Messages
The /messages inbox: one list for every conversation type, how read and unread work, and when to escalate to a provider.
Messages is one secure inbox holding every conversation your team has — with patients, with your provider network, and with named people at that network.
Questions people ask about this page
Where are the Patients and Provider Network tabs?
There are none, and there never were on this version. Messages is a single list with two rows of filter pills above it. The first row is read state — Inbox, Unread, Archived. The second is conversation type — All types, Patients, Staff conversations, Network chat, Direct staff.
I opened the thread but it is still bold and the badge has not moved.
Three things must all be true before a thread is marked read: the thread is open, the browser tab is visible, and the window has focus. Leaving Messages open in a background tab or behind another window does not clear it. Click into the window and the badge drops.
My colleague read it. Why is it still unread for me?
Read state is per person, never per organisation. Everyone gets their own read marker, so a teammate opening a thread does nothing to your badge. That is deliberate — it means "unread" means "unread by you".
What exactly does the number on the Messages menu item count?
Unread conversations, not unread messages — a thread with nine new replies counts as one. It stops at 99+. It is cleared only by opening each thread with the window focused. The Forms badge next to it is a different counter with a different reset, so clearing one never clears the other.
What is an internal note?
It is the context field on the Escalate conversation dialog — Internal note, placeholder Add context for the provider team. It travels with the escalation to the provider and the patient never sees it. If you want a note that stays with the patient record rather than one conversation, use the Comments rail on the patient profile instead.
What do the three escalation types mean?
Provider assistance — you need a provider's input, nothing urgent. Medical assistance — there is a clinical question in the thread. Escalation — this needs attention now. All three send the conversation to the provider inbox; the type is how the receiving team triages it.
Can I unsend a message?
Partly. You can Edit your own message for 30 minutes after sending, up to 5 times — the menu shows how many edits are left. Remove takes the text away but leaves a marker reading Message removed. If the message also went out as an SMS, removing it here cannot pull back the text message.
Network chat and Direct staff are greyed out.
Your provider network switched them off in its own messaging policy. The dialog says so: Network chat is disabled by your provider network. / Direct staff messaging is disabled by your provider network. Ask the network, not GEN Health support.
Where to find it
Left menu → Messages. Direct link: /messages. Visible to: Client Admin and Client Staff. The route is removed entirely for review-only (Good Faith Exam) clients. The heading reads Messages, with the sub-line Secure communication with patients for {your client name}.
There is also a floating button in the bottom-right corner of every page, named Start a new message. It opens a small dock so you can answer a question without leaving the page you are on.
While you are on Messages, the inbox replaces the left menu — the nav slides out of view and none of its links can be clicked. Click Back to navigation at the top of the inbox to bring the menu back. This catches everyone once.
What is on this page
| What you see | What it does |
|---|---|
| Back to navigation | Top-left of the inbox. Restores the left menu, which the inbox has replaced. |
| New message | A pencil icon beside it, with the accessible name New message — there is no visible word on the button. Opens the type picker. |
| Search | Placeholder Search conversations. Searches across the list, not inside one thread. |
| Read-state pills | Inbox · Unread · Archived |
| Type pills | All types · Patients · Staff conversations · Network chat · Direct staff |
| Clear filters | Resets both rows. |
| Load older conversations | Pages further back in the list. |
| Conversation row | Name, a sub-line reading Patient, Network chat or Direct staff · {role}, and suffixes · Muted or · Archived. Clicking the row opens the thread and puts ?conversation=<id> in the address bar. Clicking the name itself does something different — it opens that patient's record instead. |
| Thread search | Search messages in the thread header opens a box placeholdered Search this conversation. |
| Open patient record for {name} | Opens the patient's full record from the thread header. |
| Composer | Placeholder Type your message... plus Attach file, Add emoji, a voice note, Start dictation, Templates and Send message. |
| Conversation actions kebab | See the table below. |
| Context rail | Titled Conversation details. On a patient thread it opens with their name, a Patient chip, the account badge, and EMAIL, LAST VISIT, DOB, SEX AT BIRTH, PHONE, ADDRESS, WEIGHT / HEIGHT, ALLERGIES, SURGICAL HISTORY, PRIOR MEDICAL CONDITIONS and MEDICATIONS. Below that are collapsed sections: Patient profile, ID & Selfie, Prior order history, Recent prescriptions, Forms and consents, Documents, Notes and Lab results. The name at the top is a link — Open patient profile for {name}. |
The Conversation actions menu
| Item | What it does | Who gets it |
|---|---|---|
| Pin / Unpin | Keeps the thread at the top of your list. | Both roles |
| Show conversation details / Hide conversation details | Opens or closes the right-hand rail. On a narrow screen the item reads View conversation details and opens a sheet. | Both roles |
| Create visit | Books an appointment for this patient without leaving the thread. | Both roles |
| Request forms | Opens the four-step form request wizard. | Both roles |
| Request labs | Opens the lab request dialog. | Both roles |
| Create order | Opens the payment-request builder. | Client Admin only |
| Escalate | Sends the conversation to the provider inbox. | Both roles, on any conversation not already escalated |
How to read and clear your inbox
Open Messages
In the left menu, click Messages. The number on the menu item is how many conversations are unread for you.
