Quick answer: Patient engagement software helps clinics and hospitals communicate with patients outside the consultation: appointment reminders, online booking, digital check-in, secure messaging, patient portals and telehealth. Widely used options include Phreesia for intake, Solutionreach and Inphonite for reminders and texting, Luma Health and Artera (formerly Well Health) for automated patient communication, and the patient portals built into EHRs such as athenaOne, Nextech and FollowMyHealth. Three products from our original list of 15 could not be verified or do not fit the category, so this updated list has 12.
Patient engagement means involving patients in their own care: keeping them informed, making it easy for them to book and attend appointments, and giving them access to their own health information. Software cannot do that on its own, but it can remove a lot of friction for both patients and front-desk staff.
We first published this list in 2020. In October 2026 we checked every product on its vendor’s own website. This version describes each product from the vendor’s current documentation, notes which have been renamed, and explains what happened to the ones we dropped. We have not tested these products, nothing here is a paid placement, and this article is not medical advice. Most of these vendors sell mainly to US healthcare providers, so their compliance claims refer to the US Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA).
How to choose patient engagement software
- Start with the problem you want to solve. Missed appointments point to reminder and recall tools; long queues point to digital intake and check-in; patients asking for their records point to a portal.
- Check EHR integration first. An engagement tool that does not read your schedule and write back to your electronic health record (EHR) creates double entry. Ask for the vendor’s list of supported EHRs and whether the integration is two-way.
- Check privacy and compliance for your country. HIPAA applies in the US. In India, the Digital Personal Data Protection Act, 2023 governs personal data. A vendor’s “HIPAA-compliant” label does not by itself mean it meets Indian or other local requirements, so ask where patient data is stored.
- Think about your patients. Text, voice, app and email reach different groups. Check language support and how older patients without smartphones will be handled.
- Ask about pricing early. Many enterprise vendors sell only through a demo and quote, often priced per provider or per location. Smaller tools publish plans online.
The 12 platforms at a glance
| Product | Best for | Pricing model (Oct 2026) | Platform |
|---|---|---|---|
| XIAhealth (C3LX) | Remote patient monitoring and care management | Demo | Platform connected to the EMR |
| athenaOne | Ambulatory practices wanting EHR, billing and engagement in one | Demo | Cloud, with patient portal and app |
| Nextech | Specialty practices (ophthalmology, plastic surgery, dermatology) | Demo | Patient portal, online scheduling, digital forms |
| Phreesia | Patient intake, check-in and payments | Pricing page; demo | Mobile and in-office intake |
| eVisit | Health systems running virtual care | Demo | Telehealth platform with EHR integration |
| Inphonite | Appointment reminders and two-way texting | Pricing page; free trial offered | Text, voice and email; patient portal |
| NextMe | Waitlists and virtual waiting rooms | Pricing page; free trial offered | Web app on multiple devices |
| Solutionreach | Reminders, recall and texting for practices | Quote; demo | Web, with mobile app |
| Artera (formerly Well Health) | Automated patient communication at scale | Demo | Voice, text and email with EHR integrations |
| SimplePractice | Therapists and solo wellness professionals | Pricing page; free trial offered | Web EHR with telehealth |
| Luma Health | Health systems automating access and scheduling | Demo | Integrates with major EHRs |
| FollowMyHealth (Veradigm) | Patient portal and personal health record | Demo | Web and mobile |
The 12 platforms in detail
XIAhealth (C3LX)
Xia Health’s old website now redirects to C3LX, which sells the XIAhealth platform. C3LX describes it as combining remote patient monitoring (RPM), patient engagement and care management: device readings, risk-factor tracking and care plans in one tool, connected directly to the practice’s EMR. The site highlights an integration with athenahealth and states that the platform is HIPAA and GDPR compliant.
athenaOne
athenaOne from athenahealth combines an EHR, practice management and patient engagement for ambulatory practices. athenahealth’s patient engagement page lists a patient portal (records, test results, visit summaries and appointments), a patient app for booking, messaging, paying bills and viewing health information, online self-scheduling and prescription refill requests. It suits practices that want engagement built into the same system as their records and billing.
Nextech
Nextech builds EHR and practice management software for specialty practices, especially ophthalmology, plastic surgery, dermatology, med spas and orthopaedics. Its patient experience tools include appointment scheduling and reminders, follow-up messaging, digital forms and a patient portal. The original article listed the “NexTech Patient Portal” as a separate product; Nextech now presents the portal as part of its wider patient experience suite.
Phreesia
Phreesia focuses on patient intake: patients can check in on their own phones or in the office, complete forms, have their insurance benefits verified and pay before the visit. Phreesia also offers scheduling, referral management and AI-based call handling. It says it holds HITRUST CSF, SOC 2 Type 2 and PCI Level 1 certifications and integrates natively with more than 16 practice management and EHR systems.
eVisit
eVisit is a virtual care platform for health systems and government healthcare. It offers scheduled virtual visits, emergency department tele-triage, urgent care, behavioural health and virtual nursing programmes, and it integrates with EHRs and offers an API. The original article described eVisit as serving everything from urgent care clinics to the largest US hospital systems; its current site is aimed mainly at health systems and government agencies. We removed the original’s unsourced “$135 billion” market figure.
