A small private dental practice reception in the morning, a receptionist on the phone, two patients in a bright waiting area

Every new-patient inquiry answered within the hour. Every overdue recall back on the schedule.

A small crew of AI agents takes the office work off your practice: the reply to every new-patient inquiry before they call the next practice on the list, the recall note to every patient who's overdue, and the unpaid claims, prior authorizations, and credentialing renewals nobody should have to carry in their head. Nothing clinical, all of it in your practice's voice, none of it sent until you say so, and your front desk gets to answer the phone.

Built for private dental, orthodontic, dermatology, physical therapy, and specialty practices of one to ten providers. Runs alongside Dentrix, Open Dental, Eaglesoft, and the practice software you already use.

Book a free 45-minute assessment

Why this exists

Most private practices run on the providers, a front desk of one or two, and an office manager who does billing, insurance, scheduling, and everything else. The provider treats patients and signs off on the rest between them. Every week the inbox and the voicemail fill with a new patient asking if you take their insurance, a patient asking about a bill, an insurer asking for records on a claim, a prior authorization that's been pending for nine days, a referral from another office, and the three hundred patients who are overdue for a recall and haven't been called because nobody has had an afternoon. Very few practices have the help the office needs: someone on the inquiries, someone on recalls, someone chasing the claims and the authorizations. The reason is the math, almost never effort. That kind of help is a salary, and reimbursement rates don't carry one.

A new patient fills in the website form on Saturday, hears back on Tuesday, and has already booked with the practice that called Monday. A patient overdue for a cleaning never gets the reminder and goes to the practice that sent one. A claim is denied for a missing code and sits in the denied pile for sixty days. A prior authorization expires before the procedure. A provider's credentialing lapses and the claims for a month get rejected. None of it is hard. There's just too much of it, and all of it waits for the office manager.

At some point we stopped thinking the answer was “find the overhead for one more front-desk hire” and started thinking there had to be a better way for a small practice to support its office. That's what Second Unit is.

It isn't for every practice. If you have a practice administrator, a dedicated billing person, and a patient coordinator, you don't need this. If you don't, and the same two people are running the front desk and the back office, we built this for you.

The new patient who filled in the form on Saturday booked with the practice that called Monday. They had your name from a friend. Nobody had the hour.

The same crew we run our own business on

Second Unit is built and run by Noettic Labs, a Los Angeles studio that builds with AI to solve real business problems. We build products that do real work, and we install crews that do it inside your business: the quotes, the follow-ups, the renewals, the records, the reports, the paperwork that keeps a company moving and keeps its best people from doing any of it.

The crew on this page is the system we use to run our own business. We sat down with the people doing the best work with agents, kept what held up under a real week, and wrote it into the job cards and rules every crew ships with. An install is that system, set up on your business, by hand, on a call.

Second Unit is one of several products from Noettic Labs. See what else we've built.

What we built for you

Job CardNew-Patient Desk
One Job
Job
Draft a reply to every new-patient inquiry and referral within the hour, in the practice’s voice, with the insurance answer and the next open appointment, and route the ones a person must see.
Reads
The practice inbox, the website form, your accepted-insurance list, your new-patient process, your open appointment windows.
Writes
A draft reply, a new-patient record with the intake link, a task for the front desk.
Never
Sends. Gives clinical advice or answers a symptom question. Quotes a fee that isn’t on your schedule. Confirms coverage it hasn’t verified.
Reports to
Your Second Unit Lead, in the daily status.
Checked by
You, before anything goes out.

Second Unit is a service. There's no software for you to learn. We install a small crew of AI agents in your own accounts, one job each, and train each one on how your practice works: your voice, your insurance list, your scheduling rules, your lines. A new-patient desk that drafts a reply to every inquiry and referral within the hour, with the insurance answer, the intake link, and the next open window, and routes anything clinical to a person. A recall and reactivation agent that drafts the reminder to every patient who's overdue, on your schedule, in your voice, and the reactivation note to patients who haven't been in for 18 months. A claims and authorization tracker that holds every unpaid claim, denial, prior authorization, and credentialing date in one record and drafts the follow-up before it's late. The crew works alongside Dentrix, Open Dental, Eaglesoft, athenahealth, or whatever you already run; that stays your system of record. Between them they take hours of office work off every week, and you approve every one before it goes out.

