adding holiday hours

Adding Holiday Hours

The process for adding Holiday Hours is the same at the Enterprise and Practice-levels. Review the steps below to configure Holiday Hours at the Practice-level:

1. Navigate to the correct Practice.
2. Navigate to Settings > Practice Settings > Practice Holiday Hours (or Settings > Enterprise Settings > Enterprise Holiday Hours). 
   
3. The Practice Holidays page displays all Holiday Hours in chronological order for that Practice and Enterprise.
   
4. Select + Add Holiday.
5. If your Practice is closed on the holiday, select No for the "My Practice is open on this holiday" toggle. If it is open on that holiday, select "Yes". To learn about why, see the FAQs section below. Then, enter the Holiday Name, Start and End Dates, Start and End Times, and the Holiday Out of Office Message. If this is a recurring holiday, select Yes for the "recurring holiday" field. When ready, select Save Holiday.
   NOTE: Only general Smart Phrases are supported in Holiday Out of Office Messages: {lineName}, {wellPhone}, {practiceName}, {enterpriseName}.
   

FAQs

How does the automatic Trigger rescheduling work?

The following information only applies to Practice and Enterprise Holiday Hours as line Holiday Hours do not reschedule Triggers.

If a scheduled Trigger is due to go out on a holiday, it will be pushed to prior or post-holiday, depending on how the Trigger is configured.

• If the Trigger is set to send before a given event, the message will send before the holiday period.
  • Example: A patient has an appointment on December 26th. The Trigger is configured to be sent 1 day before the appointment. Normally, this would be sent on December 25th, except that day has been set up as a holiday. So, the automated reminder will be sent on December 24th.
• If the Trigger is set to send after a given event, it will send after the holiday period only if the Trigger's "Send only on Business Days" toggle is off.
  • Example: A patient had an appointment on December 24th. The Trigger is configured to be sent 1 day after the appointment. Normally, this would be sent on December 25th, except that day has been set up as a holiday. So, the automated reminder will be sent on December 26th.
  • NOTE: If the Trigger's "Send only on Business Days" toggle is enabled, then the automated reminder will be sent to the patient on the last business day prior to the holiday. 

NOTE: This behavior applies across all Trigger modules.

When should Holiday Hours be configured?

When setting up Holiday Hours, it is important to do so at least 24-hours in advance. If the holiday is configured before the Start Time, Triggers will not be sent during that holiday. To ensure that Triggers are rescheduled and sent prior to the holiday, they must be saved at least 24-hours prior to the Holiday Hours' Start Time. 

Additionally, when using TCPA Hours or Business Days settings, there are further considerations to ensure that Triggers are properly rescheduled and sent before the holiday. The Trigger must be enabled 24-hours before the last open day leading up to your holiday. For instance, if the holiday falls on a Monday and your Triggers are set not to send on weekends and respect TCPA Hours, you should configure your Holiday Hours by Thursday at 9:00PM, prior to opening on Friday, to ensure your Triggers are sent prior to Monday.

Which holiday will be respected if there is an overlap?

Artera respects overlapping Holidays in this order: Line, Practice, Enterprise. Let's review an example:

• You have created an Enterprise Holiday for New Years Day: 1/1/2027.
• One of the Practices, Pediatrics, wants to send a special Holiday Out of Office Message for their patients instead of use the one set at the Enterprise-level.
• To accomplish this, a user in this Practice must create a new Practice Holiday for the same time with their special Holiday Out of Office Message.
• On 1/1/2027, anyone who messages into the Pediatrics Practice will receive the special Practice-level Pediatrics Holiday Out of Office Message while anyone who messages into the Dermatology Practice will receive the generic Enterprise Holiday Out of Office Message.

What if one of my Practices is open during the holiday, but the rest of the Enterprise is closed?

For this scenario, we recommend setting up an Enterprise Holiday for the duration of the closure. Then, for specific Practices (or lines) that are opening during the Holiday, you can add a new holiday and enable the My Practice is open on this holiday field. As discussed above, Artera will respect the most specific level of granularity when it comes to Holiday Hours.

How do After-Hours Auto-Responses and Holiday Auto Responses work?

During the Holiday, Artera will only send the Holiday Out of Office Message during the time period specified. No After-Hours Auto-Responses will go out until after the holiday period has ended.

What if I want Triggers to be sent during the holiday?

If you want Triggers to send on the holiday, we do not recommend configuring a holiday. Instead, update your Practice Hours and the After-Hours Auto-Response to a holiday message.

1. In the Practice Settings menu, open Practice Settings.
2. Set your Open Time to 1:00 AM and Close Time to 1:01 AM.
3. Feel free to change your After-Hours Auto-Response to incorporate a holiday greeting.
4. On the next open business day, remember to update your Practice Hours first thing in the morning; otherwise, patients will continue to receive your After-Hours Auto-Response when they message into the Practice.

After a holiday passes, will it be removed from the Holiday Hours page?

Yes, once a holiday created at the Enterprise, Practice, or line-level has passed, it will be removed from that Holiday Hours page. This behavior excludes recurring holidays. 

Do Campaigns respect Holiday Hours?

No, Campaigns do not respect Holiday Hours. Campaigns respect the Practice's Business Hours and TCPA hours.

Will a Holiday Out of Office Message always be sent to patients, regardless of what their Inbound Message consists of?

No, if a patient sends a message that is less than three characters long, the Holiday Out of Office Message will not be sent.