Out of Office

Out of Office: plan time away in one place

Out of Office is where you plan time away: pick the dates and who covers, and while someone is away Hero takes care of the rest. It blocks the calendar so nobody books someone who’s away, lets the covering partner (and anyone else you add) work the away person’s inbox where it is, keeps patient messages in that inbox or sorts the non-clinical ones to someone else with AI, and tells patients, the phone agent and Inquiry Hero when they’re back and who is covering. Nothing is moved, so nothing has to be handed back.

1. Turn it on. It is on by default. A practice administrator, or someone allowed to manage additional features, can switch Out of Office off in Admin → Additional Features and press Save Changes; to turn it back on, switch it on there or press Turn on Out of Office on the Admin → Out of Office page. Nothing changes until someone plans time away.
2. Open it. Managers open Admin → Out of Office. Everyone else opens Settings → Out of Office, which shows My time away.
3. Click Plan time away (see Plan time away).

Plan time away

Plan time away opens one window. As you fill it in, the panel on the right spells out exactly what Hero will do, and whether it starts on its own on the first day or starts as soon as you save.

1. Who and when. Managers choose Who’s away; everyone else plans for themselves. Pick First day away and Last day away, or a quick choice: Tomorrow, Rest of this week, Next week. Tick Leave partway through this day or Back partway through this day for a partial day and set Leaving at or Back at. Dates and times are in your practice’s time zone (the window says so when your computer is in another one). Time away can be up to a year.
2. Choose the Covering partner (Choose who covers…), or No one: “They work your inbox while you’re away, and patients are told they’ll read their messages.” Hero warns when the partner is away too (“Sam Chen is away too (…). Add someone below who’s in, so the inbox is still worked.”) or can’t work inboxes (“Billing staff can’t work inboxes. Add someone below who can.”).
3. Choose what happens While they’re away (next section).
4. Optionally fill in About this time away. Reason (Vacation, Conference, Sick, Leave, Personal, Other) is private: only practice managers and the person away see it; patients, the phone agent and the calendar just say Out of office. Note for the team (for example reachable by cell for emergencies) is for staff only, never patients: it shows when they hover an Away chip, on the You’re covering for cards and in the time away’s details. Once time away has started, its first day and reason can’t change.
5. Click Save time away (Save and start now when it starts today). The confirmation says what happened, for example “Your time away is saved: …”, “Sam Chen works your inbox while you’re away.” and “Calendar blocked for 5 days.”

A person can’t have two overlapping stretches of time away: “… already has time away …” Booked visits that fall in the time are listed (“3 booked visits fall in this time. Nothing is cancelled or moved: reschedule from the calendar.”) with Open in calendar.

What Hero does while someone is away

Nothing moves while someone is away. Their messages, results, refills, faxes and to-dos stay in their own inbox, and the people covering are attached to it: they open it from their own Inbox switcher and work it in place (Attached inboxes). The editor’s cards decide the rest.

Team Chat and the inbox always show the person as away. Hero sends no email or text to anyone when time away starts or ends: the people covering find the inbox in their Inbox switcher.

Covering for someone, and seeing who is away

When you are covering

Nothing is moved to you. When the time away starts, the away person’s inbox appears in your Inbox switcher; before that it shows as a faded row with its start date. Open it to work their patient messages, results, refills, faxes and to-dos where they are: the strip above the list reads, for example, Ana Rivera’s inbox · Away until Mon, Nov 3 · You’re covering (Working someone’s inbox). Opening or finishing an item does it for them too, and your replies are recorded as yours. When the time away ends, their inbox leaves your switcher.

Settings → Out of Office (or My time away for managers) lists You’re covering for cards, with “Their inbox is in your Inbox switcher, shared with 1 other person.” or, before it starts, “Their inbox appears in your Inbox switcher when it starts.”

When you are the one away

Your Inbox shows You’re out of office (“You’re out of office until Monday, November 3”, with Sam Chen is covering or No one is covering), with Out of Office and I’m back. While people work your inbox, My inbox shows the Shared with chip, Inbox sharing lists them as While you’re away …, and items they finished read Done by Sam Chen.

