Setting up your channels

Every channel in the inbox needs something provisioned once. That all happens in Settings → Omnichannel, and it's the only place you need to come back to when you want to add a channel or change how inbound calls are handled. The website widget has its own page — see Chatting with website visitors.

Phone number

The Phone number section provisions the number your practice texts and calls from. Pick Provision number, choose the area code you'd like, and Ona assigns a local number in it — the number is registered with the carriers automatically.

The number appears formatted, with a copy button. It's the number to publish for texting; once calling is enabled below, it's also your caller ID and the number patients call.

Carrier registration

US carriers filter unregistered business traffic, so a number that isn't registered can have its texts silently dropped. Ona handles the paperwork, but the status is worth watching:

• Local numbers register through 10DLC. Registration starts on its own as soon as the number is provisioned and normally settles within minutes; the section reads Registered when done. If it fails, the reason is shown and Register now retries.
• Toll-free numbers — practices that provisioned one before local numbers were offered — go through Toll-Free Verification instead. Submit it, and the status moves from Under review through Carrier review to Verified, typically over 5–10 business days. Action required means the carrier wants more information; Rejected shows the reason and lets you resubmit.

Don't publish a number until its section says Registered or Verified. That badge is what tells you texts will actually arrive.

Email address

Email address provisions a dedicated @mail.ona.health address for two-way patient and lead email — for example [email protected]. Pick Provision email and it's ready immediately; there's nothing to verify.

Replies to any email your team sends from Ona come back to this address and land in the conversation. You can also give it out directly — anything a patient sends to it opens (or continues) their email thread.

Phone calls

Phone calls turns the phone number into a phone line. It needs a provisioned number first — the section tells you so until one exists.

Enable calling provisions the voice side of the number. When it's done the section shows:

• Status — Enabled, or Needs attention with the last error and a Try again button.
• This browser — whether the browser you're in right now is registered to receive calls: Ready for calls, Connecting…, or Not connected. Every member's browser registers itself whenever they have Ona open; this row is your own.

Ring my team for

How long inbound calls ring your team's browsers before the AI receptionist takes over — 5 to 60 seconds. It only applies when the AI receptionist is enabled (Setting up the AI Receptionist); without one, the window is fixed at 30 seconds, after which the call is logged as missed.

Who answers incoming calls

Who rings when a patient calls — and, mirroring it, who is notified about the calls nobody picked up:

• Everyone available (the default) — every member who has Ona open rings, and every member is notified.
• Front desk only — only members holding the Front desk (staff) role ring and are notified. If nobody holds the role yet, Ona says so and keeps ringing everyone until someone does.
• Only selected members — pick the members yourself. Use + Add member to build the list; remove someone with the × on their chip. An empty list behaves like Everyone until you add someone.

Whichever group you choose, only members who currently have Ona open can actually ring — a browser that isn't open can't answer a call — while the notification about a missed call reaches the whole group, including whoever was away. At most eight available members ring at once.

A line under the setting tells you if you're not in the answering group yourself: "You won't ring for inbound calls."

Notify about AI-answered calls

Missed calls always raise a notification. Turn this on to also notify the answering group whenever the AI receptionist handled a call, so someone reviews the transcript. It stays off by default — a practice that leans on the receptionist would otherwise get one notification per call — and is only available once the AI receptionist is enabled.

Where the channels show up

Once provisioned, each channel appears as a tab on every patient and lead in Chats (Omnichannel — one inbox for every conversation), and in the contact menu on patient and lead records. Team notifications about new messages and missed calls are configured separately, in Notification settings.