Former Ceo of Mental Health Center in Minnesota Joins PreventionPays Text!

Mark Kuppe former CEO of Canvas Health in Minnesota (a metro Community Mental Health Center serving children and adults with a full array of 35 community based mental health services programs) joins Educational Message Services/PreventionPays Text Messaging Service

Kuppe brings over 30 years of experience in collective impact and communities’ improved outcomes. Mark has served in the role of president of the Minnesota Association for Community Mental Health Centers and served on their board of directors for eight years. He was one of the founding members of the National Association for Family-Based Services and the Minnesota Family Based Services Association and has served on both of their boards. He has served on the Washington County Community Corrections Advisory Board, was a member of the MN Suicide Prevention Planning Task force and has been a part of many task forces and committees statewide in Minnesota on issues of mental health in the community. He presently is a Board Member for the Minnesota Board of Law Examiners.

Mark was instrumental in developing and promoting the innovative suicide prevention program Txt4Life for the State of Minnesota. (see: https://txt4life.org/) Txt4Life serves Minnesota residents across all ages and demographics including all 11 Minnesota Tribal Nations.

Kuppe developed local and state funding for this suicide prevention work that includes 2.6 million over 4 years for this program. This texting model has now been replicated by several other states/regions/communities and their protocols have helped inform national entities including SAMHSA, NSPL, NAMI and CONTACT USA.  

Mark's high esteem for the crisis community coupled with his deep knowledge and unparalleled instincts related to cultivating new funding channels through innovative grant-making will help directors answer their big questions like:  how do I maintain adequate staffing/management for a text hotline/helpline? And how do I leverage my data to quantify the value/need for a text helpline? Mark is a highly regarded professional and friend among crisis line directors.

We are delighted to have Mark on the team! Questions or comments? Email info@preventionpaystext.com

Ho, ho, ho! Exciting New Features... and More Coming Soon!

Case Manager Settings:

Now admins can set up staff to only see certain cases. This is optional so please discuss with your staff using the system.

So, when staff log in they will just see the cases that are in their caseload.  The case manager setting is separate from the responder setting. So, now, they no longer have to be assigned as responder to be assigned to the case.  

You can start using the queue this way by having staff go through the queue and "assign" themselves as the "case manager".  

They access this by clicking on each case, and then in the middle of the screen in the attributes section, there's another link next to the "assign responder" called "assign manager".  So, they will want to click the "assign manager" link and then select their name in the pull-down menu.   Once they've assigned all their cases to themselves admin can modify their profile settings so they just see their “assigned” cases.  To do so, you remove the check box in “all” under “users tab permissions"  when they log in they only see the cases they are assigned to manage.  If you don’t want to restrict staff to just their assigned cases, don’t change their profile.  They will still have access to “all” cases, but, when they click the sub tab “mine” they will see all cases they are assigned as responder and case manager.

Pass status:  “pass” option/status has been deployed however we have not updated this in the guide yet.  We have a few more deployments that we’re getting ready for and we're waiting to include those and the pass button in the next iteration!

Pass button is as follows:  
Some cases don't need a response. So it gives the option to pass so that it gets recorded that way. Agencies can create protocols around when and when not to use pass instead of opening case and sending a live response. When the case is "passed" the yellow turns off and the status changes to "passed".

So passing on the response versus taking it, opening, responding and then closing.

The other way is one responder has already tried to offer help and then another person's eyes are needed on the case. There could be a specialist who just takes the passes… so if you have a question that needs more support or if there’s a language barrier issue, or if first level response just needs some extra guidance with a case, the case manager setting can help guide these tasks and support your site's custom protocols.

Pass button does not change the functionality of the open and close. You can operate the system without ever using pass. And if you use pass by mistake you can open and close to change back to closed status. 

New Message Notifications

You will now be alerted when new messages enter the queue regardless of whether you're looking at Users tab. The alert appears in the bottom right corner and will update every time a new message arrives. And if you manage more than one queue, you will also receive alerts for the other queues. The alert automatically turns off when you click the X in top corner or click the message inside the alert, or click the Users tab to view the queue.  No more toggling back and forth between queues. We'll let you know when you have to switch locations! 