A word about AI, because in a practice the line is a legal one. These agents stay on the office side. They answer the inquiry, draft the reminder, and chase the claim. They never give clinical advice, never answer a symptom question, never discuss a diagnosis or a treatment in writing, and never see a chart. They work inside your own accounts under your business-associate agreement with your platform, and we help you confirm that before anything is installed. Every draft is read by a person at the practice before it leaves. The medicine stays with the providers.

The name comes from film. On a set, the second unit shoots everything that doesn't need the director: the establishing shots, the inserts, the driving scenes. The director keeps the scenes that need them. Same deal here. The agents take the replies, the reminders, and the dates. You keep the patients, the chair, and the care.

A medical practice back office after hours, an office manager at a desk with schedules and insurance forms
Monday morning, the recall list. Every patient who's overdue has a reminder drafted, in your voice, with the next open windows, and every patient who hasn't been in for 18 months has a short note. Your front desk reads, edits, and sends between calls.

Three jobs, one practice

Draft · not sent
ToMaria SantosSubjectRe: New patient, Delta Dental PPO

Hi Maria, thank you for reaching out, and welcome. Yes, we're in network with Delta Dental PPO, and we're taking new patients.

For a first visit we book an exam, x-rays, and a cleaning, about 90 minutes. We have Tuesday the 12th at 9:30 or Thursday the 14th at 2 open. Reply with the one that works and we'll hold it.

The new-patient forms are at the link below; filling them in ahead saves you about 15 minutes in the office. If you have a specific concern you'd like the doctor to look at first, just mention it when you book and we'll plan the time.

Warmly,
Ana, Front Desk, Harbor Family Dental

New-Patient Desk

Every new-patient inquiry from the website form, the practice inbox, or a referring office gets a drafted reply within the hour, in your voice, from your rules: which plans you take, what a first visit includes, what the next open windows are, where the intake forms live. It never answers a symptom question; those go to a person with a note to call. New patients who hear back the same day book.

Reads: the inbox, the form, your insurance list, your schedule. Writes: a draft, a new-patient record, a task. Never: sends, gives clinical advice, quotes a fee off the schedule, confirms coverage it hasn't verified.

Monday morning, in your drafts

Robert, time for your cleaning · two windows, one line
Alvarez family, three appointments · back to back, Saturday offered
Aetna, claim 4471 resubmitted · corrected code, note to Ana
Prior auth follow-up · reference number, deadline stated
Cigna credentialing · checklist, documents listed
1 claim paid, closed out
Five rows read, five drafts, one claim closed, nothing missed.
Recall and Reactivation

Every patient who's due or overdue gets a reminder on your schedule, in your voice, with the next open windows and the intake link if anything's changed, and a second note at 30 days if they haven't booked. Every patient who hasn't been in for 18 months gets a short reactivation note, no hard sell. It tells you every Monday how many were sent and how many booked. A practice's unfilled chair time is mostly patients nobody reminded, and the fix is a note that gets sent.

Reads: the recall list, the schedule. Writes: reminder drafts, a status per patient. Never: discusses treatment, promises a time the schedule can’t hold, sends.
Draft · 45 days unpaid
ToAetna Dental, Provider ServicesSubjectClaim 4471, resubmission with corrected procedure code

To whom it may concern,

Claim 4471 for date of service September 3 was denied on October 1 for a procedure code mismatch. The corrected claim is attached with the updated code and the clinical note the office manager approved.

Please confirm receipt and the expected adjudication date. Our reference is on the attached form, and the office can be reached at the number below.

Thank you,
Ana Reyes, Office Manager, Harbor Family Dental

Claims and Authorization Tracker

Every submitted claim, denial, prior authorization, and provider credentialing date goes into one record. The agent watches the dates and drafts the follow-up before it's late: the resubmission draft for a denial the day it lands, for the office manager to check and approve; the status request on any claim unpaid at 30 and 45 days; the prior-auth follow-up at day 7 with the procedure date stated; the credentialing checklist 60 days before a renewal. You stop finding out from the EOB, the patient, or a rejected month of claims.

