Healthcare communication software for clinic staff

Healthcare communication software covers several different kinds of tools: staff chat, patient messaging, clinical alerting and telehealth. Chanty is one of them. It is internal communication for clinic and practice staff, with chats, calls, announcements, files and tasks that have an owner and a deadline. You use it alongside your EHR, phone system and patient portal. Chanty is HIPAA-compliant with a signed BAA on the Business and Enterprise plans. This page explains which category you need, what to check before you buy, what Chanty does and costs, and where another tool is the better choice.

What healthcare communication software covers (and which kind you need)

The category splits into four groups. Each one solves a different problem.

Category	What it handles	Who uses it
Internal staff communication	Chat, calls, announcements, shared files, task follow-up	Front desk, admin, ops, HR, IT, clinical staff in operational workflows
Patient communication	Two-way texting, patient portals, reminders, phone and fax	Staff and patients
Clinical communication and alerting	Nurse call, paging, critical results, on-call escalation	Clinical teams
Telehealth	Video visits with patients	Clinicians and patients

Searches for "healthcare communication platform," "medical communication app" or "nurse communication software" return tools from all four groups. Most clinics need more than one. A typical practice uses the EHR for documentation, a patient texting or portal tool for reminders and replies, and a staff tool for the work that happens between people.

Chanty is a HIPAA-compliant messaging app for healthcare teams in the first group: internal team communication and work coordination for staff, used alongside existing clinical systems. It is not an EHR or EMR. It is not patient messaging, a patient portal or telehealth. It is not an urgent clinical alerting system, and it is not built for validated clinical handoffs.

Decision cue: if your problem is staff coordination across the front desk, admin, shifts and locations, keep reading.

What clinics should look for in internal communication software

Use this checklist to compare any staff communication tool, including Chanty.

• A signed BAA before any PHI is shared. HIPAA requires a business associate agreement with vendors that handle protected health information (ecfr.gov). Ask which plan includes the BAA, and get it signed before staff post anything about patients.
• Access controls. Look for roles and permissions, SSO, two-factor authentication, and fast offboarding. When a receptionist leaves on Friday, their access should end on Friday, not when someone remembers to remove them from a group text.
• Mobile apps that staff will actually use. Front desk, medical assistants and floating staff are rarely at a desk. If the app needs a training session, people drift back to personal messengers.
• Searchable history. You should be able to find last month's instruction about the new check-in process, or the decision on holiday coverage, without scrolling through someone's phone.
• Requests that become owned tasks. Follow-ups that live in group texts and spreadsheets get lost. Check that a message can become a task with an owner, a due date and a status.
• Guest separation. Contractors, billing vendors and IT providers should see only the conversations they need, kept apart from internal staff channels.

What Chanty does for clinic and practice teams

Chanty puts staff conversations, calls, files and tasks into one workspace. The interface looks and feels like WhatsApp, so most staff need little training. For a staff-chat view focused on HIPAA, see HIPAA-compliant chat for clinic staff.

• Team chats. Public and private conversations, one-on-one messages, threads, mentions and pinned messages. Message history is unlimited and searchable on every plan, including Free.
• Calls and voice messages. Free includes unlimited 1:1 audio and video calls. Business adds unlimited group calls and screen sharing. Voice messages are available on all plans, which helps staff who are moving between rooms.
• Announcements and internal comms (Business and Enterprise). These include company-wide announcements, scheduled posts, polls and surveys, an employee directory and onboarding. A policy change can go out at 7 a.m. to every location, and the original post stays easy to find.
• Tasks. You can create a task from scratch, or turn any message into a task in one click. Each task has an owner, a due date, a status and a priority, and you can track tasks on a Kanban board. Teambook gathers tasks, files, links, pinned messages and conversations in one place.
• Files and integrations. You can share files and procedures in the workspace. Chanty integrates with Google Drive, Dropbox, OneDrive, Box, Google Calendar, project tools such as Trello and Asana, and others. Zapier, Make and n8n extend the list. Apps run on iOS, Android, macOS, Windows and web.

Here is how this looks in practice:

• Front desk handoff. At 1 p.m., the morning receptionist posts in the front desk channel: two insurance verifications are pending, the card reader at window 2 is down, and one callback is still owed. She turns the callback into a task, assigns it to the afternoon coordinator and sets it due by 3 p.m. Nothing depends on a sticky note.
• Supply request across locations. The Westside office is low on exam table paper and gloves. A staff member posts in the supplies channel. The operations manager turns the message into a task and moves it across the Kanban board from "ordered" to "delivered." Every location can see the status.
• IT ticket from the clinic floor. A medical assistant sends a voice note from her phone to the IT channel: the label printer in room 4 has jammed again. IT converts it into a high-priority task and replies in the thread when it's fixed.

For the full feature list, see all Chanty features for healthcare teams.