You can also choose to disable the notifications. Disable is located directly above the queue to the right of the disable buttons for audio alerts.  You disable the alerts the same way as audio, by clicking the check-box to off.

User Guide Version 7 is available for download here:  http://www.preventionpaystext.com/news/2014/10/28/our-new-user-guide-is-ready
V 7 covers features up though “case manager” settings

Thank you and as always, Happy Texting!

North American Alliance of Child Helplines Makes Big Waves in Crisis!

North American Alliance of Child Helplines is the largest network of youth crisis services in the US!  And they're growing!  Here's a little bit more about them! 

In 2011 NAACH provisioned the first nationally recognized youth crisis text hotline via enterprise, tier 1 short code. "20121" is powered by PreventionPays, the most subscribed two-way texting platform supporting many of the nation's largest contact centers (hotlines, helplines, and crisis centers).    20121 is supported by North American Alliance of Child Helplines and promises to support texting capacity to each participating crisis center for their regional communication aims as well as any national efforts they have or become a part of. 

All crisis services and hotlines with accreditation through one of the following (AAS, ContactUSA, AIRS) are eligible to join the NAACH network and offer services through 20121.

PreventionPays Text (in continuous operation since 2007) supporting short code texting for crisis services, helplines, I&R, WIC, health departments, universities, research institutions and many other health and human service agencies throughout the US.  The same assurances offered to all agencies using PreventionPays are included with the 20121 service!  Most importantly, 20121 supports best practice conversational texting with your community in a secure, separate environment so that you can support local efforts and always be recognized and funded for your local efforts. Moreover, you'll have peace of mind with the added benefit of optional backup by some of the nation's largest youth crisis centers.

PreventionPays Text + 20121 Text Line

 20121 Text Line is a fully provisioned Tier 1 short code on all mobile carriers. 20121 is understood and provisioned expressly for individuals and their families and friends facing crisis and is recognized by all mobile carriers as a resource for youth issues related to mental health and youth safety and well-being.  Additionally, EMS together with the Alliance petitioned mobile carriers to waive end user messages, so that anyone who has a mobile phone will be able to text 20121 and all messages will be free.  This ensures anyone who doesn't have a text plan will still be able to text 20121 and won’t be charged for those messages. To date, the following carriers have instituted end user waivers (AT&T, Verizon Wireless, T-Mobile, Sprint, Metro PCS, Virgin, Boost, Cricket, and Nextel) accounting for over 98.5% of mobile phones.

FAQS

• PreventionPays Text enables multiple agencies to offer sms services through the 20121 gateway
• PreventionPays Text supports NAACH’s commitment to making help available to anyone, anywhere, at anytime.
• System ensures a one-to-one ratio (responder to end user)
• PreventionPays Text enables responders to keep notes about the individual, set data markers to track end user attributes/demographics and case manage. 
• The Platform can be set to interface with resource taxonomies through API connections (using HTTP over json)
• PreventionPays Text further enables responders to author pre-made text messages, set the time-sensitive alerts/auto-response preferences and provide blanket messaging to groups or region-specific users. 
• NAACH members can set up automatic triages, follow-up programs, educational programs with automated, scheduled outgoing texts, phone to text referrals and many other innovative texting strategies
• Utilize “Text2give” utility on 20121 as an onramp to your agency’s Paypal, Stripe or other donation processing page!
• All the capacity you have come to appreciate about PreventionPays (or heard about from others) is available through 20121 with the added benefit of peace of mind - knowing that when you’re not available to reply, there are other agencies that will respond to your texts for you.
• All texts that you handle are counted as yours. With PreventionPays, you also have the peace of mind that your service is exactly that – yours.

 EMS Assurances:

EMS privacy policy assures data and information remains strictly private and is not shared in any manner whatsoever. Data will be provisioned for state/regional uses only. EMS will have separate agreements with each participating agency that will ensure data is not used for any other purpose but to support the agencies that are providing the services that cultivate said data. 

