Healthengine's Communicate Feature – Help Centre

Communicate is a feature that allows your practice to send patients important, service-related information - such as the availability of telehealth appointments and flu vaccines - via bulk SMS!

Using Communicate, you can craft your own custom message or choose from one of the in-built message templates to send to patients.

Accessing Communicate

Activating Communicate is easy, simply login to your Practice Admin portal and click on the 'Communicate' tab on the left hand side of the menu options, under 'Products'. To activate this feature, simply select 'Activate Communicate' as seen in the images below:

If instead you see here that the button says 'Request Communicate', this is due to the feature not being included in your current subscription. Communicate is free to add and activate, so if you are interested, reach out to your Customer Success Manager and let them know!

Please Note: It will cost 7c per standard SMS sent using Communicate, however as mentioned above, it is free to add and activate.

Creating your Message

To get started with Communicate, once you have activated it, click on the 'Create a message' button on the Communicate page.

From here, you can select a message template from our in-built options or you can craft a custom message! To learn more about our template message options, check out our Help Centre article, Communicate Template Options.

You'll notice when creating your message, that a preview will appear on the right hand side.

Please also consider that there is a limit of 464 characters per Communicate message - this is the equivalent of 3x standard SMS's.

Please Note: When crafting a custom message, Healthengine automatically includes your practice's name at the start of the message and the opt-out option at the end of the message. These parts of the message cannot be customised.

For tips and best practices on creating a custom message in Communicate, including guidance on how to comply with the Spam Act 2003 (Cth), please view our Help Centre article, Communicate Custom Messages - Tips and Best Practice.

Uploading a CSV of Patient Mobile Numbers

Once you've crafted your message, you will be able to upload a CSV file of all the mobile numbers of the patients to whom you would like to send the selected message. If available, we recommend obtaining these numbers by doing a CSV export from your Practice Management Software (PMS).

For guidance on how to do this, select one of the Help Centre articles below that aligns with your practice software:

Please Note: There are certain formatting requirements for these mobile numbers; they must be in one of the formats listed below:

+61 4XX XXX XXX
04XXXXXXXX
04XX XXX XXX.

Once you've uploaded the CSV, we will automatically exclude any duplicates or incorrectly formatted numbers from the send so that you won't be charged for these.

Reviewing the Cost Estimate

Following this, you will see an estimate of the cost to send the bulk SMS at the bottom of the page. These costs are based on a standard rate of 7c per SMS.

As an example, if you were sending a message of fewer than 160 characters to 500 patients, your cost estimate would be 1 x 500 x 0.07 = $35.

All charges from sends in Communicate will be added to your next monthly invoice following the send.

Submitting a Send

If you are happy with the estimated cost, you can now select the confirmation box and submit your send!

Once you've submitted a send request, a confirmation email summarising the details of the send will be sent to the Billing Contact and/or Primary Contact recorded for your practice as well as the email address of the logged-in user who initiated the send.

Please Note: An Acceptable Use Policy applies to this feature and you must ensure that you are not in breach of this policy or your Communicate service may be terminated.
To learn more, read our Help Centre article, Acceptable Use Policy for Communicate.

Reviewing Past Sends

To review your past sends, simply navigate to your Communicate page and you will see a table summarising your past sends, including the following information:

Date and time of send
Template used
Number of recipients
Estimated cost
Status of each send

For more details on a particular send, click on the eye icon under the 'Details' column at the end.

If you experience any issues or need assistance with making changes, reach out to our friendly Healthengine Support Team via phone, chat or email support@healthengine.com.au

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