Send personalized email and text messages to groups of patients using NexHealth Campaigns — with pre-built templates, AI-generated copy, and audience filters to reach exactly the right patients.
Create a campaign
1. Go to Campaigns → Favorites.
To start with a pre-built template, navigate to Campaigns → Favorites and choose from the available options. You can also click New campaign to start from scratch.
2. Click the name of the campaign you want to use.
Preview the email by clicking View email. When you're ready, click Make a copy to begin customizing it for your practice.
You can also copy a campaign without previewing it first by clicking the ellipsis (…) to the right of the campaign name.
3. Set the campaign title and location(s).
Give the campaign a title, select the location(s) you want to send it to, and click Continue.
4. Select your audience, then click Continue.
Use the filters to narrow your patient list. Click Continue when done.
By default, NexHealth sends campaigns to active patients synced from your EHR. You can narrow this list using the following filters:
Demographic info — age and gender
Appointment — whether the patient has had a past appointment or has one upcoming
Procedure — (Dentrix, Dentrix Ascend, Dentrix Enterprise, Denticon, Eaglesoft, Open Dental) filter by whether a specific procedure code appears on the patient's visit or chart (e.g., unscheduled treatment)
Insurance — (Dentrix, Dentrix Enterprise, Open Dental, Eaglesoft) filter by insurance name, group number, or employer. Not available for Dentrix Ascend or eClinicalWorks — see the workaround note below.
Waitlist — (requires Scheduling) patients on your ASAP or Sooner if Possible list
Continuing care — patients due for recall based on their next-treatment due date in your system
Search patients — manually search by name to include specific patients
Upload CSV — upload a file with patients' last name, first name, phone number, and email. Use this to reach patients who appear in specific reports from your EHR.
Tip: To send a campaign to all active patients, set Gender to All and Age to All under Demographic info. NexHealth will include every active patient at your selected location(s).
Small list? The audience filter defaults to patients seen within the last 1 month. If your list looks smaller than expected, adjust the "last seen" timeframe — for example, to 12 or 24 months — to include more patients.
Appointment type filter not working? Filtering by appointment type only works for types that are mapped in NexHealth. Custom visit types (such as retainer checks) may not be mapped. If no patients appear when filtering by a specific appointment type, remove that filter and use Upload CSV instead — export the relevant patient list from your EHR and upload it directly.
Dentrix Ascend or eClinicalWorks? Insurance audience filtering is not available for these systems. To target patients by insurance type, export a patient list filtered by insurance from your EHR, then upload the resulting CSV to the campaign audience.
5. Verify the patient list, then click Continue.
Review the list to confirm it looks correct before moving on.
6. Add or edit your email message.
Click +Add email message or Edit. The email and text message editors work the same as the NexHealth template editor and support Smart Commands.
Click +Add text message to send both email and text. SMS messages must be 425 characters or fewer to ensure deliverability.
You can also View email or Send test from the Build & send screen or inside the email builder. Test emails use placeholder data (such as "Jane Doe") — Smart Commands will populate real patient names when the campaign is actually sent.
Logo tip: NexHealth automatically adds your practice logo to the top of email campaigns. Do not add the INSERTLOGO Smart Command manually — doing so will cause the logo to appear twice.
7. Use Generate with AI.
Briefly describe your message in the box in the top right, then click Generate with AI to get a first draft.
8. Edit the copy, then click Save and exit.
Proofread and adjust the content, then click Save and exit.
9. Repeat for the SMS message if desired.
SMS messages should be much shorter than emails. Keep in mind that images cannot be included in SMS campaigns — this is a carrier restriction. If you want to send a patient an image directly, use the one-to-one messaging in the Messages inbox instead.
10. Send or schedule your campaign.
Click Send to send immediately, or Schedule to pick a future date and time.
Scheduling time zone: The scheduled time is based on your practice's local time zone — not the time zone of the NexHealth user who is creating or scheduling the campaign.
Delivery timing: After sending, messages are delivered in batches — not all at once. The recipient count may initially show 0. Refresh the page after a few minutes to see an updated count.
Sent campaigns are locked: Once a campaign has been sent, it cannot be edited or have messages added to it. To send a follow-up or make changes, create a new campaign.
After sending a campaign, you can see who sent it on the Campaigns main page.
Note: NexHealth cannot individually schedule specific messages to specific patients within Messages.
Add images to email campaigns
Images make campaigns more visually engaging and can improve response rates. Images can only be added to email campaigns — not SMS.
1. Select the Image icon in the editor.
Inside the Email builder, click the Image icon.
2. Upload your image.
Drag and drop your image into the box, or click Browse for an image to select one from your computer.
3. Click Save.
Images cannot be added to SMS campaigns due to carrier requirements.
Videos cannot be directly embedded in a campaign. Instead, upload a still image of the video and use the link icon to attach a URL — patients can click the image to open the video.
Review who received a campaign
After a campaign is sent, you can see which patients received it:
Go to Campaigns → Sent.
Open the campaign.
Click Download CSV to export the full recipient list.
To review the audience filters used on a past campaign, open it and click Make a copy — this displays the original filter settings without creating a new send.