Broadcast messaging overview

Send one message to many patients, personalized for each person. Create a campaign, add recipients from a CSV or your directory, then send now or schedule it.

Overview

A broadcast campaign sends the same message to a group of patients, one text each, at a pace you set. Common uses:

Appointment reminders and recalls
Office closures and schedule changes
Collecting co-payments
Feedback surveys and clinical updates

Each patient receives the message on their own. Recipients never see each other, and a reply comes back to your team as a private one-to-one conversation.

What a campaign can do:

Add recipients two ways: pick patients from your patient table (search, filter by tag, select all, or create someone new), or upload a CSV of up to 20,000 rows and map its columns.
Personalize every message with variables such as {{first_name | there}} or {{appt_date}}, with a default for anyone missing a value.
Choose how it's delivered: Secure text with link (can contain PHI) or Insecure text (a regular text message, can't contain PHI).
Send now or schedule it for a date, time and time zone, at a pace you choose.
Pause and resume, edit the message for people not yet sent to, add more recipients, and archive the campaign when you're done.

Broadcasts are in the BloomText web app and the desktop app, not the mobile app.

The campaign page for March appointment reminders: the name and status Not yet sent at the top, the Send… button, Edit message and Add more, the All · 300 filter and recipient search, and the recipients table with Patient, Date of birth, Contact, Status, appt_date and dr_name columns, each row Ready.

The campaign page. Everything about one campaign lives here.

Before you start

Three things must be in place before you can send a broadcast:

The Patient SMS Add-on. Broadcasts are part of the Patient SMS Add-on, listed as SMS Messaging in Pricing. Without it, the Broadcast screen shows what broadcasts do, and admins can ask to upgrade.
Membership in a team with an assigned phone number. You can only send from teams you belong to. If you aren't in one, the Broadcast screen says "To use this feature, you must be a member of a team with an assigned phone number." Being an admin isn't enough: an admin adds you to the team under Directory → Teams.
BloomText verification. BloomText reviews new accounts before their first broadcast. Until then the Broadcast screen says "Broadcasts unlock once BloomText verifies your account". Admins see Request verification; everyone else sees "Ask an admin on your account to request verification." One-on-one texting works as usual meanwhile.

The Broadcast screen before verification: "Broadcasts unlock once BloomText verifies your account", the note that new accounts are reviewed before they can send broadcasts and that one-on-one texting works as usual, and the Request verification button.

Before verification, the Broadcast screen explains the review. Admins can request it.

If an account loses verification while a campaign is open, sending pauses and the campaign says "Paused: broadcasts can't send until BloomText verifies your account."

You'll also need your recipients: a CSV file, patients already in BloomText, or both.

Guides

Follow these in order the first time:

Create a broadcast campaign: the three-step wizard (Details, Recipients, Message), from a blank campaign to one that's ready to send.
Add recipients to a broadcast: pick existing patients or create new ones, upload a CSV and map its columns, and add more people later with Add more.
Personalize a broadcast with variables: {{variables}}, the built-in {{first_name}} and {{last_name}}, defaults, and what happens to recipients missing a value.
Send, edit and track a broadcast: send now or schedule, set the pace, pause and resume, follow each recipient's status, edit the message, and archive.

For a whole job from start to finish, see Guide: Run a monthly reminder campaign.

Find your campaigns

Click Campaigns in the left sidebar. The list shows every campaign for your teams, each with its status and the number it sends from:

Draft · not yet sent: the campaign has no saved message yet. Click it to reopen the wizard where you left off.
Not yet sent: ready, but nothing has been sent.
Scheduled · date, time, zone: a send is booked for later.
Running (sent/total): messages are going out.
Paused · N of M sent: sending stopped partway; Resume… continues it.
Completed (sent/total) · date: nothing is left to send.
Adding recipients · N%: a CSV is still being added.

Archived campaigns move to the Archived tab at the top of the list.

The campaign list under All Campaigns with the Active and Archived tabs: April appointment reminders Scheduled for Dec 1, then campaigns reading Running, Paused · 120 of 300 sent, Completed and Not yet sent, each tagged with the number it sends from, (555) 010-0142.

The campaign list. Each campaign shows its status under its name.

Secure text with link or Insecure text

You choose one per campaign, on the Details step:

	Secure text with link	Insecure text
What the patient gets	A text (and an email, if we have one) saying they have a secure message, with a link	Your message as a regular text message
Where they read and reply	In BloomText, where the message stays encrypted	In their phone's messaging app
PHI	Can contain PHI	Can't contain PHI
Longest message	40,000 characters	1,600 characters

Use Insecure text only for messages like "Please call our office." See Secure vs. insecure texting and HIPAA for more.

The More information popover on the Details step, Secure text vs. insecure text. Secure text with link, can contain PHI: the patient gets a text (and an email, if we have one) with a link, and the message stays encrypted in BloomText. Insecure text, can't contain PHI: the message is a regular text that carriers and the phone store unencrypted.

Click More information next to Message Type for this comparison.

Opt-outs and numbers BloomText won't text

Your organization has one list of numbers BloomText won't text. A number goes on it when the patient replies STOP to any of your numbers, when the carrier blocks it, when an admin blocks it, or when an earlier text failed because it can't receive texts (a landline, or a carrier that couldn't be reached). Broadcasts use the list automatically:

Insecure text: the patient isn't texted. Their row shows Failed with the reason, for example "Not deliverable: opted out".
Secure text with link: the text with the link isn't sent to that number. The message is still saved in the patient's secure conversation, and their row shows Completed.

A patient who opted out can text START to get texts again. A number that can't receive texts clears when the patient texts one of your numbers, when their phone number is changed, or when an admin clears it on the patient's page.

Edge cases / gotchas

Team membership controls who can send. Only members of the team that owns the phone number can send from it. Admins edit teams under Directory → Teams.
A campaign isn't finished until you save its message. Leave the wizard early and the campaign stays a draft. Recipients you already added stay with it.
Existing patient records aren't changed by a broadcast. A CSV row that matches a patient adds that patient; it doesn't overwrite their name, phone or email. Rows are matched by MRN, then phone, then email.
Replies are private. A reply is a one-to-one conversation with that patient. Treat it like any other patient conversation.
There are no saved lists or segments. Each campaign has its own recipients. To reach the same group again, add the same CSV to the new campaign.

Common questions

Can patients reply to a broadcast?

Yes. Each reply comes back as a private one-to-one conversation with that patient. No other recipient sees it.

What does a CSV need for a broadcast?

A header row and a Phone, Email or MRN column. An MRN matches a patient already in BloomText; a row that matches nobody needs a phone or email to create a patient. Every other column is optional: map it to a patient field, keep it as a variable for your message, or don't import it.

Can I send PHI in a broadcast?

Only with Secure text with link. Each patient gets a text with a link to your message, which stays encrypted in BloomText. An Insecure text is a regular text message and can't contain PHI.

Can I schedule a broadcast for later?

Yes. On the campaign page, click Send…, then the arrow on the right of Send now. Pick a date and time and click Schedule. You can change the time zone with Change.

How do patient opt-outs work?

BloomText keeps one list of numbers it won't text for your whole organization: patients who replied STOP, and numbers the carrier blocked, an admin blocked, or that can't receive texts. Numbers on the list aren't texted by any broadcast. In an Insecure text broadcast they show as Failed with the reason.

Who can send a broadcast?

Members of a team with an assigned phone number, in an organization with the Patient SMS Add-on that BloomText has verified. You pick the team and sender on the campaign's Details step.

Can I send a broadcast from the mobile app?

No. Broadcasts are in the BloomText web app and the desktop app.