The conversation on the record
Attached to the patient rather than to a phone, so the next person to reply has the first conversation.
Blog
WhatsApp for clinics: what the Business API changes
In this region WhatsApp is not a channel, it is the channel. The question is not whether to use it but whether you are using it in a way that survives the clinic growing and the account staying open.
The informal version, and what it costs
Almost every clinic starts the same way: a phone at reception with the clinic number in it, and whoever is free replying. It works, at one branch, until it does not.
What it costs is invisible at first. Conversations live on a device rather than on the patient record, so the next person starts from nothing. Nobody can tell which enquiries went unanswered. And the number belongs to a handset, which means it belongs to whoever is holding it.
The failure that actually forces the change is usually a ban. Bulk messaging from a personal or unofficial client is against the terms, and a clinic number that gets blocked takes the patient history with it.
What the official route gives you
Templates that can be sent at volume
Confirmations, reminders and results within the rules, rather than in the hope nobody notices.
The twenty-four hour window, understood
Outside it you can only send approved templates. Knowing this shapes when you ask a question and when you send a notice.
A number the clinic owns
Not a handset. This matters most on the day the person holding the handset leaves.
What to send, and what not to
Confirmations, reminders, results ready, balance due, and the link to pay it. Those are the five that earn their place, and between them they remove most of the repetitive typing at the front desk.
What not to send is marketing to people who did not ask, at volume, because that is the fastest route to the ban described above. Frequency caps and quiet hours are not politeness features; they are how the account stays open.
Questions
Do we need the official Business API?
For anything at volume, yes. Unofficial routes get numbers banned, and a clinic number is not something you can afford to lose.
What is the twenty-four hour window?
After a patient messages you, there is a period in which you can reply freely. Outside it, only pre-approved templates can be sent — which is why the reminder is a template and the conversation is not.
Can we keep our existing number?
Usually, though it has to be migrated rather than simply added, and it cannot be active in the consumer app at the same time.
Does it replace SMS?
For most patients in this region, yes. Keeping SMS as a fallback for the few who do not use WhatsApp is still worth doing.
See it on your own clinic
Thirty minutes on how your clinic actually runs. We will call you within 24 hours.