Shift routine questions from calls to text.
Use Allscripts HIPAA texting workflows to keep messages organized.
Route messages to the right team in seconds.
Reduce missed calls and voicemail backlogs.
Give patients quick answers without long hold times.
Lower stress for your front desk and call center staff.
Patients can text to ask simple questions, confirm appointments, or send updates. Your team replies from a shared inbox instead of juggling notes and voicemails.
Most days, it probably feels like your phones never stop ringing. Patients are calling to confirm times, ask if a referral arrived, or check a lab result that is already in the chart. Your staff does their best, but at some point they cannot answer fast enough, and the voicemails start to pile up. You see the stress in their faces by lunchtime.
At the same time, your patients are tired of being put on hold. They do not want to repeat their date of birth three times just to ask a simple question. They already live on their phones, sending messages to everyone else in their lives. They quietly wonder why they cannot do the same with your practice.
Secure patient communication in Allscripts gives you a novel way to handle all of this. Instead of drowning in calls, you can move to safe, two-way text threads.
In this blog, we will look at the everyday pain of running without secure texting. We will also walk through a real use case from a large ambulatory practice and finish with clear next steps.
If you are like most practices, your phones are doing way too much work. We touched on how challenging this can be in our definitive guide to HIPAA-compliant texting for AllScripts clinics. Every small question turns into a call, a voicemail, or a sticky note on someone’s screen. You want to help patients, but the volume makes it hard to keep up.
Your call center or front desk becomes the “catch-all” for everything. One minute someone is asking for directions, the next minute someone else is calling in a medication question. Calls stack up, and your staff starts to rush because they do not want people waiting on hold. That rushed feeling leads to mistakes and missed details.
When so many conversations live on the phone, it is easy for messages to slip through the cracks. A voicemail transcript might be unclear. A callback number might get written down wrong. A message might be passed verbally from one staff member to another and then forgotten in the rush.
From the patient’s side, this feels like being ignored. They may be waiting for an answer that never comes, or they may get a callback hours after they needed help. It is not that you do not care; it is that your workflow makes it too easy for messages to get lost. Over time, that frustration chips away at trust.
Without a better system, you are asking your team to carry a heavy emotional load every day. They want to offer kind, calm support, but the noise never stops. That is how burnout creeps in—not from one bad day, but from too many days that all feel the same. Secure texting gives you a way to break that pattern.
When you add Curogram on top of Allscripts PM, your communication starts to feel more organized. Instead of bouncing between ringing phones and scattered notes, your team works from a shared, secure inbox. Patients send texts, your staff replies, and everything stays in one place. You finally get a handle on the flow of messages.
Many of your calls today are simple: “What time is my appointment?” or “Can I come in a little early?” With secure two-way texting, those questions turn into short message threads. Patients write to you the same way they text a friend, and your staff replies when they are ready. One text exchange can replace several missed calls and voicemails.
Some of the most common reasons people call are to confirm details you already know. With Allscripts HIPAA texting workflows, you can automate many of those touches. Appointment confirmations, basic instructions, and follow-up messages can go out automatically as secure texts. Patients feel informed without needing to pick up the phone.
Not every question should land with the same person. With secure patient communication Allscripts powered by Curogram, you can route messages to different teams or inboxes based on topic, location, or provider. A refill request can go to the clinical staff, while an insurance question goes straight to the billing team. This keeps each message closer to the person best able to answer it.
When you move daily conversations into secure texting, you feel the difference in small ways first. The phones ring less often. Your staff looks a little calmer. Patients seem more relaxed because they are getting answers without a fight. Over time, those small wins add up to big change for your whole practice.
Every text you send or receive is one less phone call to manage. That means fewer voicemails, fewer missed callbacks, and fewer people waiting on hold. You still use the phone when it truly matters, but it stops being your only option. Your day no longer feels like a never-ending game of phone tag.
When overall call volume drops, the patients who still need to call can reach you faster. They spend less time listening to hold music and more time talking to a real person. That small change can make them feel more cared for. It also gives your team room to handle complex calls with more attention.
Text threads create a written record of what was asked and answered. Your team can look back at a message to double-check details, like a medication name or a time. Patients can re-read instructions instead of trying to remember a rushed phone conversation. Everyone feels less confused, and you spend less time correcting mistakes.
Calls demand an instant response, but texts can be handled in short, focused bursts. Your staff can answer several text threads between other tasks instead of dropping everything for each ring. That control over timing makes the day feel less chaotic. People can plan their work instead of just reacting.
A shared messaging inbox lets multiple staff members see and handle patient questions. No one person is stuck with all the calls. If someone is out sick, their teammates can still see the open messages and step in. Workload feels more balanced, and important questions do not stall when someone is away.
