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. It is not a full EHR or intake-payments suite.
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
- Buyers who want published per-user prices instead of a large suite with hidden pricing
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 practices that want phone, texting, fax, video, and team chat in one shared inbox with clear published prices. It suits small and specialty clinics replacing staff cell phones and missed calls. Practices needing intake and payments may prefer Phreesia, and full practice management buyers should look at Healthie.
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 has a shared inbox for phone, text, fax, video visits, and team chat.
It treats communication as the product rather than as an add-on reminder service.
Its pricing is unusually clear: Basic at $24 per user per month and Communicator at $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. Setup is light for small clinics.
It beats Solutionreach on combined phone service but 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.
Its clear pricing sets it apart from large suites that do not publish prices.
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 rather than Basic, whether moving numbers and text registration are in the first-year cost, and any setup fee. |
| Published pricing | Basic $24/user/mo and Communicator $49/user/mo, plus a one-time $19.50 text registration fee. Taxes and phone fees are extra. |
Prices are listed on sprucehealth.com/plans. Confirm current fees at purchase.
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 | Inboxes no one owns lead to missed messages. |
| A decision to move or forward your practice phone numbers | Two phone systems confuse patients. |
| 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 | Retyping data by hand wipes out the gain. |
| Written rules for after-hours coverage before launch | Urgent messages with no one to escalate to let patients down. |
| What will maximize your value | |
| Measure phone calls and no-shows every week for 90 days | A product tour is not a result. |
| Train everyone who deals with patients on the shared inbox | One expert user is not enough. |
| Stop staff from using personal phones after one week of both | Two channels bring back the chaos. |
| Review unanswered messages daily in the first month | Problems hide in messages no one answers. |
| Keep templates short and specific to each role | Long automated messages get ignored. |
| Deal-breakers | |
| You need a full outpatient EHR, not messaging. | |
| No one will own 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.