pm.

7. The review request

Google gives every business a review link and QR code and suggests sharing it on receipts, in thank-you emails and at the end of a chat. Its rules: reviews "must reflect a genuine experience", and offering "free or discounted goods or services" in exchange for reviews, or for changing or removing one, "is considered fake engagement and is strictly prohibited." Send it to every patient, never only the happy ones, with no offer in it. It is not a care message, so it rides on the consent taken at booking rather than the healthcare exemption. When the review is a bad one, our review-reply guide has the reply.

The reply the templates cannot handle

Template 2 works until the patient replies "actually, can I do Thursday instead?" at 8:40 pm, or does what most patients told Phreesia they prefer and phones to change it. That call arrives when the desk is closed, or at 12:30 when it is at lunch; our lunch-gap guide counts those calls from your own log. If it reaches voicemail, the text sequence has produced a no-show with a paper trail. Whatever answers then, a service or an AI receptionist, should take the change, offer two new times from your real slots and tell the desk at once. ClinicEcho does that and sends a transcript within a minute, for $497 a month with a 14-day free trial, under a BAA signed before the first call. Run the after-hours call test by calling the number in your own reminder at 8 pm. Med spas booking consults from ads have the same problem with a deposit attached; our consult no-show guide covers that version.

Four numbers a month

Texts delivered against texts sent, which drops when registration lapses; reminders confirmed by reply; opt-outs, and whether any were followed by another message; and patients who called or replied to change a time, and whether a person or a machine took it.

Frequently asked questions

Sources

• Phreesia, "Appointment Reminders: Which Methods Do Patients Prefer?" (Oct 1, 2018; survey of nearly 14,000 patients)
• Mintz, "FCC Ruling Addresses Robocalls by Health Care Providers" (July 27, 2015; TCPA consent and the healthcare exemption conditions)
• Kelley Drye, "FCC Sets Effective Date for TCPA 'Reasonable' Consent Revocation Rules" (Oct 16, 2024) and Carlton Fields, "Mastering the New TCPA Opt-Out Regulations" (April 2025; the delay of the all-messages provision to April 11, 2026)
• 47 CFR 64.1200, Delivery restrictions (Cornell LII; calling hours for telephone solicitations)
• HHS, HIPAA FAQ on e-mail and electronic communication with patients and HHS, HIPAA FAQ on appointment reminders and messages left for patients
• CTIA, "Messaging Principles and Best Practices" (May 2023; consent, STOP, confirmation, sender identity)
• The Campaign Registry (10DLC brand and campaign registration) and Bandwidth, "Messaging compliance best practices" (unregistered traffic and blocks)
• Google Business Profile Help, "Create a Google link or QR code to request reviews" and "Tips to get more reviews"

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