Inphonite
Inphonite has sold messaging and reminder tools to healthcare since 1990, according to its site. It sends automated text, voice and email reminders, offers two-way business texting with HIPAA-compliant messaging (forms, chat, documents and surveys), and also provides a website builder, a patient portal, surveys and reports. It serves medical, dental, rehab and vision practices, hospitals and other businesses that send reminders.
NextMe
NextMe is waitlist and queue management software. Patients join a virtual waiting room and get text updates instead of sitting in a crowded reception area. Features include self check-in, appointment bookings, customisable SMS messages, repeat-visitor recognition and analytics. NextMe is not healthcare-specific: it also serves restaurants, retail, veterinary practices and government offices.
Solutionreach
Solutionreach says it created the patient retention and engagement market in 2000. Its feature list covers appointment reminders, two-way texting, recall, online scheduling, digital intake, patient check-in, insurance eligibility checks, payments, patient surveys, reputation management, telehealth video calls and an AI receptionist for missed calls. It serves dental, eye care and medical practices and larger groups, and describes its automated communications as HIPAA-compliant.
Artera (formerly Well Health)
“Well” in our original list was Well Health. Its old address, wellapp.com, now redirects to Artera. Artera sells AI agents and automated communication for healthcare across voice, text and email, covering scheduling, intake and payments, referrals and closing care gaps, with EHR integrations. Artera lists HITRUST certification, SOC 2 Type 2 and HIPAA compliance on its site.
SimplePractice
SimplePractice is practice management and EHR software for therapists, psychiatrists, speech-language pathologists, occupational therapists and other health and wellness professionals. It includes integrated telehealth, a template library, scheduling, billing and insurance tools, and it offers a free trial without a credit card. SimplePractice describes its software as HIPAA-compliant.
Luma Health
Luma Health now describes itself as an “operational AI” platform for health systems, hospitals and specialty practices. It covers referrals, scheduling, waitlists, registration and intake forms, insurance eligibility checks, payments, reminders and recalls, broadcast messaging and patient feedback. Luma lists integrations with major EHRs, including Epic, Oracle Health, MEDITECH, NextGen, Nextech, eClinicalWorks, athenahealth and Greenway.
FollowMyHealth (Veradigm)
FollowMyHealth is now sold by Veradigm, the company formerly called Allscripts. Veradigm describes it as a patient engagement platform with a personal health record: patients can view their medical history and request prescription refills, and the platform supports telehealth, goal setting and online consultations by questionnaire. Veradigm also offers medical interpretation services through a partnership with Voyce.
Products removed from the original list
- Xolomon: still active, but it builds clinical research software (electronic data capture, trial management and patient registries) for research organisations and pharmaceutical companies. That is not patient engagement software for care providers.
- Data + Platform: we could not find an official website for this product in October 2026.
- MOSAIQ Survivorship: the survivorship module was part of Elekta’s MOSAIQ oncology system. Its dedicated website no longer works, and we could not find a current Elekta page for the module, so we have not listed it.
Patient engagement tools overlap with practice management systems. For EHR and billing software, see our list of patient management software, and for aesthetic and cosmetic practices, our guide to plastic surgery practice software.
Frequently asked questions
What is the difference between patient engagement and patient management software?
Patient management (or practice management) software runs the clinic: records, scheduling and billing. Patient engagement software handles communication with patients: reminders, portals, intake, messaging and telehealth. Many EHR vendors now offer both in one suite.
Does HIPAA apply to clinics in India?
No. HIPAA is a US law. Indian clinics must follow Indian rules, including the Digital Personal Data Protection Act, 2023. A HIPAA-compliant product may still be a good choice, but check where it stores data and what contract terms it offers.
Can patient engagement software reduce missed appointments?
Reminder and recall tools are designed to reduce no-shows, and several vendors publish their own figures. Those are vendor claims, not independent results, so ask for references from practices similar to yours.
What happened to Well Health?
Well Health’s website now redirects to Artera, which sells patient communication and AI agent software for healthcare organisations.
Do patients need to install an app?
Not always. Many tools work through text messages and web links, while others, such as athenahealth’s patient app and FollowMyHealth, offer apps for patients who want them.
Checked in October 2026 against each vendor’s own website, including athenahealth’s patient engagement page, Veradigm’s FollowMyHealth page and the product pages of Phreesia, Solutionreach, Inphonite, Luma Health, Artera, SimplePractice, NextMe, eVisit, Nextech and C3LX. Compliance claims are the vendors’ own. Confirm features, integrations and pricing with the vendor before you buy.
