How patient SMS works

Intakable is a HIPAA-compliant communications vendor used by medical clinics. When a clinic is an Intakable customer, we send transactional appointment-related SMS messages to that clinic's patients on the clinic's behalf.

Examples of messages we send:

• Pre-appointment intake reminders ("You have an appointment on Monday — would you like our AI assistant to call you to complete intake?")
• Appointment confirmations and rescheduling requests.
• Pre-procedure preparation reminders ("Reminder: nothing by mouth after midnight tonight.")
• Post-procedure recovery check-ins ("How are you feeling today after Tuesday's procedure?")

Every message is strictly transactional and tied to a specific appointment or care episode. We do not send marketing messages.

Patients opt in to receive SMS messages from the clinic and its authorized vendors at the time they become patients of that clinic, through the clinic's standard patient-registration process — typically a paper or digital intake form completed at the first appointment or during online appointment booking.

The exact language varies by clinic, but every Intakable customer is contractually required to obtain consent before adding any phone number to its Intakable patient roster. The consent language clinics use generally reads:

“I authorize [Clinic Name] and its authorized vendors to send me appointment-related text messages to the phone number on file. Message and data rates may apply. Reply STOP to opt out, HELP for help.”

We never add a phone number to a clinic's Intakable roster on our own initiative. Only authenticated clinic staff can add patients, and the clinic attests at the time of upload that the patient has consented.

Examples of the actual SMS content patients receive. Every message identifies the sending clinic and includes opt-out instructions on first contact:

Frequency varies by patient and appointment volume — typically zero to four messages per appointment cycle (intake reminder, confirmation, prep instructions, post-procedure check-in). Patients with no upcoming appointments receive no messages.

Patients can stop receiving SMS messages at any time by replying to any message with one of these keywords:

• STOP, END, CANCEL, UNSUBSCRIBE, or QUIT— immediately stops all SMS messages from that clinic. Patients receive a one-time confirmation that they've been unsubscribed.
• HELP or INFO— replies with the clinic's contact phone number and a link to this page.
• START, YES, or UNSTOP — re-subscribes a previously opted-out number.

Opt-out requests are processed immediately at the carrier level and persisted in our database. We do not retry, ignore, or override opt-outs.

Standard message and data rates may apply, depending on the patient's mobile carrier plan. Intakable does not charge patients for messages.

We do not sell, rent, or share patient phone numbers with third parties for marketing purposes. Phone numbers are used solely to send the transactional messages described above and are disclosed only to:

• The clinic that holds the patient relationship (which already has the number).
• SMS infrastructure providers (Twilio) and voice infrastructure providers (Vapi) acting as our HIPAA-eligible sub-processors under written data-processing agreements.
• Government authorities only when required by law.

Full details on how we handle patient information are in our Privacy Policy.

If you received a message you didn't expect, please contact the clinic that sent it directly — they hold the patient relationship and can resolve the issue immediately. If you can identify Intakable as the sender but not the clinic, email privacy@intakable.com and we will route your inquiry.