HIPAA, BAA and security: what is covered and what you configure

• HIPAA and BAA. Chanty is HIPAA-compliant with a signed BAA on the Business and Enterprise plans. Enterprise adds a negotiated MSA. The Free plan has no BAA, so do not store PHI on it. The BAA covers all data in the team space: messages, files, voice notes, tasks and Teambook.
• Encryption. Data is encrypted in transit with TLS 1.2+, with forward secrecy and AES-128-GCM. File storage is encrypted. Chanty is not end-to-end encrypted.
• Business controls. Business includes customizable roles and retention (workspace-wide periods such as 30, 90 or 365 days or unlimited, plus conversation-level settings), SSO, 2FA, one-time-code login, IP allowlisting, and 120+ permission settings for what each person can see and do.
• Enterprise controls. Enterprise adds SAML SSO, directory sync and SCIM, DLP and governance controls, unlimited custom roles, data residency in the US, EU or APAC, and an on-premise option.
• Infrastructure. Chanty is hosted on Amazon Web Services. The database is replicated synchronously, and snapshots are kept in a separate data center. Chanty runs application and infrastructure penetration tests.

Shared responsibility. Chanty does not make a practice HIPAA compliant by itself. Your practice is responsible for:

• signing the BAA before handling PHI
• configuring roles and permissions
• managing user access and offboarding
• securing staff devices
• writing staff policies and training people on them

Scope limits.

• Third-party integrations such as Zapier or Google Drive are outside Chanty's BAA. Each one needs its own review.
• AI agents and connected external models are outside the standard BAA. Using agents on PHI requires a separate written agreement that covers the models you connect.

Chanty holds SOC 2 Type II and ISO/IEC 27001:2022 certifications covering the Chanty services, with reports available on request. For certifications and the full security overview, see security, HIPAA and BAA details.

AI agents in team conversations (Enterprise only)

On the Enterprise plan, you can mention an AI agent the same way you mention a teammate. The agent reads the thread, does the job and reports back where everyone can see it. Agents can also coordinate with each other and act on voice notes.

Every agent capability comes with controls:

• Per-role interaction levels. These decide who each agent takes orders from. A front desk role might be allowed to request a summary, while only operations managers can assign tasks through an agent.
• Visibility and revocation. Admins can see every agent and revoke it.
• Real-time audit trail. Every agent action is recorded.
• Your own models. You can bring an AI model or agent your organization already uses, or build your own. Chanty does not use your conversations to train outside models.

AI agents are not included on the Free or Business plans. Agents are outside the standard BAA, so before any agent touches PHI, put a separate written agreement in place with Chanty that covers the models you connect.

Plans at a glance

	Free	Business	Enterprise
Price	Free	$3/user/month billed annually; $4/user billed monthly (chanty.com)	Contact sales for pricing (chanty.com)
Signed BAA	No (not for PHI)	Yes	Yes, plus negotiated MSA
Limits	Up to 5 members, 10 integrations, 20 GB per team	20 GB storage per user	Custom storage
Searchable message history	Unlimited	Unlimited	Unlimited
Calls	Unlimited 1:1 audio and video	Adds unlimited group calls and screen sharing	Group calls and screen sharing
Tasks, Kanban, Teambook, voice messages	Yes	Yes	Yes
Guest access	Yes	3 free guest seats per paid member	Yes
Roles and permissions	No	Customizable roles, 120+ settings	Unlimited custom roles
Internal comms tools	No	Yes	Yes
Identity and access	No	One-time-code login, 2FA, SSO, IP allowlisting	Adds SAML SSO, directory sync, SCIM
DLP and governance controls	No	No	Yes
AI agents and agent governance	No	No	Yes
Analytics and dashboards	No	No	Yes
Data residency, on-premise, white labeling	No	No	Yes
Uptime guarantee	No	99.9% monthly, in the plan terms	99.9% monthly, in the plan terms

Where Chanty is not the right fit

Be clear on these limits before you choose:

• Clinical and patient systems. Chanty does not replace your EHR or EMR, patient portal, patient texting, telehealth, nurse call, paging, or urgent clinical alerting and critical results communication. Use specialized clinical communication platforms for those.
• Scheduling and HR. Chanty has no built-in shift scheduling, time tracking, HR or payroll functions. Keep your workforce management system.
• Complex projects. Task management is basic: lists and a Kanban board. It works well for follow-ups and requests, but not for complex project or portfolio management.
• Integration depth. The native integration catalog is smaller than Slack's or Teams' about 28 native integrations (27 third-party apps plus built-in Tasks) (chanty.com). If your practice depends on many native integrations, check the apps list first.
• Microsoft 365 organizations. Organizations standardized on Microsoft 365 that want Teams-native meetings and telephony may prefer Teams.
• Reliability reports. Some reviews report issues with video-call and notification reliability, and limited customization. Test with your own staff and devices during evaluation.

