New Messages Compared with Replies

You can send new messages only to users in organizations that are closely connected to your own organization. Your system administrator determines this set of organizations—typically hospitals or affiliated practices that you work closely with. Users in these organizations appear in your Contacts or Directory.

You can, however, send a reply to any users who already appear in a conversation, even if you cannot directly initiate a new message to them. For example, suppose Dr. Maturin's hospital is affiliated both with your practice and also with a second practice that is not one of your affiliates. Dr. Maturin may send a text message to you and also users in the second practice; you may reply to all users, even though you are not permitted to send new messages directly to users in the second practice.