For dental practice owners · Back office

Turn office policies into a phone answer sheet

A one-page phone sheet built from your own policies, with spoken answers to routine questions and a clear list of what goes to a person.

By Aaron Byrne, KeenHand

The prompt

Paste it into ChatGPT, Claude or Gemini and fill in each part in [BRACKETS]. Office managers and the front desk team.

I run a dental practice. The front desk answers the same questions all day, and each person says it a little differently. I want a one-page answer sheet for the phone, built only from our own policies, that also makes clear which calls go to a person.

What I have:
- Our policies and notes, pasted as they are: [OUR POLICIES]
- The questions callers ask most, in their words: [COMMON QUESTIONS]
- Who handles insurance, billing, clinical questions and complaints: [WHO HANDLES WHAT]
- How we answer the phone: [OUR GREETING]

What I want:
1. Put our greeting at the top.
2. Match each common question to the policy that answers it, and write a one or two sentence answer the front desk can say out loud.
3. Mark any question my policies do not answer. Do not write an answer for it.
4. Add a section called 'Goes to a person' for pain or swelling, anything about treatment or medicine, insurance coverage, a bill and a complaint, each with who takes it and the exact words to hand it off.

Rules:
- Write a draft for me to read. Do not send anything.
- Use only what I gave you. If something is missing, ask me instead of guessing.
- Never quote a price, promise an opening or claim anything I did not give you.
- Leave out anything about a patient's health, treatment or history. Write no answer that gives advice about teeth, pain or medicine.

Give me back:
- The answer sheet, short enough for one printed page
- The questions my policies do not answer yet

When to use it

The same questions come in all day, about hours, parking, new patients, forms and cancellations, and each person answers a little differently.

When not to

Do not use it to write answers about pain, treatment, medicine, insurance coverage or a patient's bill. Those stay on the 'goes to a person' list.

What to paste in

[OUR POLICIES]: Your written policies and notes: hours, new patients, forms, cancellations, parking, payment at checkout. No patient information.
[COMMON QUESTIONS]: The ten or so questions callers ask most, the way they ask them.
[WHO HANDLES WHAT]: Which role takes insurance, billing, clinical and complaint calls, and how the front desk reaches them.
[OUR GREETING]: How the phone is answered now, or how you want it answered.

Never paste

Patient names, birth dates, phone numbers or insurance IDs
Call logs or voicemails
Anything about a patient's health, treatment or history

A filled-in example

Sample. Fictional business, fictional client.

OUR POLICIES: Open Monday to Thursday 7:30 to 5, Friday 7:30 to 1. Taking new patients. New patient forms are online and due 24 hours before. One business day notice to change a visit. The patient's part is due at checkout. Free parking behind the building.
COMMON QUESTIONS: Are you open Fridays? Are you taking new patients? Do I have to fill out forms ahead? Can my kids come in at the same time? What if I need to cancel? Where do I park? Is this covered by my insurance?
WHO HANDLES WHAT: Insurance coordinator for coverage. Office manager for bills and complaints. Pain or anything about treatment goes to the assistant on duty, who checks with the dentist.
OUR GREETING: Good morning, thank you for calling, this is (first name). How can I help?

What you should get back

A one-page sheet with your greeting and short spoken answers to routine questions
A 'Goes to a person' section with who takes each call and the words to hand it off
A list of questions your policies do not answer yet
No advice about teeth, pain or medicine anywhere

What stays with you

The prompt writes a draft. You decide what happens to it, and nothing should reach a patient until you have read it. Decisions about money stay with a person every time, and so do health questions and complaints. When KeenHand builds a routine like this, every message carries the same four decisions: Automate, Approve, Revise, Reject.

Plan a new front desk hire's first week. A day-by-day first week for a new front desk hire, built from your own routines, with your privacy rules on day one and a list of what goes to a person.
Answer a new patient inquiry with how to book. A reply to a new patient's message with how to book and what to bring, while insurance and health questions wait for a person.
Turn a cost question into a booked visit. A short phone script for the 'how much will this cost' call that explains how fees are set and offers a first visit, without quoting a number.

More: every prompt for dental practices, back office, and AI for dental practices.

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