In this article, we will cover the following topics:
Member Chats
You can initiate or reply to a conversation with members from the Communications > Chat page or from the chart itself.
Communication Page
Navigate to Clinical
Click the Communication icon on the left side of the page
Select 'Chat' to send through the patient portal
Click the new message icon
Add the recipient(s) at the top of the screen, adding as many members or teammates as you wish
Type your message and send using the "return" button on your keyboard, or click the 'send' icon next to your message
Patient Chart
Navigate to the patient's clinical chart
In the Communications section, click "+ New" > Chat
Create and send your message
Note: If a patient sends an SMS, you can choose to respond via SMS or create a Chat.
Add attachments to the chat
Click the + sign on the left side of the chat to attach files and/ or images
You can view Chat and SMS history in the Communication section of the patient chart
Click on 'Chat' to see their member messaging. Click on SMS to see their SMS text messages.
Chat and SMS are different and they each have their own section to view their corresponding message type. Remember that, while there are instances when SMS can be HIPAA compliant, it is never secure. Hint Chat is fully HIPAA compliant and secure, so please use your best judgement when choosing which medium to use for your messages.
When the patient responds to the message, the notification will appear in the Communication section in Clinical, along with the response from the patient
Hint Chat also supports group chats. To add or remove members to the chat, you can click the info 'i ' button at the top right of the chat and add or remove members as needed. When a member is removed from a group chat, practice users will no longer see the conversation in that member's chart, but will see it in the conversation list and on all remaining participant charts. The member who was removed will no longer see the conversation in their conversation list in Member Portal.
The messages will appear in each recipient's chart in the Communication section, and each member in the chat will receive automated notifications via SMS to review and respond to the chat.
SMS to any number
This feature allows you to input any 10 digit phone number and send SMS to that number. This way, if you need to message a prospective member or otherwise unverified phone number, you can do so right from within Hint Chat's SMS feature.
Team Chat
Hint Chat works for teams as well. Initiate a team chat in the Communication section and add clinicians and / or staff. Filter your view to only include team chats if you like.
Team Labels
You can a distinct label for team conversations to quickly highlight them from others in the conversation list.
Team Notes
Team Notes are private, staff-only messages that live inside a regular Hint Chat conversation. They gives clinicians and staff a way to coordinate about a patient without leaving the chat thread and without the patient ever seeing the back-and-forth.
What it is: A private message sent inside an existing Hint Chat conversation. It renders as a purple bubble with a lock icon and a "Team Note" label, so it is visually unmistakable from a regular patient-facing message.
Who can see it: Only practice users (clinicians, admin, billing, etc.) who are participants in the conversation. Patients never see Team Notes bc they are stripped out by the messaging API for every member-facing endpoint and never surface in the patient portal.
Where it lives: Hint Clinical → Chat, inside any conversation. There is no separate inbox; Team Notes appear inline with the rest of the thread for staff.
How to turn one on: In the message composer, click the lock icon on the left. The lock closes, a purple "Team Note" banner appears above the editor, and the input gets a purple outline. Type and send like any other message. The lock stays on until you click it again, so you can send several team notes in a row.
Tagging teammates: Type @ in the editor to mention another practice user. Mentions are stored as structured nodes (not just text), so notifications and links go to the right person.
Notifications: Team Notes notify only the practice users you @mention. Posting a Team Note with no mentions deliberately sends no notifications so it can be used as a quiet inline note rather than a broadcast. Regular patient messages still notify everyone on the conversation as before.
Unread / archive behavior: A new Team Note marks the conversation unread for staff participants only, and will unarchive it for staff only. Patients’ unread counts and archive state are never affected by a Team Note.
Conversation snippets: When the most recent message on a conversation is a Team Note, the snippet shown to the patient (in their portal, list views, etc.) falls back to the last non-private message, so a Team Note never accidentally previews to a patient.
Attachments and scheduled messages: Team Notes support the same text + file attachments as regular messages. Scheduled messages remain a separate concept; Team Notes are sent immediately and are tied to the live conversation.
Here is an example of what a team note looks like:
Member Reply View
A member can see a reply, see the parent message it came from, and tap a specific message to copy or reply to:
Muting
When conversations become busy, use the "Mute" feature to disable notifications about them. Conversations can be muted by clicking the info icon on a conversation and selecting "mute", and clicking save. Muted conversations show up with a muted icon on them. To unmute, simply uncheck the mute icon.
Pinning Conversations
If you have conversations or messages that you need to keep handy, pin them in your list. Pinning a conversation will bring it to the top of your conversation list so you never lose track of it until you're finished with it. To pin a conversation, open the info panel on the conversation and click the pin icon, then save. To unpin your conversation, simply uncheck the pin icon.
Scheduled Chats
You can also create a scheduled chat message to one or many members or teammates. Scheduled chats work great for when you need to send a future message to an individual or a group in a HIPAA compliant way. NOTE: Scheduled chats are not a way to send a practice-wide blast via chat.
How it works:
Go to Communications > Scheduled and click “Chat”.
Add your audience to the participants field. You can choose any combination of practice members or team members for your scheduled conversation.
Choose a date and time to send the chat to the conversation.
Hint will deliver that message at your desired time and date.
Bulk Actions (Currently in Beta, please reach out if interested!)
You can decide to mute, unmute, mark as read / unread, archive all or some of your conversations with just 2 clicks. This means focusing on reducing notification fatigue where it's unwanted, and focus more on those conversations that matter most.
Quick Actions
In partnership with our bulk actions, it is now easier to take quick action on any conversation in their list. Now, with a click (on desktop) or a swipe (on mobile), you will see commonly used actions right on the conversation list row. With one click, practice users can manage the status or notification of any conversation in their list.