 EMS’s operation of PreventionPays Text follows all Federal Communication Commission’s Customer Proprietary Network Information (CPNI) rules together with the California Online Privacy and Disclosure Act.     

 EMS is in compliance with HIPAA guidelines serving to assure safe information gathering, processing and archiving. PreventionPays system uses Secure Socket Layer (SSL) encryption to secure all data being transmitted to and from the website.  Confidential information will not be stored on the hardware in use in client settings. The application and the data transmitted by the software is stored on a dedicated server platform which is owned by EMS and located in a secure Data Center facility, which is temperature controlled, with internal systems analysis and self-auditing and/or stress testing procedures.

EMS wholly owns PreventionPays Text and assures that gathered information is not subject to any other ownership privileges by any company, agency or individual.  PreventionPays Text employs safeguard encryption and security protocols to protect any information and/or data from unauthorized access. 

EMS complies with guidelines as outlined by the FCC and CTIA and uses Tier 1 aggregators as mobile communication partners.  EMS, through its affiliations, offers access to all mobile carriers in the United States and is committed to adding/provisioning new carriers as they become available. 

Want to learn more and schedule a 30 minute hands-on demo?  Text DEMO to 20121

To request more information, contact: info@preventionpaystext.com or call 805.653.6000

Standard msg&data rates may apply.  You may text STOP at any time to opt out.

Mobile Carriers Crack Down on Spam Texting

As texting grows in health and human services there is a greater level of scrutiny on the manner in which texting platforms function.  Our clients have always taken comfort in knowing we developed our system specifically for the work they do.  PreventionPays Text uses Enterprise Short Code Technology, the gold standard in the texing industry.  In fact, short codes obtained through Neustar are the only method of texting used by HHS, CDC, HRSA, mHealth Alliance, Healthcare.gov and many others because of the rigorous provisioning process they must go through in order to operate on each mobile carrier gateway. Short codes support automated optin/out and must comply with all FCC anti-spamming rules and regulations which are closely monitored by CTIA and the mobile carriers.  During the provisioning process, message tracking capacity is initiated.

PreventionPays Text will be highlighted at APHA 2014 and the National WIC Association Technology conferences in the fall as "best practice" for two-way conversational texting and outgoing, group messaging for education and improved health outcomes. In addition to supporting text line services for hotlines/helplines, PreventionPays Text is now widely used by WIC agencies, 2-1-1 Contact Centers, Medicare agencies as well as numerous state and regional health departments, universities and research institutions. 

Carriers Have Banned A2P (Application to Person) Use of Long Codes

The Mobile carriers (AT&T, Verizon Wireless, T-Mobile) have banned Application to Person (A2P) use of Long Codes because the numbers are not provisioned to automate the opt-in/opt-out and are not registered with CTIA.org to provide services to people originating from applications.  Penalties range from carrier-wide blocking to severe fines, up to $1,000 per instance.  Additionally both the aggregator and the application providers (managing the A2P long code) may be named in a lawsuit.  Our aggregator mBlox (the largest sms aggregator in the world) does not offer long codes because "the risk is just too high. Financial institutions and health services recognize the risks and we want to make sure our focus is where those industries want to be... and that's short codes." (Mary D'Allesandro, Head of Account Management, mBlox)

“Long numbers for A2P messaging is not supported by the carriers and they go to great lengths to detect it and block it as spam. That’s why you see all of these special “rules” that application providers use to try and avoid being detected and having their number shut off or their bind cancelled. The risk is generally not worth it, which is why we (mBlox) have decided not to offer longcodes.”

— mBlox, Largest Aggregator, Worldwide

PreventionPays Text is the only service of its kind in the industry that is built according to HIPAA, CTIA and FCC security guidelines since 2006. New anti-spamming laws now regulate the SMS industry with severe penalties for operating outside the specified guidelines.

Short codes are the only numbers that automate the opt-in/opt-out and this is by design - they are provisioned to do so by the mobile carriers during setup. Before they can begin to send and receive messages they must first pass these tests completed by each carrier.

