Patient outreach SMS templates for clinical trials

What are these text message templates for?

Use them when a site or practice texts its own patients about a study it runs, from first contact through booking, reminders, missed visits, opt-outs and HELP replies. They are not public advertising, and they do not replace the pre-screening call that follows a yes.

Plan texts alongside phone calls, not instead of them. Many patients never answer the study team's call, and text reminders have held up in randomized trials.

How should you adapt and send them?

1. 1

   Fill every placeholder

   Replace each bracketed placeholder. [Practice name] is the patient's own practice, which sends first contact; [Site name] is the research site that books visits. They may be the same.

2. 2

   Recount the characters

   Counts include the placeholders, so recount after filling them in. The TCPA healthcare exemption generally limits texts to 160 characters;^⁠[8] if a filled reminder runs over, shorten the address or site name.

3. 3

   Set the sequence

   Decide how many texts, how far apart and in what hours. One first-contact text and one follow-up is a sensible ceiling before a person calls.

4. 4

   Get the wording approved

   Submit the exact wording to your IRB, Spanish included. Later changes go back to the IRB.

5. 5

   Register the sending number

   As of September 2026, texts from a standard 10-digit number need your brand and campaign verified through The Campaign Registry, via your texting vendor, before they are allowed to send.^⁠[11]

6. 6

   Log every reply

   Record every reply with its date, and apply each opt-out to every research outreach list.

What should the first-contact texts say?

Send these only to patients identified through a pathway your IRB and privacy office approved; the IRB and HIPAA guide explains the options.

FDA says recruitment material should not call a test article a "new treatment" without saying it is investigational, should not promise "free medical treatment", and should not emphasize payment.^⁠[14] Consent must be sought in a way that minimizes coercion or undue influence, so E3 says joining is the patient's choice.^⁠[15]

Which texts cover booking, reminders and missed visits?

In a randomized trial at a Geneva primary care clinic, text reminders worked about as well as phone reminders at a small fraction of the cost.^⁠[5]

When a patient answers E6, treat YES, Y, C and CONFIRM as a confirmation, and route any reply the platform does not recognize to a coordinator.

Missed first visits are common: at one Alzheimer's trial site recruiting through online ads in 2023, only 45.0% of scheduled prospects attended their first scheduled appointment.^⁠[6] E9 keeps the door open without pressure.

How should opt-outs and HELP replies be handled?

These rules come from the FCC's TCPA regulations and CTIA's voluntary messaging principles (May 2023 edition).^⁠[8],[10]

• Any reasonable wording counts. STOP, QUIT, END, CANCEL, UNSUBSCRIBE and similar words are opt-outs, and so is any reply a reasonable person would read as one.^⁠[8] Treat ALTO, PARAR or BAJA the same way.
• Confirm once, then stop. One confirmation with no promotional content is allowed, and one sent within five minutes is presumed to fall within consent.^⁠[8] CTIA also calls for no messages after it.^⁠[10]
• Honor it fast. The limit is 10 business days, or immediately for texts sent under the healthcare exemption.^⁠[8]
• Plan for revoke-all. As of September 2026, the FCC has delayed to January 31, 2027 the rule that makes an opt-out from one type of message revoke consent for the sender's unrelated robocalls and robotexts.^⁠[9] If the practice also texts clinical reminders, decide with counsel how a research STOP applies.
• Answer HELP. E11 repeats the five items CTIA asks a recurring program's opt-in confirmation to include: program name, customer care contact, how to opt out, message frequency and any charges.^⁠[10]

What are the Spanish versions?

The core messages use the formal usted form. Have a qualified translator check them for your community, and accept SI, SÍ and YES as the same reply.

What needs IRB approval, and where does the TCPA apply?

FDA treats recruitment advertising as the start of informed consent and expects the IRB to review what it says and how it is delivered.^⁠[14] ICH E6(R3) asks for documented IRB approval of recruitment procedures before the trial starts.^⁠[16]

What to send the IRB

• Every message, word for word, in every language
• The sequence: how many texts, how far apart, in what hours
• Who sends them, and how the first text discloses automation
• How patients were identified, and the HIPAA basis
• Where replies are stored and who can see them
• How opt-outs are recorded and carried over

The TCPA healthcare exemption

Texts outside the exemption, including first contact, need their own legal basis, such as the patient's prior express consent; settle it with counsel. Telephone solicitations are barred before 8 a.m. or after 9 p.m. local time, a sensible window for research texts too.^⁠[8]

If AI sends or answers the texts, use E2. Since January 1, 2026, Texas has required a provider that uses AI in relation to health care services or treatment to disclose it to the patient in clear, plain language.^⁠[17] TCPA and AI outreach in 2026 covers other rules.

How does Bond relate to these templates?

Bond Health's Engage stage runs voice and SMS outreach, pre-screening and scheduling for research sites. Scripts are configured per site and study, so a site can load the wording its IRB approved. Patients are told AI assistance is used and can reach a person at any time through a live transfer to a coordinator or a human callback, whichever the site prefers, and conversations can be escalated to a coordinator.^⁠[1],[2]

The templates page has the rest of the set, including the pre-screening call script and IRB submission language for AI outreach.