How Chanty compares with common alternatives

Option	Primary focus	BAA availability	Best fit
Chanty	Internal team communication and work coordination	Business and Enterprise plans	Outpatient clinics, multi-location groups and admin teams that need staff chat plus owned tasks
Spruce Health	Patient communication, plus team chat, phone and fax	Included on all plans and the free trial (help.sprucehealth.com)	Independent practices that want patient and staff communication in one tool
qliqSOFT	Secure texting and care-team messaging	BAA offered; quote-based pricing (qliqsoft.com)	Care teams focused on secure clinical messaging
Microsoft Teams	Chat, meetings and calls within Microsoft 365	Teams is in scope of Microsoft's BAA, included by default in the Data Protection Addendum (learn.microsoft.com)	Organizations standardized on Microsoft 365
Google Chat	Chat within Google Workspace	Google Chat is covered under Google's Business Associate Addendum, which admins must accept (workspace.google.com)	Organizations already on Google Workspace
Slack	General team chat with a large integration catalog	Enterprise plans only, with signed BAA (slack.com)	Teams that rely on many native integrations
WhatsApp and SMS groups	Personal messaging	No BAA offered (whatsapp.com)	Not designed for managed workplace use

WhatsApp and SMS groups are where many practices start. The problems are structural, not personal:

• Messages live on personal devices.
• Admins cannot control who is in a group or what happens to the history.
• There is no offboarding when someone leaves.
• In typical use, there is no BAA.

For detailed tool-by-tool checks, see team chat tools compared for HIPAA.

Getting started with Chanty in a clinic

1. Pick the plan. Use Business for HIPAA with a BAA, group calls, roles and internal comms tools. Use Enterprise if you need AI agents, SCIM or data residency. Sign the BAA before any PHI is shared Request the BAA (and, on Enterprise, the MSA) through Chanty's demo/sales form. (chanty.com).
2. Set up access. Configure roles, permissions, SSO and 2FA. Create channels by location, team and function: front desk, billing, operations, IT. Add contractors and vendors as guests, separate from staff. Dental offices and multi-location groups can start from solutions by practice type.
3. Write a short staff policy. It should answer three questions: what goes in Chanty, what stays in the EHR, and what never goes in chat. Start from free HIPAA templates for staff communication policies.
4. Move group texts over channel by channel. Start with the busiest group, such as front desk. Pin the policy, then retire the old thread.

Start at https://www.chanty.com/signup. For Enterprise needs such as AI agents, SCIM or data residency, contact sales.

FAQ

What is healthcare communication software?

It is a broad category. It includes internal staff communication, patient communication, clinical communication and alerting, and telehealth. Chanty belongs to the first group: internal team communication for staff.

Is Chanty HIPAA compliant?

Chanty is HIPAA-compliant with a signed BAA on the Business and Enterprise plans. Your practice is still responsible for configuration, access management, device security and staff training. Chanty is not "HIPAA-certified," because no such certification exists.

Which Chanty plan includes a BAA?

Business includes a signed BAA. Enterprise includes a BAA plus a negotiated MSA. Free does not include a BAA.

Can staff share patient information in Chanty?

Yes, on Business or Enterprise, but only after the BAA is signed and within your practice's policies. Keep clinical documentation in the EHR. Do not share PHI on the Free plan, through third-party integrations, or with AI agents unless their coverage is confirmed (chanty.com).

Can patients message the clinic through Chanty?

No. Chanty is for internal staff communication. It is not a patient messaging tool or a patient portal.

Is Chanty a clinical alerting or nurse call system?

No. It is not a nurse call, paging, critical results or urgent clinical alerting system. It is not suitable for validated clinical handoffs. Use specialized clinical communication platforms for those workflows.

Does Chanty work for dental offices and multi-location practice groups?

Yes, for internal coordination. Typical uses include front desk channels, cross-location supply requests, shared procedures and tasks that are tracked across sites.

Is Chanty end-to-end encrypted?

No. Data is encrypted in transit with TLS 1.2+, and file storage is encrypted.

Are AI agents included on the Business plan?

No. AI agents and agent governance are available only on the Enterprise plan.

Does Chanty integrate with our EHR?

No native EHR integration is listed (chanty.com). Keep the EHR as your system of record, and use Chanty for staff coordination around it.

Can we replace staff WhatsApp groups with Chanty?

Yes. That is a common reason practices switch. Chanty gives you admin control, offboarding, searchable history and, on Business or Enterprise, a signed BAA. Move one group at a time.

Is there a free plan, and can we use it with PHI?

Yes, there is a free plan. It supports up to 5 members, 10 integrations and 20 GB per team, with unlimited message history. It has no BAA, so do not use it for PHI.