Overview
Mass Notifications is ChiroHD's built-in tool for sending a bulk text message to a group of patients — one message, many recipients, no individual sending required.
Purpose and Appropriate Use
A few things to know upfront about mass notifications:
SMS only — this sends SMS texts but does not send emails.
General announcements only — not for appointment reminders or treatment details.
Best for: holiday closures, promotions, new services, or any office update you want patients to know about
Step 1: Accessing Mass Notifications
Navigate to your Live Location, Utilities Tab, Mass Notification
The tool will open, allowing you to define your audience, compose your message, and send.
Step 2: Defining the Recipient Group
You have three filters to work with — and you can combine them:
Patient Status — Choose Active or Inactive patients.
By Tag — Target patients with a specific tag (e.g., "Wellness Members," "Nutrition Clients"). Tags must be configured in your system in advance. If you haven't set up tags, leave this blank.
Last Appointment (days) — Enter a number to limit the send to patients seen within that window (e.g., 30 = last 30 days, 120 = last 120 days).
NOTE: Leaving the appointment days field blank will include all active patients. For large offices with years of patient history, this can be a very long list — use the filters to narrow your audience when the message doesn't need to go to everyone.
Step 3: Composing the Message
Type your message in the text field. A character count in the lower right of the field shows where you are — the limit is 1,600 characters.
Keep in mind:
No PHI — Do not include any patient health information to stay HIPAA-compliant
No "CBD" — Twilio (ChiroHD's SMS provider) flags this term and can suspend your account's texting access
Keep it brief and clear — These are text messages; shorter messages work better
Step 4: Compliance Check and Validation
Before you can proceed, you must check the compliance checkbox at the bottom of the screen.
The Validate button will not activate until this box is checked.
Once your message is written and the compliance box is checked, click Validate.
Step 5: Cost Preview and Send
Error: If no patients matched your filters, you'll see this warning — click Change Criteria, adjust your filters, and revalidate
Cost Preview: If the filters return results, you'll see:
Total number of messages to be sent
Estimated cost of the send
NOTE: Costs are pass-through fees from Twilio — ChiroHD does not mark up these charges. Offices that send mass notifications frequently can see charges add up, so review the count and cost carefully before proceeding.
Send: When everything looks right, click Send Messages.
Step 6: Progress Tracking and Completion
After clicking Send Messages, a progress bar will appear showing the send in real time. Do not close this screen.
Messages are sent in batches. If the window is closed before the send finishes, it stops at that point — some patients will have received the message and others won't, with no way to pick up where you left off.
Keep the window open until you see the completion confirmation.
For large sends (2,000+ patients), the full batch can take 30 minutes or more — this is normal.
Once complete, the message will appear in Sent Messages (it may take a few minutes to show up after the send finishes).
Mass Notification Option: Need More Precise Targeting?
For more control — for example, patients with a specific tag who also have no future appointments scheduled — use Reporting, Advanced Patient Search.
From there, filter by any combination of criteria, select the results, and use the Send Text Message option in the messaging panel.
This triggers the same Mass Notification tool with a much more targeted audience.
If you have further questions about this feature, please see our other resources on the Advanced Patient Search.
✅ Key takeaways
Navigate to your Live Location, Utilities, Mass Notification.
Use filters (status, tag, appointment window) to target the right audience — or use Advanced Patient Search for more precision.
No PHI, no "CBD," keep it brief.
Check the compliance box before validating.
Review recipient count and cost before sending.
Stay on the progress bar until the send is fully complete.
📌 Conclusion
Mass Notifications is a fast, efficient way to reach your patient base with important announcements. Pick your audience, write a clean message, check the compliance box, validate the cost, send — and stay on the progress bar until it's done.