Team communication for physical therapy practices

Chanty gives physical therapy clinic staff one messenger-style workspace for the day's operational handoffs. Front desk, aides, billing and therapists use it, and any message can become a task with an owner and a deadline. It runs alongside your EMR and scheduling system and does not replace them. HIPAA support with a signed BAA is available on the Business and Enterprise plans. The Free plan has no BAA. If you run a different kind of practice, see solutions by practice type, including team communication for dental offices and a team communication app for home care agencies.

Where coordination breaks down in a PT clinic

A PT clinic runs on dozens of small handoffs a day:

• A patient cancels at 7:40 a.m., and the front desk needs to tell the therapist that the 9:00 slot is open.
• An aide calls out, and coverage in the gym shifts for the morning block.
• The cable column is out of order, or the clinic is running low on table paper and therapy bands.
• An authorization question sits with billing while the front desk waits for an answer.
• A new table-cleaning procedure has to reach the part-time aide who works two afternoons a week.

Most clinics handle these with whatever is at hand. That usually means personal group texts, internal email threads, a whiteboard by the front desk, a spreadsheet someone updates when they remember, and conversations in the hallway.

Each of these tools has the same gaps. No one clearly owns the follow-up. There is no record a manager can check later. Nothing reminds anyone when an item stalls. The broken equipment gets mentioned three times and fixed a week later.

Chanty's job is narrow: connect each conversation to a clear owner, a deadline and a trackable follow-up.

What Chanty gives your clinic staff

• Team chats. Set up public and private channels by clinic or role, such as #front-desk, #aides, #billing and #clinicians. Staff can also use 1:1 messages, threads, @mentions and pinned messages. Message history is unlimited and searchable, including on Free.
• Tasks from messages. Turn any message into a task with an owner, a due date, a status and a priority. You can track open items on a Kanban board.
• Announcements and pinned information. Post schedule changes, holiday closures and policy updates in a channel and pin them. Business and above add company-wide announcements, scheduled posts and polls.
• Shared files and procedures. Keep cleaning checklists, front-desk scripts and equipment manuals in the workspace. Teambook gathers tasks, files, links and pinned messages in one place.
• Voice messages and calls. An aide on the gym floor can send a quick voice note instead of typing. Free includes unlimited 1:1 audio and video calls. Business adds group calls and screen sharing.

See all Chanty features for healthcare teams.

Example PT workflows (operational, not clinical)

Front desk to aides. Treatment room 2 is closed for a repair. The front desk posts the change in the clinic channel and pins it for the shift, so every aide sees it before setting up the next patient.

Billing and authorizations. The front desk posts a question about an authorization. A coordinator turns the message into a task assigned to the billing coordinator, due before the patient's next scheduled visit. The task stays open until billing marks it done.

• Patient details go into Chanty only on Business or Enterprise, after the BAA is signed.
• Share only what your clinic's minimum-necessary policy allows.
• Chanty does not track visit limits or automate authorizations. The task is created by a person.

Facilities and supplies. An aide reports that a treadmill belt is slipping and attaches a photo. The report becomes a task assigned to the clinic manager. It moves across the Kanban board until the vendor visit is done.

New-hire onboarding. A #new-staff channel holds pinned procedures, the front-desk checklist and key files. Business and above add onboarding tools from the internal communications set.

These workflows cover operations only. Plans of care, daily notes, progress notes and documentation stay in your EMR. Appointments stay in your scheduling system. Chanty is not a channel for clinical handoffs or urgent patient-safety communication, so keep those on your clinic's established clinical channels.

Running several PT clinics

For a multi-location practice, set up one workspace:

• A channel per location, such as #northside or #downtown, for site-specific updates.
• Shared cross-location channels for operations, HR and IT, so a policy change goes out once.
• Shared procedures and files, so every site works from the same version of the intake checklist or cleaning protocol.
• One task view where operations leaders assign and track work across sites, for example "replace the parallel bars handrail at Eastside" or "update front-desk script at all clinics."
• Guest access for equipment vendors, contractors or your managed IT provider. Guests see only the conversations you select. Business includes 3 free guest seats per paid member.
• Roles and permissions with 120+ settings on Business and Enterprise. These control who sees which channels and what each role can do. Enterprise adds unlimited custom roles.

If your group also offers behavioral or occupational therapy, see team communication for therapy group practices.

