Business Hours and Handing Off to Staff

Setting clear boundaries for your AI agent means patients always get a fast, helpful response and your team steps in at exactly the right moments. This article walks you through configuring business hours for your AI and setting up smooth handoffs to a real staff member when the situation calls for it.

Why Hours and Handoffs Matter

Your AI agents are designed to handle the routine volume that hits the phones and inbox all day long. But two scenarios always require a human touch: conversations that fall outside what the AI is trained to handle, and situations where a patient is frustrated or has a clinical question that goes beyond general information. Getting the handoff right protects both the patient relationship and your team's time.

Setting Business Hours for Your AI

Business hours tell the AI when it is the primary point of contact and when it should adjust its behavior because your office is open and staff are available.

1. From the main menu, open AI Agents and select the agent you want to configure, either the voice receptionist or the text and chat agent.
2. Click the Settings tab inside that agent.
3. Scroll to the Business Hours section. Toggle on each day your office is open and set the opening and closing times.
4. If your office observes holidays or irregular closures, use the Block Off Days option to mark those dates. The AI will treat them as after-hours automatically.
5. Click Save to apply your schedule.

After-Hours Behavior

When a patient contacts the practice outside your set hours, the AI can still answer common questions, capture their information, and even let them book an appointment if you have that enabled. You can also set a custom after-hours message so patients know when to expect a call back from your team.

1. In the Settings tab, find the After-Hours Message field.
2. Type the message you want patients to receive. Keep it brief and reassuring. Something like: "Our office is currently closed. We'll follow up with you first thing in the morning. You're also welcome to book online right now."
3. Toggle on Allow Booking After Hours if you want patients to be able to schedule even when the office is closed.
4. Click Save.

Setting Up Handoffs to Staff

A handoff is what happens when the AI decides a conversation needs a real person. You control what triggers a handoff and where the conversation goes when it does.

Choosing Your Handoff Triggers

Common reasons to route a conversation to staff include:

• The patient asks to speak with someone directly.
• The patient expresses frustration or an urgent concern.
• The question involves clinical judgment (pain, symptoms, post-op questions).
• The AI cannot find a confident answer after checking its knowledge base.

In the Handoff Settings section of your agent, you can toggle on each of these trigger types. You can also define custom keywords that, if a patient uses them, automatically escalate the conversation.

Where Handoffs Land

When a handoff is triggered, the conversation appears in your unified inbox marked as needing attention. You can assign it to a specific team member or leave it in the general queue for whoever is available. See assigning conversations to your team for details on how that routing works.

1. Under Handoff Destination, choose Unassigned Queue or select a specific staff member from the dropdown.
2. Turn on Notify Staff on Handoff so your team gets an alert the moment a conversation is routed to them.
3. Optionally, set a handoff message the AI sends to the patient so they know a team member is on the way. Something like: "Let me connect you with someone on our team right now."
4. Click Save.

Testing Your Configuration

Before going live, send a few test messages to your own number or chat widget to confirm the hours and handoff logic behave the way you expect. Try sending a message during business hours, after hours, and one that includes a trigger phrase like "I need to talk to someone." Check that each scenario routes correctly and that your team receives the right notifications.

Once your hours and handoffs are dialed in, take a look at reviewing AI conversations to see how your agent is performing over time and spot any gaps in coverage. For broader guidance on keeping the AI working well for your practice, visit AI best practices and guardrails.