Who is away, everywhere

• Away chips. Team Chat, the inbox and recipient pickers mark people who are away (Away until Nov 3) or about to be (Away from Oct 20); hover for the dates, the return date, who is covering and the team note. In the Inbox switcher an away owner has a palm.
• Pickers say who is working the inbox. Forwarding a conversation or assigning a to-do to someone who is away shows “Ana Rivera is away until Nov 3. Sam Chen is working their inbox, so it will be seen.” Sending to the person away is fine; Send to Sam Chen instead (Assign to … instead, or Keep …, for a to-do) is there if you prefer. If you are the one covering it reads “You’re working their inbox, so you’ll see it there.”; with no partner, “No one is covering.”
• Time off. In Admin → Scheduling → Time Off and on the calendar, the hold days read Out of office and Managed in Out of Office (“This time is managed in Out of Office. Change it there.”), with Open Out of Office.

Change, end or cancel time away

Click a stretch of time away in Who’s away or My time away to open its details: the dates and return date, who is Working your inbox (the covering partner first), the reason and team note, and What Hero does line by line (Calendar, The inbox, Patient messages, What patients see, Phone agent and Inquiry Hero, Team Chat), for example “Sam Chen works their inbox in place. Nothing moves, and only they can sign.”

• Edit. Save changes applies straight away: adding or removing people changes who works the inbox at once (“Changes saved. Already under way.”). Once time away has started, its first day and reason can’t change.
• End early. I’m back (or End now for someone else) asks first. End your time away now? lists what happens: the calendar opens again from now, “Sam Chen stops working your inbox. Nothing needs handing back: everything stayed in your inbox.”, AI stops sorting new messages, patients stop seeing the notice, and Team Chat and the inbox stop showing you as away. Not yet keeps it. Then: “Welcome back.” (“The people covering no longer work your inbox. Nothing needs handing back.”)
• Cancel time away that hasn’t started: Cancel this time away asks “Cancel this time away?” — “The calendar hold comes off, and nobody works the inbox for it. To plan it again later, start a new one.” (Keep it to go back).
• When it ends on its own, the people covering stop working the inbox and it leaves their switcher. Recently back lists it for two weeks with While they were out.

While you were out

The details of time away that has ended read Covered by (everyone who worked the inbox), What Hero did, and While you were out (While they were out for someone else). Hero adds it up once, when the time away ends; until then: “Hero is adding this up. Check back in a few minutes.”

• A headline: “Sam Chen and Ada Lee worked your inbox.”, or “Nobody else worked your inbox while you were away.”
• Replies sent to your patients, Finished items, and Sorted by AI when AI sorted messages, with what was finished by folder (Patient messages, Voicemails, Phone alerts, Results, Pharmacy requests, Refills, Faxes).
• “5 messages sorted to Front Desk, so they never reached your inbox.” when AI sorted any.
• Each person’s share, for example 8 replies · 12 finished.

Nothing comes back, because nothing left the inbox: what nobody finished is still there, where you left it.

Practice defaults, and turning it off

Admin → Out of Office → Practice defaults: “How a new plan starts. Each person’s time away can still be set differently.” Change them, then Save defaults.

“While someone is away, the covering partner (and anyone added to the plan) works their inbox in place. Nothing moves, so nothing needs handing back.” This doesn’t need inbox access (Admin → Messaging → Inbox access) to be on; see Attached inboxes.

Turning Out of Office off

Out of Office for this practice on the same page is the same switch as in Additional Features. Turn off Out of Office? explains what happens:

• Covering partners, and anyone added to a plan, stop working the away person’s inbox right away (Inbox sharing shows Paused: Out of Office is off). Patients stop seeing notices.
• Calendar holds already made stay, marked Out of office. To remove one, turn Out of Office back on and end or cancel that time away.
• Nothing needs handing back: everything stayed in each person’s own inbox.