HIPAA, BAA and security: what is and isn't covered

Chanty supports HIPAA compliance with a signed BAA on the Business and Enterprise plans. The Free plan has no BAA and should not be used for protected health information (PHI). Chanty does not make a practice compliant by itself.

Control	Business	Enterprise
Signed BAA	Yes	Yes, with negotiated MSA
Customizable roles and retention	Yes	Yes
2FA, SSO, IP allowlisting	Yes	Yes
SAML SSO, directory sync, SCIM	No	Yes
DLP and governance controls	No	Yes

Encryption in transit uses TLS 1.2+, and file storage is encrypted. Messages are not end-to-end encrypted.

What the BAA covers. On Business and Enterprise, the signed BAA covers all data in the team space, including messages, files, voice notes, tasks and Teambook. Third-party integrations are outside Chanty's BAA scope.

Shared responsibility. Your practice is responsible for:

• signing the BAA before anyone handles PHI
• configuring roles and permissions
• managing access and offboarding when staff leave
• securing staff devices
• training staff on your policies

More detail is on the HIPAA-compliant chat for staff page. For certifications and technical details, see security, HIPAA and BAA details.

Moving staff off personal texting

Chanty's interface works like the messengers your staff already use, so it needs little training. Apps run on iOS, Android, macOS, Windows and the web, which covers both the front-desk computer and an aide's phone.

A rollout that tends to work:

1. Start with one clinic and a few channels, such as front desk, aides, billing and announcements.
2. Pin the rules in each channel: what goes where, and what turns into a task.
3. Write a short staff policy that covers three things:
   • what belongs in chat
   • what belongs in the EMR
   • what must never go into personal messaging apps on staff phones
4. Retire the old group text once the channels are in use, then add the next location.

Templates for rollout plans and staff policies are in the operations library for practice managers. If you are weighing Chanty against Slack, Teams, Google Chat or WhatsApp, see how team chat tools compare on HIPAA.

What Chanty does not do for a PT practice

• It is not clinical software. It is not an EMR, a documentation tool, a home exercise program delivery tool or a patient messaging channel.
• It does not handle staffing admin. There is no built-in appointment scheduling, shift scheduling, time tracking or payroll.
• Task management is basic. You get lists and a Kanban board, which are not meant for complex projects.
• The native integration catalog is smaller than Slack's or Teams'. Zapier, Make and n8n extend it, but integrations sit outside the BAA. No native PT EMR, scheduling or billing integration is listed.
• AI agents are Enterprise only. Agent processing and connected external models are outside the standard BAA, and using agents with PHI requires a separate written agreement. Confirm with Chanty before any PHI use.

Choosing a plan and getting started

	Free	Business	Enterprise
Best for	Trial without PHI	Clinics handling PHI in staff chat	Larger groups with IT and security requirements
BAA	No	Signed BAA	BAA and negotiated MSA
Storage	20 GB per team	20 GB per user	Custom
History	Unlimited, searchable	Unlimited, searchable	Unlimited, searchable
Key additions	1:1 calls, tasks, Kanban	Roles and permissions, internal communications tools, group calls, 99.9% uptime guarantee	SAML SSO/SCIM, data residency (US, EU, APAC), on-premise option, AI agents with governance

Start free at chanty.com/signup to set up channels and test workflows without patient information. Upgrade to Business and sign the BAA before anyone shares patient details.

FAQ

Is Chanty HIPAA compliant for a physical therapy clinic?

Chanty supports HIPAA compliance with a signed BAA on the Business and Enterprise plans. The Free plan has no BAA. Your practice still configures access, sets policies and trains staff.

Can we discuss patients in Chanty?

Only on Business or Enterprise after the BAA is signed, and only in line with your practice's minimum-necessary policy. Clinical documentation stays in your EMR.

Does Chanty integrate with our PT EMR or scheduling software?

No native PT EMR or scheduling integration is listed. Some workflows can be connected through Zapier, Make or n8n, but those tools are outside Chanty's BAA scope.

Can patients use Chanty to message the clinic?

No. Chanty is for internal staff communication. It is not for patient messaging or home exercise programs.

Does Chanty handle staff scheduling?

No. It has no built-in shift scheduling or time tracking. Keep using your existing system and post schedule updates in Chanty.

Will aides and front desk staff actually use it?

The interface works like a familiar messenger and runs on phones and desktops, so it needs little training.

Can we run several clinic locations in one workspace?

Yes. Use a channel per location and shared channels for cross-site work. Roles and permissions on Business and above control who sees what.