Texts, calls, and faxes together
A patient's referral fax, their texts, and the summary of their phone call sit in one conversation, not three systems.
Shared Patient Inbox
One inbox. Every patient conversation.
Texts, phone call follow-ups, and fax referrals in one shared workspace. Stable's AI answers first, your team sees what it did, and whoever picks up a conversation owns it, so nobody sends a duplicate reply.
- Signs a BAA
- One owner per conversation
- Team-only notes
Demonstration: a patient's text is answered by the AI, a teammate claims the conversation and the AI pauses, a colleague adds an internal note the patient never sees, and the conversation is handed back to the AI to finish.
Why one inbox
Patient conversations are spread across four places. Your team checks them all.
Texts arrive on the office cell phone, voicemails on the desk phone, referrals in the eFax account, and notes on paper. Each new patient touches several of them, and whoever is at the desk has to stitch it together. A shared inbox puts it in one place.
The AI answers first
Stable's text and phone receptionists answer questions and collect appointment requests, so the inbox fills with handled conversations, not unread ones.
Your team picks up with context
When a person is needed, they see everything the patient and the AI already said, and the next step.
Working as a team
One owner, many helpers, no duplicate replies.
Shared inboxes fail when two people answer the same patient, or when everyone assumes someone else did. Stable separates who is responsible from who is looking.
Claim before replying
A teammate claims a conversation before replying. That gives one person sending control and pauses automated messages for that patient.
Internal notes stay internal
Others can still view the conversation and leave notes for the owner. Notes are clearly labeled as team-only and never go to the patient.
A record of every change
The activity list shows what changed, who acted, and when, so a second teammate can catch up in seconds.
Daily workflow
Three queues: what needs you, what the AI has, what is done.
Filter by your own conversations or find the unassigned ones.
Needs help
Patients who asked for a person, calls whose transfer went unanswered, and anything the AI could not resolve, each with its history and a callback preference when there is one.
AI working
Conversations the AI is handling or waiting on the patient for. After helping, a teammate can keep the conversation or hand it back to the AI explicitly.
Complete
Conversations with no follow-up left. History and internal notes stay attached as responsibility changes.
Compared
How practices handle patient messages today.
Texting platforms are covered in more depth in our comparison of 12 front desk tools.
| Office cell phone and voicemail | EHR client portal | Front desk texting platform | Stable shared inbox | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Texts, calls, and faxes in one place | No | No | Varies by platform | Yes |
| Who answers first | Whoever is free | Whoever is free | Whoever is free | AI, around the clock |
| Prevents duplicate replies | No | No | Varies | Claim-to-reply ownership |
| Team-only notes | No | Varies | Varies | Yes |
| Patient details beside the thread | No | Yes, for clients | Some | Insurance, documents, and next step |
| Under a BAA | Usually not | Yes | Check the plan | Yes |
Resources
Shared patient inbox, answered.
Is the shared inbox HIPAA compliant?
Stable signs a Business Associate Agreement covering patient conversations, and internal notes are kept with your team and never sent to the patient. Texting patients from a personal or office cell phone usually has no BAA behind it.
Can two people reply to the same patient at once?
No. A teammate claims a conversation before replying, which gives that one person sending control and pauses automated messages. Others can still view it and add internal notes.
What goes into the inbox?
Patient texts, phone call follow-ups such as callbacks and unanswered transfers, and fax referrals, each as one conversation with the patient's details and next step beside it.
What does the AI do in the inbox?
It answers clinic questions and collects appointment requests by text and phone, works referral faxes, and moves anything it cannot resolve to Needs help with the history intact. Depending on how you set it up, it books appointments in your EHR or passes the request to your team.
Can each teammate see just their own work?
Yes. Assignment is separate from the queues, so each person can filter for conversations they own or find unassigned ones.
Do we have to change our phone number or EHR?
No. You keep your number and forward calls to Stable, and Stable works alongside your EHR. See the AI receptionist and patient messaging.
Get Started
Bring every conversation into one inbox.
See how your team would share texts, calls, and referral faxes with an AI that answers first.