A real human — the doctor on video, to the patient's message thread.
Now live: RCS Business Messaging
Help patients START and STAY in their messaging thread. Not an app. Not a portal.
Hoot delivers education on complex diseases and treatments as rich, tappable messages — what the therapy does, what side effects to watch for, and exactly what happens next.
Hi Maya — your care team started you on a biologic infusion for Crohn’s. Here’s what the first 8 weeks look like.
What is a biologic?Side effectsMy schedule
What is a biologic?
▶
0:42Lesson 1 of 4
How your biologic works
What the infusion does to calm inflammation, and why it takes 8 weeks.
RCS message
↑
Doctor videos create understanding and trust, which nudge patients to START and STAY.
Carousels
Complex therapy, one card at a time
A treatment explained one card at a time — how the drug works, dosing, side effects to watch, and the next appointment. The patient swipes through it inside their normal messaging thread.
1Up to ten cards per message — each with its own image, title and action.
2Swiped, not scrolled away — the lesson stays in the thread for re-reading later.
3Every tap is measured — you see which lesson the patient actually opened.
H✓Northside GIVerified business · via HootRCS
Your infusion starts Sep 4. Here's what to know first — swipe through.
Lesson 1
How it works
Anti-TNF, in plain language
Open →
Lesson 2
Dosing schedule
Week 0, 2, 6, then every 8
Open →
Lesson 3
Side effects
What to watch, when to call
Open →
Lesson 4
Your next step
Labs, then infusion Sep 4
Open →
Opened Lesson 3Read 9:41 AM
RCS message↑
The feature set
Every RCS surface, running live
Each panel below is in motion — the same components Hoot ships into patient education threads.
Quick surveys
One tap, real-world data
Symptom severity, adherence, side-effect burden. Patients answer with one tap between visits, and responses stream straight to the care team.
Since your dose increase, joint pain is:
Much better48%
Somewhat better34%
No change18%
Suggested replies
Next steps, spelled out
Every message ends with the next step spelled out. Patients tap the answer instead of guessing, and the care team gets a structured event.
Labs before your next infusion. Book the draw or ask a nurse?
Book labsAsk a nurseWhy labs?
Book labs
Video & rich media
Thumbnails that actually play
Injection technique, infusion-day walkthroughs, what a flare looks like. A tappable thumbnail with title and duration, playing inline instead of behind a link nobody opens.
100 MB
max file size
HD
inline playback
Per-view
watch analytics
▶
Injection technique1:18
How to give your weekly injection
Northside GI · 1:18
✓Verified sender
Your name, logo and colors
Patients see a verified practice profile instead of an unknown ten-digit number. Fewer blocks, fewer "who is this?" calls.
✓Your practice name in the header — not a ten-digit number the patient has to look up.
✓Your logo and brand color on every card, so the thread looks like you.
✓A carrier-verified check mark the patient already trusts from other businesses.
9:41••• 5G
‹H✓Northside GIVerified business · via HootRCS
Dr. Patel recorded this for you before your first dose.
▶1:18
Dr. Patel · Starting your biologic▶ Watch now
+Message
Measure video watch time
Know exactly where they stopped
Every doctor video reports completion per patient, not just an open. You see which piece of content holds attention and which one loses it, then swap, shorten or re-order the sequence in real time.
Avg. watch time by videolast 30 days
Starting your biologic · 1:1892%
Handling the first side effects · 2:0474%
What your copay covers · 3:1238%
Copay video is losing them at 1:10 — recut to 1:30 and re-send this week.
Typing & read receipts
Know the message was read, not just delivered. Live typing indicators make staff replies feel like a conversation.
Feature gallery
Each RCS component, shown as it appears in a patient thread. Use these patterns to build education that starts and holds a patient.
9:41
HNorthside GI✓
Your treatment plan
Infliximab · 5 mg/kg · every 8 wks
Read the planAsk
Rich card
The whole treatment plan as one card — drug, dose, schedule and what it treats.
9:41
Understanding your diagnosis
What it is
Lesson 1
Open →
Your treatment
Lesson 2
Open →
Next steps
Lesson 3
Open →
Carousel
A four-lesson explainer, swiped one card at a time inside Messages.
9:41
Labs before your next infusion. Book the draw or ask a nurse?
Book labsAsk a nurseWhy labs?
Book labs
Suggested replies
The next step as a tappable answer, so nobody has to guess or call.
9:41
Infusion reaction or new symptom? The nurse line is open until 8 PM.
☎
(415) 555-0142
Call nurse lineMessage
Dial action
One tap opens the dialer on the right clinic line for urgent symptoms.
9:41
Quick check‑in: how are your symptoms since the last infusion?
BetterAbout the sameWorse
Logged to your chart.
Mini‑survey
One tap answers a symptom check — the response writes back to the chart.
9:41
4 min away
Midtown Infusion Center · Suite 210
Parking garage entrance on 8th
DirectionsShare
Location actions
Show the infusion center, open directions, confirm they can get there.
9:41
▶
1:18
How to give your weekly injection
Plays inline · no link, no login
Watch againAsk a nurse
Video & images
Injection technique and infusion-day walkthroughs, with a real thumbnail.
9:41
PDF
Pre-infusion labs · TB + hep B
248 KB · secure link
Your screening labs cleared. You’re good to start on Sep 4.
Open resultsFollow-up
File sharing
Results, consent forms and dosing instructions delivered in the thread.
9:41
Your copay support enrollment is ready to finish.
