AI in Hero EMR

Run hands-free commands with the voice assistant

A round magic-wand button floats at the bottom-right of every Hero EMR screen; hover it and the label reads Voice assistant · F1, while the button’s full tooltip lists every action the wand offers your account. Press F1 anywhere (or click the wand) and speak. The assistant reads two things — your words and the patient whose chart is open — and turns them into a draft: every command ends in a pre-filled modal or composer for your review, never a direct action.

Every shortcut in this manual — F1 included — is a default. Remap any of them from Settings → Hotkeys (Ctrl+Shift+?), and the app’s own tooltips and flyout hints update to whatever you chose.

1. Start and stop recording. Press F1 or click the wand. The button turns red with a stop square, a waveform animates, and a dark status bar expands to the left; press F1 or click again to stop, or let it auto-stop at 60 seconds. First use asks for browser microphone permission, and if a note dictation is already running you’ll see Stop the active note dictation before starting Command Hero. — the two share one recorder.
2. Watch the status bar. It shows Transcribing..., then Processing command..., then your transcribed words in quotes with a summary of what the assistant did underneath. Results clear themselves after about five seconds of inactivity.
3. Confirm the patient. With a patient chart or patient tabs open, the command applies to that patient. Otherwise the assistant opens the patient search modal and shows Please select a patient to continue... before doing anything.

Ask clinical questions with Knowledge Hero

Ask a clinical question — first-line treatment, contraindications, diagnostic criteria — and Knowledge Hero answers it from your practice’s guideline library. The status bar turns emerald with Searching clinical guidelines..., then a panel slides in from the right titled Knowledge Hero, subtitled Clinical Decision Support. Ask it by voice with F1 or by typing the same question into the F2 command box — both run through one interpreter, and a clinical question routes here either way. (The F3 assistant is a different thing: it answers questions about the software, not clinical ones.)

1. Read the answer and its sources. The panel shows Your Question, the answer, and a numbered References list; header badges count the sources used (“N guidelines referenced”). Afterwards the status bar reports Found answer using N guideline(s) or Answer generated (no specific guidelines matched) — weigh an unmatched answer accordingly.
2. Copy or close. Copy Answer (it flips to Copied!) puts the answer on your clipboard; Done or Esc closes the panel.
3. Bring in patient context deliberately. Chart data is included only when your question references the patient (“this patient”, “their history”) and a chart is open — the panel then carries a Patient context included badge. General questions are answered without chart access, so phrasing matters when you want a chart-aware answer.
4. Curate the guideline library. Open the Settings gear and choose Knowledge Hero Guidelines. On the Guidelines list you can enable or disable individual guidelines, add and edit custom ones, Revert to Original, or Delete Custom Guideline. The Settings tab holds one toggle — Enable previsit workup generation based on previsit interview? — which makes completed previsit interviews generate Knowledge Hero guidance automatically (see Questionnaires & paperwork).

Ask how to do something in Hero EMR (F3)

Press F3 anywhere to toggle a compact chat panel above the wand button, titled Hero EMR Assistant with the subtitle How do I…? · F3. Use it for how-do-I questions about Hero EMR itself — setting up a workflow, where a feature lives, how a setting behaves. Its answers are drawn from this manual, the official Hero EMR provider manual, and each one ends with links back to the pages it used. It is not a clinical reference, and it does not read patient data.

1. Open it. Press F3, or hover the magic wand and click How do I…? — useful on a Mac, where F3 is often claimed by Mission Control. The assistant is available to admins and billing-capable roles; on an account without it, neither the key nor the flyout item appears. Dismiss it with Esc or the Close (Esc) button.
2. Pick an example or ask your own. The empty state says where answers come from — Ask how to do something in Hero EMR. Answers come from the official Hero EMR manual, with links to learn more. — above clickable starters such as How do I set up a cash-pay only price for one visit type?, How do I connect Zoom for a telehealth visit?, and How do I build paperwork a patient signs before their visit?
3. Send and read. Type into Ask a question… and press Enter (Shift+Enter for a new line). The panel shows Looking it up in the Hero EMR manual… while it works, then answers with headings, bullets, and numbered steps, closing with a compact Learn more row of links you can click straight through to the manual page. Any errors render inline in the thread.
4. Start a fresh question when the subject changes. The pencil button in the header (New chat) clears the transcript. Each question is answered on its own — the assistant does not carry the previous answer forward, so a follow-up like “and then?” will not land. Ask the whole question every time.