Filter to Unread
Click the Unread pill. Now every row on screen is work.
Spot the unread signals
An unread row's name is bold, and a small red dot sits before it with the tooltip Unread messages. Read rows are plain.
Open the thread and stay in the window
Click the row — anywhere except the patient's name, which opens their record instead. Keep the browser tab visible and the window in front. The moment both are true, the thread is marked read for your account and the badge drops by one. The address bar picks up ?conversation=<id>, so you can send a colleague straight to the thread.
Find the new part
A divider marks where your unread messages start. It is frozen where it was when you opened the thread, so incoming replies do not shove it while you read.
Work back to Inbox
Click Inbox to see everything again once the unread list is empty.
Five different badges exist in the left menu and each clears differently. Messages clears by opening each thread with the window focused. Forms clears by working the review queue. Clearing one does nothing to the others.
How to start a conversation
Click New message
The pencil icon at the top of the inbox, beside Back to navigation. A dialog opens titled New message — Choose who you want to message.
Pick who
Patient — Start or reopen a secure conversation with a patient. Network chat — Message your linked provider network in one shared thread. Direct staff — Choose an eligible provider-network contact. A switched-off option is greyed out and its description is replaced by the reason, for example Direct staff messaging is disabled by your provider network.
For a patient, choose them
The picker Select a Patient opens — Choose a patient to start a conversation. Search with Search patients... and click the row.
Write it
Type into Type your message.... Attach files with Attach file — they queue in a Pending attachments strip and nothing leaves until you send.
Reuse wording instead of retyping
Click the wand icon in the composer — it has no label on screen, but its tooltip reads Templates and its accessible name is Open message templates and composer shortcuts. The popover is headed Composer shortcuts — Insert editable text; nothing sends automatically. It has Message templates (written by your provider network), Quick replies (your own snippets), and AI draft.
Send
Click Send message. Read it once more first — "AI can be inaccurate. Review and edit before sending."
How to tell whether your message landed
Look under your own bubble
Only your own messages carry a delivery label. It moves through a fixed sequence.
Read the label
Sending → Sent → Delivered → Seen. Delivered means an SMS reached the handset. Seen means the other person's app registered a read — not that they understood it.
If it says Failed
Click Retry failed message on the bubble.
If you need to change what you said
Hover the bubble, open More message actions, and click Edit. You have 30 minutes and 5 edits; the menu shows the remaining count. View history shows every earlier version once a message has been edited.
If it should not have been sent at all
Remove, then confirm Remove this message?. The bubble becomes Message removed — the patient can still see something was there, and an SMS already delivered cannot be retracted.
How to escalate to a provider
Open the thread's kebab
Conversation actions → Escalate. The dialog Escalate conversation opens — Send this conversation to the provider inbox.
Choose the type
Escalation type offers Provider assistance, Medical assistance and Escalation. Pick the one that describes what you need, because it is how the provider team triages.