Open patient support
✕veralixsupport.com
Veralix Patient Support
Pay as little as $5 per fill
✓Copay card & nurse training
Finish enrollment
Webviews
A brand’s patient services site — copay enrollment, nurse programs — opens as a half, tall or full sheet without leaving Messages.
Branching threads
Patients choose their own adventure
One education thread, three directions. Whatever the patient taps — side effects, cost, family — the thread continues down that branch with the video and next step that fit.
H✓Northside GIVerifiedRCS
VIDEO 1 · DIAGNOSISHi Maya, your doctor mentioned a new treatment. Let's start with what it is.
▶
Disease education from Dr. Patel▶ Watch now
Watched. I have questions.
Side effectsCostMy family
↑
H✓Northside GIVerifiedRCS
BRANCH · SIDE EFFECTSSide effects concern meMaya, side effects are real but often manageable. Let’s separate myth from reality.
▶
Myths vs reality
Show meHelpful
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H✓Northside GIVerifiedRCS
BRANCH · COSTI’m worried about costCost is real. Most patients pay less than they expect. Here’s how.
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Financial assistance
Let’s tryConnect me
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H✓Northside GIVerifiedRCS
BRANCH · MY FAMILYMy family is concernedA short video your family can watch together: what to expect, how to help.
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For loved ones
ThanksMore
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RCS vs SMS
Same phone number. A different medium.
Capability
SMS
RCS with Hoot
Verified brand identity
Ten-digit number
Logo, name, verified check
Carousels
Not supported
Up to 10 swipeable cards
Suggested replies
Free text only
Tappable, structured
Surveys
Reply 1-3
One-tap, in-thread results
Video
Shortened link
Thumbnail, inline playback
Read receipts
Delivery only
Read + typing indicators
Character limit
160 per segment
8,000
Rollout
Live in three weeks, not three quarters
WEEK 01
Verify the brand
Hoot files your sender profile with the carriers and aggregators, and connects your existing number.
WEEK 02
Build the threads
Diagnosis explainers, therapy education, side-effect guidance and next-step prompts, composed from carousels, surveys and video.
WEEK 03
Send and measure
Ship to a cohort, watch tap-through and reply rates, then scale with automatic SMS fallback.
Real-time intelligence
Every tap is a signal
Watch time, open rates, auto nudges, shares and opt-outs — visible per patient and per message while the journey is still running.
Watch time
78%
Median share of each video actually watched
Open rates
94%
Messages opened within the first hour
Auto nudges
3.2
Automated follow-ups per stalled patient
Shares
1 in 5
Patients forward a lesson to family
Opt-outs
0.4%
Requests to stop, tracked and honored instantly
Signals route themselvesA patient who stops watching gets a shorter recap. One who taps "cost" gets assistance. One who goes quiet gets a nudge, then a human. No dashboards to check first.Automation, not AI guesswork
Patient messaging & education, explained
What RCS patient messaging is, and what it replaces
Hoot is a patient messaging and education platform for specialty care. It delivers physician-led video, swipeable lesson cards and one-tap surveys as verified RCS messages inside the patient's own messaging thread — replacing hub PDFs, call-center voicemails and portal logins that patients never complete.
Replaces the patient portal
No download, no login, no password reset. The education arrives where the patient already reads messages.
Replaces the mailed PDF
A doctor explaining the therapy on video lands differently than a leaflet, and you can see who watched it.
Replaces the call-center voicemail
Patients answer a tappable question in seconds. Nobody has to be reached by phone at the right moment.
Replaces the generic reminder
Each answer routes the next message, so the thread addresses the barrier the patient actually named.
Common questions
What is RCS patient messaging?
RCS (Rich Communication Service) is the successor to SMS, built into Google Messages and Apple iOS. For healthcare it means verified, branded messages that carry video, carousels, surveys and tappable replies inside the patient's native messaging app — no app download, no portal, no login.
How is RCS different from SMS for patient education?
SMS gives you 160 characters and a shortened link most patients never open. RCS delivers an 8,000-character branded thread with inline video, swipeable lesson cards, one-tap surveys and read receipts, sent from a verified sender profile instead of an unknown ten-digit number.
What is a patient education solution?
A patient education solution delivers structured explanations of a diagnosis, therapy and next steps to the patient between visits. Hoot delivers it as physician-led video and short lessons inside the messaging thread, then uses each response to route the next message.
Can RCS be used for HIPAA-aligned patient communication?
Yes. Hoot runs RCS through HIPAA-aligned workflows with verified sender registration, consent capture, audit trails and configurable data retention. Threads fall back to SMS automatically when a device or carrier does not support RCS.
Which patients does RCS reach?
RCS is available on over a billion devices worldwide across Google Messages and Apple iOS. Patients on unsupported devices receive the same journey as SMS, so no cohort is excluded from the program.
How does branching patient messaging work?
Every message ends with tappable options. When a patient taps “side effects,” “cost” or “my family,” the thread continues down that branch with the video and next step that address that specific barrier, rather than repeating the same generic reminder.
Does patient messaging improve adherence and prescription abandonment?
Education delivered at the decision point addresses the barrier that causes abandonment — confusion about the therapy, cost anxiety, side-effect fear or family pressure. Because every tap is a structured event, teams can see which barrier is costing them patients and intervene before the patient is lost.
What can practices and pharma teams measure?
Per-message delivery and read receipts, per-video watch rates, tap-through on every card and chip, survey responses over time, and time-to-therapy start at day-level precision.