The Tasks page is your single, prioritized to-do list. Instead of checking your call log, voicemail, and booking requests separately, everything that needs a human lands here, so nothing gets missed on a busy day.
Open it from Tasks in the left navigation. The badge next to it counts your open tasks.
What lands on the list
| On the card | Where it comes from |
|---|---|
| Callback | A caller asked to be called back |
| Voicemail | A voicemail was left and not yet marked read |
| Missed call | An inbound call went unanswered and hasn't been followed up |
| AI escalation | The AI flagged a call as needing human follow-up (always shown as High) |
| Transfer not answered | The AI transferred a caller to the office and no one picked up, the line was busy, or it hung up within seconds (always High; clears if the caller rings back). See When a transfer isn't answered |
| Booking request | Someone requested an appointment online and it's still pending |
| Confirmation | An upcoming appointment still needs confirming |
| Message | The AI took a message, tagged by topic (Results, Billing, Prescription, Appointment, Records, New patient, Complaint and so on) |
| Delivery issue | An appointment reminder failed to deliver |
| Sync issue | An appointment didn't push to your connected EHR |
| Coming of age | A client turns 18 (or your age) soon, or has with a parent still linked, and needs a decision. See Coming of age |
| Visits to sort out | A client's upcoming appointments have no service set, for example "Session" from an import |
| Note due, Co-sign, Plan review, Risk flag | Clinical documentation work |
Tasks marked Emergency or High appear first under Needs attention now. Everything else is under Up next.
Find what you need
- Tabs across the top: All, Urgent, Bookings, Confirmations, Messages, and Clinical, each with a count. Coming of age and Visits to sort out cards show under All.
- Group by caller puts each caller's tasks together (see below).
- Tags narrows the current tab by message topic (for example, only Billing and Insurance messages).
- Search tasks matches names, phone numbers, and the task text.
- When a message names a provider, a provider row appears; click a name to see only that provider's messages.
Group a caller's tasks
Group by caller is on by default. When one client has more than one open task, they sit under a single header: the name and phone, "3 tasks", what kinds ("2 voicemails · 1 missed call") and when the latest and first came in. A caller with any urgent task sits wholly under Needs attention now.
- Click the header, or the arrow (Show tasks / Hide tasks), to open or close the list underneath.
- Call back rings the caller.
- Mark all done (the check on the header) asks "Mark 3 tasks from Dana Ruiz as done?" and clears every task that can be cleared. Tasks that need their own action, like a confirmation, stay on the list and the dialog says how many.
Tasks are grouped by client, so a parent and child who share one phone stay separate. Callers who aren't on file are grouped by phone number. Click Group by caller to switch it off; your browser remembers the choice.
Act on a task
Each card has an action button that fits the task:
- Call back for calls, voicemails and most messages. Voicemails also have a play button so you can listen right on the card.
- Confirm confirms the appointment from the card. If the client answered after the list loaded (replied NO, or asked for a new time), nothing changes: you see what happened and the list reloads. A card whose reminder text is waiting for the client's morning shows Held until 8am.
- Book opens the booking request.
- Retry re-sends a failed reminder, or the button tells you what to fix (for example Set up email). A text retried between 9pm and 8am in the client's time waits until 8am their time; the card clears now and comes back if the text still can't go then.
- Schedule, Add patient, Notify manager, or View meds for messages about an appointment, a new patient, a complaint, or a prescription.
- Mark handled for a Records message, once you have dealt with the request. It asks you to confirm, like Mark done.
- Decide, or Finish for a signed release, on a Coming of age card. It opens the coming-of-age dialog.
- Sort out on a Visits to sort out card opens the client's chart with Manage upcoming, where you set the service for those visits or delete them. See Repeating visits.
- Write note, Finish note, Review and co-sign, or Review plan for clinical work.
Click a card to open the call details or the client's record. The small icons on the card open call details, the client, or a text thread.
Add a new patient from the AI's message
On a New patient message, Add patient opens the Create client drawer already filled in from the call: name, date of birth, phone and email, and a From the call section with the reason for the visit, visit type and preferred times, plus Insurance carrier, Member ID, Pharmacy and Primary care doctor to check and fix. Click Add patient, or Add & book visit to go straight to the calendar. The message is linked to the new client. A message with an insurance member ID shows only its last four characters; Show member ID reveals the whole ID on that card. See Add a client from anywhere.
At an athenahealth location that doesn't let FrontDesk create patients, the button is View details: it opens the call so you can register the caller in athena.
Mark it done
Click the check button and confirm Mark done. The task leaves the list; the original call or message stays in its own log. For a visit that needs no note, the button is No note needed and asks you for a reason. Risk flags are acknowledged instead.
Booking requests, confirmations, co-signs, plan reviews, Coming of age and Visits to sort out have no check button: they leave the list when the work behind them is done.
To clear a batch, click Select, tick the cards (tick a caller's header to pick all their tasks), and click Mark done. To clear one caller, use Mark all done on their header.
Good to know
- It updates live. New voicemails, missed calls, booking requests and callbacks appear on their own.
- Messages the AI takes show up here. When your AI takes a refill, results, or billing message, it becomes a task, so those requests get handled even if no one was at the desk. See handle voicemails and messages.
- Confirmations have their own page too. For a schedule-focused view, use Appointment confirmations.