Write the internal note
Internal note, placeholder Add context for the provider team. Say what you have already checked and what you need. The patient never sees this.
Send it
Click Escalate. The toast reads Conversation escalated to provider.
Read the other toast carefully
"Flagged for provider review. No provider is set up to receive it yet." means the escalation was recorded but nobody is listening. Tell your Client Admin — the provider network has to assign someone.
A conversation escalates once
Escalate disappears from the menu afterwards. Message the network directly for a follow-up.
How to call a patient
Find the phone icon
It sits in the thread header, in the composer, and in the patient profile header. Its tooltip is Call {patient name}.
Confirm the call
A dialog titled Call patient names them and warns that microphone access is required before the call can start.
Start it
Click Start call and allow microphone access when the browser asks.
End it
Click the red Hang up call on the overlay. One call at a time.
No phone icon?
Either the patient has no phone number on file, or your client's messaging phone number is not active. Check Integrations.
Statuses you will see here
| What you see | Where | What it means |
|---|---|---|
| Bold row + red dot (Unread messages) | Conversation list | Unread by you. Clears when you open it with the window focused. |
| Numeric pill on Messages | Left menu | Unread conversations for you. Caps at 99+. |
| · Muted | Row sub-line | The thread will not raise your badge. You cannot set this yourself — see What can go wrong. |
| · Archived | Row sub-line | Out of the inbox. Only visible under the Archived pill, and you cannot archive a thread yourself. |
| Sending · Sent · Delivered · Seen · Failed | Under your own bubbles | Delivery progress. Seen means their read receipt arrived. |
| Message removed | In place of a bubble | Someone removed their message. The marker is permanent. |
| Edited | Under a bubble | The message was changed. Click it to read the history. |
| Account setup required | Context rail badge | The patient never finished sign-up. Send them a login link. |
| Forms incomplete | Context rail badge | A form request is open. Use Request forms or nudge them here. |
| Sync visit required | Context rail badge | The care team wants a live visit. Use Create visit. |
| Active / Archived | Context rail badge | The patient's account state. |
| Internal · Visibility: Authorized staff only | Context rail, staff threads | No patient can read this thread. |
What can go wrong
| What you see | Why | Fix |
|---|---|---|
| The badge will not clear | The tab is in the background, or the window is not focused. | Click into the window with the thread open. Both conditions must be true. |
| No Messages in your left menu at all | Your client is review-only (Good Faith Exam). The route is removed. | Nothing to fix here — that account model has no patient messaging. |
| Network chat or Direct staff greyed out | The provider network disabled it in its messaging policy. | Ask the network to switch it on. Not a GEN Health support issue. |
| No Create order in the thread menu | You are Client Staff. That one action is Client Admin only. | Ask a Client Admin, or create it from Orders. |
| This action is only available for patients in your client. | The thread's patient belongs to a different client. | Nothing you can change. |
| Flagged for provider review. No provider is set up to receive it yet. | Nobody at the network is assigned to receive escalations. | Tell your Client Admin so they can chase the network. |
| Edit is missing from your own message | More than 30 minutes have passed, or you have used all 5 edits. | Send a correction as a new message. |
| You removed a message but the patient already saw it | Removal leaves a tombstone and cannot retract a delivered SMS. | Send a follow-up explaining the correction. |
| The left menu disappears the moment you open Messages | The inbox replaces the sidebar on this page. The nav links are still in the page but scrolled out of reach. | Click Back to navigation at the top of the inbox. |
| Clicking a conversation opened the patient record instead of the thread | You clicked the patient's name. The name is its own link to their profile; the rest of the row opens the thread. | Close the record and click the row's sub-line or avatar instead. |
| You cannot find a mute or archive control on a row | There is not one. A conversation can show as · Muted or · Archived, and the Archived pill will find archived threads, but no control anywhere in the inbox lets you mute or archive a conversation yourself. | Stop hunting. Use the Archived filter to read them, and Pin in Conversation actions to keep the threads you do care about at the top. |
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