Generate note content with AI in the Note Writer

Two AI features live inside the note editor. AI Note Generation answers questions about the open patient while you write, via the .hero dot-phrase; Smart Encounter Completion extracts structured data from your note when you save. Both read the open patient’s chart and your note text — and both end in content you review before it counts.

1. Generate with .hero. Type .hero in the editor followed by a clinical prompt. The dropdown reads Type or select a question about this patient... and offers quick examples such as Summarize patient’s cardiovascular history, List all previous surgeries, and Summarize recent lab trends; your favorites and recent prompts are remembered. .hero is patient-bound — it reads the open chart, unlike Knowledge Hero, which answers general clinical questions.
2. Know which dot-phrases use AI. Among the data dot-phrases, only .imagesum is AI-powered — it inserts an AI imaging summary (search prompt Search imaging summaries). The others (.lab, .imaging, .questionnaire, .media, .derm) insert chart data directly, with no model in between.
3. Keep the built-in guide handy. The toolbar Info button (Note Writer info), or F8 from inside a note, opens the Note Writer Guide — tabs Shortcuts, AI & Data, Dictation, Collab, and Workflow — the in-app reference for everything in this section. (The Shortcuts tab also covers F2/Shift+F2 template-field navigation — while a note has focus the note owns F2, so it moves between fill fields rather than opening the assistant’s command box.)
4. Save, then review the extraction. Saving the note triggers Smart Encounter Completion — as the guide puts it, “When you save, AI automatically extracts structured data from your note”: Diagnoses & ICD-10, Medications, Billing codes, Follow-up plan, and After-visit summary. A processing modal shows Processing..., then AI extraction complete and Encounter completion data has been refreshed. Everything lands in the Encounter Completion checklist for review — see Auto-completion.

Dictate notes and capture telehealth audio

The round microphone button in the note header and toolbar records the visit. When you stop, the AI reads the transcript and your active SOAP template and generates a full note that streams into the editor — structured, templated prose, not your words verbatim. For telehealth, an audio-settings panel lets the same recording capture the Zoom side of the conversation. When you want your words verbatim instead of a generated note — a paragraph typed exactly as you say it — use raw dictation (Ctrl+D), covered in Magic wand quick actions.

1. Record, stop, and watch it generate. Click the mic (Start Recording / Stop Recording). The status runs Live → Transcribing → Generating note… → Done as the note streams in. The mic and the F1 assistant share one recorder, so they can’t run at once; if nothing is heard you’ll see a No speech detected countdown before recording stops on its own.
2. Capture Zoom audio for telehealth. The chevron next to the mic (Show audio settings) opens the Audio Source panel: a Capture Zoom audio (virtual device) checkbox, a Microphone picker, and a Zoom / System Audio Input picker (Select a device (recommended: ZoomAudioDevice (Virtual))). The help text covers a BlackHole + Multi-Output fallback and warns: “Select a virtual audio input above to include Zoom audio in the recording.” Every computer’s audio setup is different — test yours before a live visit. Connecting and running Zoom visits is covered in Run telehealth visits.
3. Turn on speaker labels if you need them. Settings gear → SOAP Notes → Settings → Note Writer Preferences → Speaker Diarization. As the setting itself says: “Leave this off unless you specifically want speaker-labeled transcription.”
4. Navigate away safely. Leaving the note mid-dictation shows a compact dock at the bottom-right with the patient’s name, a Live/Processing/Done badge, and Complete record / Return to note actions. The browser also warns before you close the tab while a dictation is in progress.

Auto-fill prescriptions from your note (Medication Hero)

Wherever you build a prescription — encounter completion orders (Prescribing) or the standalone order flow (Standalone orders) — the Edit Medication dialog has an orange Auto-fill button (wand icon, tooltip Autofill using clinical context from your SOAP note). It sends the medication, your SOAP note, and patient context to Medication Hero, shows Loading..., and drafts the whole regimen. The same engine powers the F1 prescribe command (Voice assistant) and order extraction from faxes and inbox messages (Faxed orders, Inbox AI).

