Related People

Lots of members share a phone number with a spouse or a family member. careCycle keeps each of them as their own customer, with their own policies, and links them as related people. One person on the number is the primary: the one careCycle calls and texts.

How shared numbers work

• Only the primary gets calls and texts. Campaigns skip everyone else on the number and mark them Skipped with "Shares a phone number."
• Calls and texts from the number come in as the primary.
• There's one text thread per number, and it lives in the primary's Inbox conversation.
• Do Not Call and Do Not SMS cover the whole number. One person's opt-out applies to everyone on it.
• Everyone keeps their own records. Policies, appointments, inquiries, and notes stay with the person they belong to.

Spot a shared number

• On the customer page, a Shared badge sits next to the phone number on the primary, and a Secondary badge on everyone else. Hover it to see who shares the number and who's primary.
• In the Customers list, secondary people have a Secondary badge in the contact column.
• On the Related People card (on the customer's Overview), you'll see everyone linked to this person, with a Primary badge on the number's primary. Each row shows the relationship, their birth date, and whether they're on the same number. Relationships read from the person you're looking at, so a child's record lists their mom as Parent.

Who can do what

An agent can't make someone primary if the number's current primary belongs to another agent.

Add a related person

1. Open the customer and find the Related People card on their Overview.
2. Click Add.
3. Choose what this person is to the customer: Spouse, Child, Parent, Sibling, Power of Attorney, or Other.
4. Add them as a New Person or an Existing Customer (below), then click Add Related Person.

Someone new

On the New Person tab, fill in their First Name, Last Name, Date of Birth, and MBI. You need an MBI, or a last name and date of birth, so careCycle can tell them apart from everyone else on the number.

They share the customer's phone number, its opt-outs, and the assigned agent. The primary doesn't change.

Someone who's already a customer

On the Existing Customer tab, search by name, phone, or email.

If they have a different phone number, you choose:

• Leave the box unchecked to link them and keep both numbers. They stay their own primary on their own number.
• Check "Move [name] onto [number]" to put them on this customer's number. They take on this number's Do Not Call and Do Not SMS settings, and their old number's texts stay with them.

When a new customer's number is taken

If you create a customer with a phone number that already belongs to someone, careCycle asks what the new person is to that customer. Pick the relationship, add their date of birth, and click Add [name] as Related Person.

How careCycle avoids duplicates

Before it creates anyone, careCycle checks the people already on the number, including deleted ones, in this order:

1. Their MBI
2. Your system's customer ID
3. Their first name, last name, and date of birth

If it finds a match, it links that person instead of making a new one. You'll see "was already a customer, so they were linked," or "was restored and linked" if they'd been deleted.

If the MBI or customer ID belongs to someone on a different number, careCycle stops and tells you "This person already exists as another customer." Link them from the Existing Customer tab instead.

Change who's primary

1. Open the current primary's customer page.
2. On the Related People card, click the menu next to the person you want.
3. Choose Make Primary for This Number, then Make Primary.

From then on, inbound calls, texts, and outreach on that number go to the new primary, and the number's text history moves to their conversation.

Remove a link

On the Related People card, click the menu next to the person and choose Remove Link. Only the link goes away. Both people stay as they are, on the same phone number, and the primary doesn't change. To give someone their own number, change the phone number on their customer page.

Shared numbers in the Inbox

• The thread header shows a Household badge when the number has more than one person.
• The context panel turns the customer's name into an On This Phone Number menu. Pick anyone on the number to see their details. The primary is marked.
• The primary's conversation shows everyone's activity. To narrow it down, open More actions and use Show Activity From. Anything that belongs to someone else is tagged with their name and relationship.
• Texting someone who isn't primary sends you to the primary's conversation, since that's where the number's texts live. Click Open their conversation.

Move a policy to the right person

If a spouse's plan landed on the wrong record, you can move it.

1. Open the customer and go to Policies.
2. Click Move to related person on the policy.
3. Pick the person under Move To and click Move Policy.

The policy's notes and tasks move with it. Calls and texts stay where they are. You can only move a policy to someone on the same phone number, and not to someone who already has that policy.

Appointments for people who aren't primary

You can book appointments for anyone. Just know that AI calls only go to the number's primary. If you book someone who isn't primary on a calendar where the AI calls the member, careCycle warns you that the AI won't call them.

Related people vs dependents

The Dependents section on a customer holds coverage details for the household members on their policy, often straight from the carrier. Dependents aren't customers: careCycle doesn't call them, and they don't have their own policies or inbox thread.

Use related people when a family member is your client too.

Bringing in households

• Imports: add a Relationship to Primary column and careCycle sets up related people for you. See Family members who share a phone number.
• Integrations and API syncs (HealthSherpa, Connecture, and the sync API) don't set up related people. When they can't find someone by ID, they update the number's primary. Add family members who come in that way from the customer page.