Texting Service Setup - A2P 10DLC Background

Configuring the texting service for your 4D EMR account requires that 4D submit business information about your practice for verification by our text service provider.

As part of this verifications process, the service provider will verify practice EIN, business address, phone, website, etc.  This information is required to activate texting service.

For more information about this registration requirement, please see below:

A2P 10DLC Background

What is A2P?

Application to Person (A2P) messaging is SMS/MMS traffic in which a person is receiving messages from an application rather than another individual.

Traffic sent from an individual person to another person is called Person to Person (P2P) traffic.

US telecom carriers consider any messages sent from 4D EMR (or any other application) to be application to person.

What is 10DLC?

10DLC stands for 10 Digit Long Code. A 10DLC phone number contains 10 digits, and is also called a local phone number. 4D EMR acquires unique 10DLC phone numbers for practice clients to use in texting features.

Why were the A2P 10DLC standards/regulations created?

10 digit long code numbers in the US were originally designed for person to person (P2P) communication. These routes were unregulated, and in recent years have started seeing abuse from spam applications and unsolicited messaging.

Due to the increase in spam messages, many consumers have lost trust in SMS as a form of communication. US A2P 10DLC is the standard that carriers have implemented in the US to regulate this communication pathway.

What is 10DLC Registration

To register for a 10DLC number, a business must go through an approval process with their CSP (campaign service provider), who will facilitate the registration through TCR (The Campaign Registry).

Registration includes the following steps:

Application: Practices must provide 4D EMR  provide information about the practice business (brand), such as its EIN (employer identification number), name, address, website, etc.  4D EMR staff will submit this information along with texting use case examples (The Campaign) to The Campaign Registry on behalf of the practice.

1. Review: The Campaign Registry will review the application and may request additional information or clarification if necessary. The brand will be registered, and the campaign use case will be reviewed and scored.
2. Approval: If the application is approved, 10DLC(s) can be assigned to the campaign by the CSP.
3. Cost & Fees: The Campaign Registry (TCR) charges one-time fees to register brands and monthly recurring fees for campaigns. Mobile carriers require various surcharges and setup fees for messages delivered over their networks.  This fee is paid by 4D EMR on behalf of practice clients.
4. Compliance: Businesses must comply with all relevant laws and regulations related to text messaging, including obtaining consent from customers before sending them (these approvals can be managed by the practice client from within 4D EMR and the Patient Intake Portal. This compliance process will also be ongoing and require businesses to comply with requests from carriers or regulators.

The approval process can take up to two weeks, but is usually complete in about 5 days.