If you are unsure about the vendor or services you can ask the question, is you company registered with CTIA.org Compliance? If the answer is "no" then they are providing services using numbers that are out of compliance making them subject to the above mentioned penalties.

EMS is in frequent communication with the CTIA Compliance team to ensure our short codes are meeting mobile industry communication guidelines which include how the number functions as well as how the number is being presented on the Internet and in printed materials.

You can read about these guidelines by going here:  Common Short Code Best Practices

Key Facts:

• Mobile carriers have banned the use of long codes for Application to Person (A2P) texting
• Do not support fully automated opt-in/opt-out
• Long codes are not able to support handset delivery receipts (zero message tracking)
• Carrier-wide blocking that occurs at any time without warning
• Throughput restrictions (8 messages per minute) If a long code exceeds 8 per minute it will be blocked by carriers without warning.
• Unable to support end user privacy and are deemed non-compliant with FCC and CTIA
• Recycled numbers, origin unknown
• Operate Outside Industry Regulations

The FCC Anti-Spam Act states that it is the public's right to request texts and then cancel them at any time and this should occur in a fully-automated way.

Long codes are not provisioned to support end user privacy. If you text STOP to a long code, you won't get any message back.  In fact, you'll always wind up getting more spam messages than before because they now know there's a live person at the other end. And most often, the next time you're spammed, it will be from an entirely different long code. The companies that are leasing long codes are re-selling the phone numbers that interact with their long codes. The worst part is, it's entirely unbeknownst to their clients that are leasing the long codes and the owners of the mobile phones that interact with them.  So next time you get a text from your dentist and it's from a 10-digit number, DO NOT send a message back (unless you want to get spammed) and alert your dentist about long code spamming. He'll thank you for it.

It's also important to note that carrier blocking can occur on a long code before your program started using it. All digital numbers are recycled.  So, you have no way of knowing how it was used before you started using it.

We've all received unsolicited texts from numbers we don't recognize and they're always from 10 digit numbers. Spammers don't use short codes (5 or 6 digit numbers) because they are provisioned and operate in a regulated industry that protects end user privacy. These rules and end user privacy make short code texting a secure, safe and enduring environment.  

The entities that govern short code texting are: Mobile Carriers, CTIA, Common Short Code Administration

HHS provides texting recommendations to public health agencies. Every example they reference uses Short Code technology SEE: http://www.hhs.gov/open/initiatives/mhealth/recommendations.html
Also check out King County Public Health at:  http://www.nwcphp.org/docs/sms-toolkit/overview/glossary.htm
King County Public Health has published several papers on texting in public health. And they make recommendations about how to build a program.  None of their literature mentions using long codes. It's always about short codes because they're secure and protect end user privacy. 

Big News! PreventionPays Text will be highlighted at AIRS 2015 during the 2-1-1 General Assembly! Whether you're a 2-1-1 or other I&R, there will be something for everyone! 

PreventionPays Text Strictly Adheres to FCC and CTIA Anti-Spamming Rules and Regulations

New Features Make Case Management Simple

In addition to Enterprise two-way texting with community alerts/education, we're now supporting integrated case management tools that allow staff to send ongoing messages and engage specific individuals/groups according to types of service or type of responder. For example, once a crisis is deescalated, re-assign the case to another staff who manages followup communication. Move completed cases to aftercare, a separate queue with a separate dashboard. And with our Live Data Markers, track followups using status updates (how are you feeling today? Did you connect with your therapist? Were you able to refill your meds?) so that over time, you can demonstrate the effectiveness of your work using longitudinal, fluctuating data. 

Set automated messages to query individuals after the encounter ends. Schedule messages one week, two weeks apart that stimulate ongoing dialogue.  Learn how clients are doing over time without requiring any staff involvement. All messages will be visible and archived with each case. Services that demonstrate behavioral changes over time shed new light on mental health and greatly increase your funding potential.

In our next issue of the user guide we will cover the utilization of these new features! Or if you have questions, contact us at support@preventionpaystext.com

End user privacy is always protected with automated opt-in/opt-out!  New FCC laws make automating the opt-in/out a requirement.