Patient engagement & telehealth · Clinical messaging & phone
Spruce Health
Spruce Health is a clinical communications platform offering HIPAA phone, SMS, fax, video telemedicine, and team chat in a shared inbox for ambulatory and specialty practices.
Strong fit
- Small and mid-size practices that want HIPAA phone, text, fax, video, and team chat in one inbox
- Clinics that will move their phone numbers over and stop using shared cell phones
- Practices that want published per-user prices
Weak fit
- Health systems that need a patient CRM built deep into the EHR, with single sign-on everywhere from day one
- Teams that only need bulk appointment reminders without a clinical inbox
- Buyers looking for an outpatient EHR
Bottom line
Spruce Health is worth using for small and specialty practices that want phone, texting, fax, video, and team chat in one shared inbox. It suits clinics that want to stop relying on staff cell phones and cut down on missed calls, with one system that front-desk and clinical staff share.
Score breakdown
Weights: Outcomes 35% · Product 30% · Implementation 20% · Pricing clarity 15%.
Spruce Health is a HIPAA-focused communications platform for outpatient and specialty practices. It puts phone, text, fax, video visits, and team chat in one shared inbox, and communication is its core product instead of an add-on to a reminder service. Its pricing is unusually clear, which sets it apart from large suites that do not publish prices: Basic costs $24 per user per month and Communicator $49 per user per month, plus taxes, phone fees, and a one-time $19.50 text registration fee. Results look strongest when the shared inbox replaces staff cell phones and missed calls, and setup is light for small clinics.
Spruce is stronger than Solutionreach on combined phone service, but it trails Phreesia on intake and payments and Healthie on full practice management. Among the patient engagement tools we review, Spruce is closer to Curogram than to Healthie or Phreesia, and it scores just below Curogram among messaging tools.
Competitor landscape
| Vendor | Overall | Ease of implementation |
|---|---|---|
| Mend | 7.8 | 7.6 |
| OhMD | 7.5 | 7.4 |
| Curogram | 7.5 | 7.3 |
| PerfectServe | 7.4 | 7.0 |
| Spruce Health | 7.3 | 7.4 |
| Emitrr | 7.2 | 7.1 |
| TigerConnect | 7.1 | 6.9 |
| Rhinogram | 7.1 | 7.3 |
| Dialog Health | 7.0 | 7.1 |
| CareMessage | 7.0 | 6.9 |
| QliqSOFT | 6.7 | 6.5 |
Pricing
| Item | Detail |
|---|---|
| Model | Monthly software priced per user (Basic $24, Communicator $49), month to month by default. Larger groups may see yearly terms and setup fees. |
| What usually drives cost | Number of users, Basic or Communicator, text registration, internet phone hardware, and passed-through phone taxes and fees. |
| What to ask before you buy | How many users need Communicator and how many need only Basic, whether moving numbers and text registration are in the first-year cost, and whether there is a setup fee. |
| Published pricing | Basic costs $24 per user per month and Communicator $49 per user per month, plus a one-time $19.50 text registration fee, with taxes and phone fees charged separately. |
Prices are listed on sprucehealth.com/plans.
Prerequisites for purchase
| Need | Why it matters |
|---|---|
| What you need to get Spruce Health to function | |
| Front-desk and clinical staff who own the shared inbox | When no one is responsible for the shared inbox, patient messages get missed. |
| A decision to move or forward your practice phone numbers | Patients get confused when a practice runs two phone systems at once. |
| A clear plan for patient consent and registering for business texting | Texts will not go out until carrier registration is done. |
| A list of where appointments and reminders connect to the EHR or practice management system | If staff have to retype appointment data by hand, the time saved in the inbox is lost. |
| Written rules for after-hours coverage before launch | Urgent messages sent after hours need someone on call to receive them. |
| What will maximize your value | |
| Measure phone calls and no-shows every week for 90 days | Weekly counts show whether the inbox is reducing calls and no-shows. |
| Train everyone who deals with patients on the shared inbox | The inbox works only when everyone who answers patients can use it. |
| Stop staff from using personal phones after one week of both | If personal phones stay in use, patient messages split across two channels again. |
| Review unanswered messages daily in the first month | Unanswered messages are the first sign of gaps in coverage or ownership. |
| Keep templates short and specific to each role | Patients are more likely to read short automated messages. |
| Deal-breakers | |
| You need a full outpatient EHR. | |
| No one on staff will take responsibility for the shared inbox. | |
| You will not complete business texting registration. | |
| Leaders will not change front-desk phone habits. | |
| You need deep CRM connections on day one but have no budget for them. | |
Value creation time frame
| # | Stage | Typical range |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Setup | 1-2 weeks. Set up numbers, users, templates, and the business associate agreement. |
| 2 | First clinic | 1-3 weeks. One location tests the inbox and after-hours rules. |
| 3 | Rollout | 2-6 weeks. Add the remaining clinics and stop using old channels. |
| 4 | Improve | Ongoing. Refine templates, analytics, and escalation rules. |
Leadership
Methodology
| Weight | Factor | What it measures |
|---|---|---|
| 35% | Customer outcomes | Whether buyers get measurable operational or clinical-workflow results after go-live |
| 30% | Product | Capability depth, reliability, and fit for the job the category buys |
| 20% | Implementation | How hard it is to stand up, integrate, train, and stabilize |
| 15% | Pricing clarity | Whether a buyer can model total cost without a mystery quote |
| Label | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Highly recommend | Strong outcomes and product with manageable caveats |
| Recommend | Solid fit for the right buyer; know the tradeoffs |
| Conditional | Only with a specific use case or heavy caveats |
| Not recommended | Avoid for most buyers in this category |
Read our full methodology for how we weight scores and assign recommend labels.