1. Document the plan first, then click Auto-fill. Auto-fill quality depends on what’s in your note. Run it after the plan is written and the fields are derived from your documentation; run it before documenting and you get defaults, not chart-derived values.
2. Review every filled field. It fills action, dose and dose units, route, frequency, duration, dispense quantity and units, and a recommended NDC, and it can set the PRN state — ticking As needed (PRN) and filling the reason field (As needed for... (e.g. pain, nausea, anxiety)). The regenerated sig preview mirrors exactly what the pharmacy will receive — read it the way the pharmacist will.
3. Read the warning banners. A Medication Hero warning amber banner lists any safety flags from the analysis; if key values couldn’t be determined you’ll see Some key information could not be determined, please check medication dosage and duration carefully. Controlled substances also show a PDMP status box — see Safety checks.
4. Controlled drugs stay structured. For Schedule II–V medications the Use Free Text Prescription toggle is disabled (“Free-text prescriptions are disabled for Schedule II-IV medications. Use the structured prescription fields instead.”), so AI suggestions land in discrete, reviewable fields — nothing hides in free text. Signing them uses EPCS.

Use AI in the Inbox: drafted replies & order extraction

Four Inbox surfaces carry an AI assist, and all of them follow one pattern: the model drafts, the draft lands in a composer or panel, and you edit and send. The click-by-click reply workflow lives in AI-assisted responses; this section maps where each control is, what each model reads, and what to check before sending.

1. Generate and pick a draft. On messages and results, an instruction gets you one tailored response and no instruction gets two alternatives, opening in the AI Suggested Responses modal as Response 1/Response 2 cards with a one-line rationale. On inquiries, the draft appears under AI Suggestions on the inquiry itself and a toast confirms Inquiry Hero drafted a response.
2. Edit, then send it yourself. Clicking a card drops it into the composer. Nothing is ever sent automatically — you press Send to Patient (messages and results) or Send Response (inquiries) after editing. A closed inquiry shows This inquiry is closed. Reopen it from the status dropdown to send a response.
3. Treat extracted orders as drafts. Extract orders parses your message into draft diagnoses, medications, labs, imaging, referrals, questionnaire orders, and a follow-up timeframe in collapsible panels with counts (for example 3 orders). It needs the thread linked to an encounter (This message is not linked to an encounter) and the message fully sent (Wait for the message to send before extracting orders); the drafts then go through the normal order review and safety checks — see Safety checks.

Reach Command Hero from the magic wand — hover, type, or click

The round magic-wand button at the bottom-right of every screen is more than the F1 voice trigger. Hover it (or tab into it) and a labelled menu rises above it — one row per action, each with its current shortcut printed on the right. Clicking the wand itself still starts and stops the voice assistant — the menu simply adds typed and click entry points to the same command engine, so you never have to speak to use it.

What the menu holds depends on your account — rows appear only when you have the matching access:

1. Type a command — F2. Press F2 (or click the Type a command row) and a small Type a command for Hero box opens just above the wand. Whatever you type runs through the same pipeline as the voice assistant — “order a CBC”, “prescribe amoxicillin 500 mg”, “message John Smith that his labs look fine” — and ends in the matching drafted order, prescription, or message for your review. Enter sends, Esc closes, and the dark status bar to the left of the wand shows Processing… and the result exactly as it does for voice. The footnote says it plainly: Same commands as the voice assistant · Enter to send · Esc to close.

   

2. Raw dictation — Ctrl+D. The microphone row records your exact words anywhere in the app, cleans them up with AI — punctuation, false starts, run-on sentences — and inserts the result at your cursor, in whatever field or note you were typing in when you started. A small Raw dictation panel tracks the run: Recording…, then Transcribing… and Improving transcription…. If the text has nowhere unambiguous to land — no field was focused, or the cleanup failed — the panel keeps it in an editable box with Copy text rather than dropping it somewhere you didn’t put your cursor. A dictation runs up to ten minutes (voice commands stop at 60 seconds), and it shares the one recorder with F1 and note dictation, so only one of the three can run at a time.
3. Create orders — Ctrl+O. The Create orders row (or Ctrl+O) opens the standard order-entry dialog, Create Orders, for medications, labs, imaging, screeners, and forms. With a patient chart open, that patient is already selected — the dialog carries their name in its title; with no patient in context it opens the patient search first, exactly like a voice-driven order. This action is hidden for staff roles.

   

4. Quick note — Ctrl+N (physicians only). The Quick note row (or Ctrl+N) opens the Quick note dialog: a rich-text editor with a Bold, Italic, Underline, and bulleted/numbered-list toolbar. Its subtitle spells out where the note goes — … files to the chart under a new notes-only encounter. As with orders, no patient in context opens the patient search first. Quick note is available to physicians only.

   

   

5. File it, and it is on the chart. Sign & file to chart creates the notes-only encounter, signs the note, and confirms with a green Quick note signed and filed to the chart. banner — filing is signing, with no separate step.