Medical practices tired of phone tag often compare OhMD and Spruce Health for HIPAA-compliant texting with patients. Both put patient texts and calls into one shared inbox on the practice's own phone number. OhMD, based in Burlington, Vermont, adds AI voice and text agents that answer routine calls about scheduling and refills, and it connects to many electronic health records (EHRs). Spruce Health combines phone, text, fax, video visits, and team chat in one app and publishes its per-user prices.
Front desks with too many routine scheduling, refill, and after-hours calls that could move to text or an AI agent
Practices that will not set up the EHR connection and patient texting consent it needs
Small and mid-size practices that want HIPAA phone, text, fax, video, and team chat in one inbox
Health systems that need deep EHR integration and single sign-on across every app from day one
| Axis | OhMD | Spruce Health |
|---|---|---|
| Published price | Plans are listed on ohmd.com/pricing, and AI voice minutes and seat totals are set in a quote. | Stronger Basic is $24 and Communicator is $49 per user per month, plus a one-time $19.50 texting registration fee and telecom taxes. |
| AI for routine calls | Stronger AI voice and text agents answer routine calls or move them into text, such as scheduling and refill requests. |
Calls, texts, and faxes land in a shared inbox for staff to answer. |
| Channels in one app | Patient texting, a shared inbox, and voice. | Stronger Phone, text, fax, video visits, and internal team chat. |
| Connecting to the EHR | Stronger Integrates with many EHRs and writes conversations back to the chart. |
Deep write-back to the chart needs a separate interface budget. |
| Front-desk results | Similar Scores 7.6, measured in fewer calls answered by staff and faster booking. |
Similar Scores 7.5, strongest when the shared inbox replaces staff cell phones. |
| Getting the practice live | Similar Scores 7.4, and it needs phone and EHR integration work and an owner for the shared inbox. |
Similar Scores 7.4, and it needs number porting and texting registration, with month-to-month terms by default. |
“We use ohMD but I am looking for alternatives since we are having issues with ohMD ( the app kicks you out frequently and is very slow to load).”
Hermit5427 · r/hospitalist · · source
“I ended up getting spruce and then regretted it. They had great customer service and I loved that the most basic plan came with two separate phones and fax numbers. However, I got spammed like crazy by “google voice assistant”, and they don’t let you block numbers or create a dial choice answering system to filter out the robo calls.”
CheekScared1489 · r/therapists · · source
“I liked that Spruce had fax integrated in the same plan”
logdemon · r/therapists · · source
OhMD is for a busy ambulatory or specialty practice that wants AI agents to take routine calls off the front desk and wants conversations written back to the EHR. Spruce Health is for a small or mid-size practice that wants phone, text, fax, video, and team chat in one app at a price it can see before calling sales.
Walk away from both if no one will own the shared inbox, since unanswered messages pile up in either one. Walk away from Spruce Health if you need deep EHR write-back on day one with no budget for interfaces. Walk away from OhMD if you only want a basic texting line and will not do the phone and EHR setup it needs.