# Sort after-hours messages so only urgent ones reach the on-call provider > Urgent messages reach the on-call provider as urgent Tasks, and everything else waits, sorted, for the morning team. Markdown view of https://www.tabflows.com/university/playbooks/after-hours-message-triage — the HTML page is canonical. [](https://www.tabflows.com/university/playbooks) 1. [Playbooks](https://www.tabflows.com/university/playbooks) 2. [Messages & Calls](https://www.tabflows.com/university/playbooks#messages-and-calls) Urgent messages reach the on-call provider as urgent Tasks, and everything else waits, sorted, for the morning team. - Spruce - Weave - Saves about 20 min per morning (est.) Last checked Oct 27, 2026 against Tabflows v3.10.63 ## The situation Direct access to the provider at night is one of DPC's biggest promises. Without a clear line between what needs the provider now and what can wait until morning, every message feels equally urgent at 9pm. A refill request, a scheduling question and a new symptom land in the same inbox, and the provider either screens all of them personally or starts to slip on replies. The usual failure is not a provider ignoring urgent messages. It is treating every message as if it needs an immediate response, which nobody can keep up for long and which buries the few urgent ones in a flat stream. ## Steps 1. **Write down what counts as urgent** Have an Admin add your after-hours standard to Practice Brain, or upload it there as a document, so whoever covers can check it with Sidekick. New or worsening symptoms, a possible medication reaction and anything acute need same-hour attention from a clinician, while refills, scheduling changes and general questions can wait for the next business day. Include your plan for true emergencies, such as directing the patient to urgent care or the ER, and name who is on call each night. With more than one provider, rotate it. 2. **Sort each message as it arrives** Whoever covers the shift makes each after-hours message a Task when it comes in, not when someone next checks the queue. Confirm Patient and write what the patient asked in Description. 3. **Send urgent ones straight to the on-call provider** In Assigned to, choose the provider on call that night and select Mark as urgent. Then reach them directly the way your on-call plan says, such as a call or a page. At night nobody is watching My Tasks, so the urgent Task is the record and the call is the alert. 4. **Tell everyone else you have their message** In a Spruce text or secure-message conversation, wait for the Draft Assist reply marked AI DRAFT, or select Generate if auto-generation is off, then select Insert, for a reply that says you got the message and the team will answer during business hours. Edit it and send it yourself. 5. **Queue the rest for the morning** Assign the non-urgent Tasks to a Task group such as Front Desk, add a clinic Tag such as After hours, and set Due on to the next business day. Save that tag as a filter so the team opens to a sorted list of everything that came in overnight. ## The outcome The on-call provider sees only the messages that need them, patients who can wait know their message arrived, and the next business day starts with a sorted queue instead of a scramble to remember what came in. That standard is what keeps 24/7 access a real advantage instead of a promise that burns out whoever is on call. ## Ask Sidekick Sidekick is the AI assistant inside Tabflows. Hey Tabflows, list the tasks created across the clinic since we closed last night, with each patient and owner, and put the urgent ones first for the covering clinician. ## In the Product Library - [How do I set up Practice Brain](https://www.tabflows.com/university/library/practice-brain/how-do-i-set-up-practice-brain) - [How to use urgent tasks](https://www.tabflows.com/university/library/tasks/how-to-use-urgent-tasks) - [Draft a patient reply without starting from scratch](https://www.tabflows.com/university/library/magic-buttons/draft-a-patient-reply-without-starting-from-scratch) - [How to assign a task to a group](https://www.tabflows.com/university/library/tasks/how-to-assign-a-task-to-a-group) - [Using Spruce with Tabflows](https://www.tabflows.com/university/library/integrations/using-spruce-with-tabflows) - [Using Weave with Tabflows](https://www.tabflows.com/university/library/integrations/using-weave-with-tabflows) ## In a course - [Phones, Messages & Triage](https://www.tabflows.com/university/courses/patient-communication) [Read the full guide](https://www.tabflows.com/blog/after-hours-patient-message-triage) [Open it in the Automation catalog](https://www.tabflows.com/university/automations?automation=after-hours-message-triage) ## Related markdown Section index: [Playbooks](https://www.tabflows.com/university/playbooks.md) Alongside this page: - [Advance directive tracking](https://www.tabflows.com/university/playbooks/advance-directive-tracking.md) - [After hours answering service](https://www.tabflows.com/university/playbooks/after-hours-answering-service.md) - [Billing decline follow up](https://www.tabflows.com/university/playbooks/billing-decline-follow-up.md) - [Call follow up loop](https://www.tabflows.com/university/playbooks/call-follow-up-loop.md) - [Chronic care check ins](https://www.tabflows.com/university/playbooks/chronic-care-check-ins.md) - [Clia and compliance renewals](https://www.tabflows.com/university/playbooks/clia-and-compliance-renewals.md) - [Dea and license renewals](https://www.tabflows.com/university/playbooks/dea-and-license-renewals.md) - [Dme order tracking](https://www.tabflows.com/university/playbooks/dme-order-tracking.md) Start here: - [Tabflows](https://www.tabflows.com/index.md) - [Tabflows pricing](https://www.tabflows.com/pricing.md) - [Tabflows FAQ](https://www.tabflows.com/faqs.md) - [About Tabflows](https://www.tabflows.com/about.md) - [Contact Tabflows](https://www.tabflows.com/contact.md) - [DPC workflow software](https://www.tabflows.com/dpc-workflow-software.md) - [Directory](https://www.tabflows.com/directory.md) - [Workflows](https://www.tabflows.com/workflows.md) - [DPC finder](https://www.tabflows.com/dpc-finder.md) Every page listed in sitemap.xml has a markdown twin at the same URL with `.md` appended, or by sending `Accept: text/markdown` to the canonical URL. Wider index: [llms.txt](https://www.tabflows.com/llms.txt), [llms-full.txt](https://www.tabflows.com/llms-full.txt), [sitemap.md](https://www.tabflows.com/sitemap.md), [sitemap.xml](https://www.tabflows.com/sitemap.xml). Support documentation: https://www.tabflows.com/university/library — append `.md` to any article URL for its raw markdown.