Many scheduling changes can be handled faster by text. Patients can send a quick message if they are running late or need a different time. Your team can offer options without asking them to wait on hold. This keeps your schedule fluid and helps you fill open slots more quickly.
When your staff is not glued to the phone, they have more attention for the people standing in front of them. Check-in and check-out feel smoother. Patients at the front desk do not have to compete with a ringing phone for attention. That face-to-face care makes your practice feel warmer and more human.
It is emotionally exhausting to hear frustration all day, even when it is not aimed at you. When secure texting absorbs many of the simple questions, your staff hears fewer tense voices. They can reply with care on their own time instead of feeling rushed. That calmer pace helps protect their energy and reduces burnout over the long run.
Text lets patients contact you in the cracks of their day—on a break at work, on the bus, or after putting kids to bed. They do not have to wait for business hours or find a quiet place to call. That convenience makes them more likely to reach out when they have questions. In the end, they feel more connected to your practice.
Instead of writing down messages on paper or trying to remember a conversation later, everything sits in one secure thread. Messages do not get buried under piles on someone’s desk. Anyone with access to the inbox can see what is still open. That structure makes it easier to close the loop with every patient.
Some patients juggle work, caregiving, and health issues all at once. Phone calls are hard for them to manage, but texts fit into their complicated lives. With secure patient communication Allscripts, you can check in, share updates, and answer questions without adding more stress. Those small connections can make a big difference in how supported they feel.
When you can route texts to different teams, handoffs stop feeling messy. A message about a referral can flow to one group, while a question about copays goes to another. Everyone sees the same thread instead of hearing a secondhand summary. That reduces repeated questions and keeps patients from retelling their story over and over.
Having written threads makes it easier to follow up later. If a provider wants to see what was discussed, your staff can pull up the conversation in a few clicks. If a patient calls in about a previous text, you can quickly get the full picture. That context makes your responses more accurate and personal.
Your patients are used to texting with almost everyone else in their lives. When your practice offers the same channel, it feels natural to them. They do not have to learn a new portal or remember another password. Instead, they meet you in a space they already understand.
In the end, the biggest benefit might be how your days feel. With fewer ringing phones and more controlled message flows, your office energy shifts. People are still busy, but the work feels more manageable. You and your team can breathe a little easier, knowing you finally have tools that match the reality of modern communication.
Imagine you are running a large ambulatory practice with multiple locations. Your call center is always busy, and your team feels like they can never get ahead. Patients keep calling to confirm appointments, ask about prep instructions, or check on messages to the doctor. You know something needs to change, but you are worried about disrupting your whole system.
This practice decided to start small with secure patient communication Allscripts using Curogram. They began by shifting appointment confirmations and simple follow-up questions into text. Patients started replying to messages instead of calling in. Within three months, the practice saw call volume drop by about 45 percent for the pilot group.
Staff noticed the difference right away. The phone lines were still important, but they were no longer overflowing. People could actually focus on complex calls and sensitive situations. The team felt less overwhelmed, and patients were getting faster, clearer responses to everyday questions.
First, pick one or two call types that drain your team the most—like appointment confirmations or basic questions about directions. Next, work with Curogram to map those calls into secure texting workflows that connect to Allscripts PM. Then, train a small group of staff on how to use the shared inbox and how to respond in a friendly, clear way by text.
After you go live, watch what happens for a few weeks. Listen to your team, listen to your patients, and make small adjustments to timing and wording. Once the pilot feels stable and the benefits are clear, you can expand to other call types and other locations.
You do not need another tool that sits on an island and makes your day more complicated. You need something that fits into your Allscripts PM world and actually lightens the load. Curogram was built with that in mind, connecting secure texting directly to the schedules and data you already use.
With Curogram, you get a clear, shared inbox where your team can see and handle patient messages together. You can build Allscripts HIPAA texting workflows that match how your practice really runs, instead of forcing everyone into a rigid system that does not fit. Messages can be routed to the right department, tracked, and closed, all in a way that feels organized instead of chaotic. You stay in control, but you are not doing everything manually anymore.
Running a busy practice is always challenging, but it does not have to feel as loud and chaotic as it does today. Using secure patient communication in Allscripts, can transform your patient communications. You're able to quiet the phones without cutting off patients. You show them you are still here for them—just in a format that fits their everyday life.
Secure texting will not fix every problem on its own, but it does change the tone of your days. Calls stop stacking up for simple questions. Your staff spends more time offering real help. Patients get answers faster and feel more at ease reaching out to you.
If you are tired of watching your team drown in calls, you do not have to keep doing things the same way. Start with one workflow, one team, and one small goal. Let Curogram help, so you can focus on issues that really need your full attention.
Interested to see secure text messaging in action? Book a quick demo today.