Reads: the claims list, the denials, the calendar. Writes: the record, a reminder, a draft. Never: changes a code on its own, submits anything, sees a chart, sends.

Want a different agent first, or the whole crew at once? Appointment Confirmations, Review Desk, Referral Desk, and Marketing are all on the menu. Ask on the call.

Meet the crew

Each agent is set up for one job, the way you'd train a new front-desk hire in week one: the instructions for that job, the rules it works inside, the lines it never crosses, and nothing else. Your new-patient desk knows your insurance list. Your recall agent knows who's overdue. Your tracker knows every claim and every date.

Start with one. Add the next when you're ready. The Second Unit Lead comes with any setup and ties them together.

Needs youThe reply to Maria Santos about becoming a new patient
ApproveNot now
Done today17 tasks · 4 agents
Daily status sent, one thing waiting on youSecond Unit Lead
Drafted 8 new-patient replies, 1 clinical question routedNew-Patient Desk
42 recall reminders drafted, 6 booked from last weekRecall and Reactivation
Claim 4471 denial, resubmission drafted for reviewClaims and Authorization Tracker
  1. Second Unit LeadIncluded with any setup

    Your first agent. Runs the daily status, keeps your queue to one request at a time, and walks you through changes to the other agents so you never need us for a small tweak.

  2. New-Patient DeskLaunch agent

    Drafts a reply to every new-patient inquiry and referral within the hour, with the insurance answer, the intake link, and the next open window, and routes anything clinical to a person.

  3. Recall and ReactivationLaunch agent

    Drafts the reminder to every patient who’s overdue, on your schedule, and the reactivation note to patients who haven’t been in for 18 months.

  4. Claims and Authorization TrackerLaunch agent

    Keeps every unpaid claim, denial, prior authorization, and credentialing date in one record and drafts the follow-up before it’s late.

  5. Appointment ConfirmationsOn the menu

    The confirmation two days out, the day-before reminder, the reschedule draft when someone cancels, and the waitlist note when a slot opens.

  6. Review DeskOn the menu

    The review request the evening after a visit, a drafted reply to every review that stays inside the privacy rules, and the hard ones routed to you.

  7. Referral DeskOn the menu

    The thank-you to every referring office the day a referral comes in, the report back when the patient has been seen, and the quarterly note that keeps the relationship warm.

  8. MarketingOn the menu

    The patient newsletter, the new-service announcement, and the plain-English explainer for the question your front desk answers most, from your own words.

Once you say yes: what you get in the first week

Nothing is left for you to figure out. This is what we set up, and when.

  1. Day 1Installed and Running.

    Your Second Unit Lead and your New-Patient Desk are set up on your own accounts, interviewed on your voice, your insurance list, your scheduling rules, and your lines, and one real inquiry is answered before we end the call.

  2. Day 2The Inbox Stops Waiting on the Front Desk.

    Every new inquiry has a drafted reply within about an hour, with the insurance answer and two windows. Your front desk reads, edits if they like, and sends.

  3. Day 3First Check-in.

    We read the week's drafts together, note what you changed, and tighten the rules so the next ones need less of your hand.

  4. Day 7Your First Number.

    How many drafts went out untouched. It's the one figure we track from here, and it tells you whether this is giving your front desk back the phone.

Short-staffed the week we install? Your New-Patient Desk drafts every reply the hour it comes in, and your recall agent fills next month's chair time while your front desk covers the phones.

How it works

  1. Assessment.

    A free 45-minute call. We find the tasks that are eating your office's week and match them to the agent that can take them over.

  2. Install.

    Everything works from day one, and you don't set up a thing alone. We help you sign up for Grok Bot, and for Notion if you don't have it yet, both on your own accounts. Then, in one screen share, we install the agents, connect your email and calendar from your side, and run the interview that teaches them your voice, your insurance list, your scheduling rules, and your lines. We walk you through the whole thing and check every piece before we hand them off to you.

    Runs on
  3. Two Weeks of Tuning.

    We read the drafts with you every few days and tighten the agent until most go out with no edits. Then a monthly check-in, and the next agent setup when you want it.

  4. Most practices are running within a week of the assessment.

Everything that comes with a crew

One price, once. Beside each piece is what the same work costs when you buy it as a person's time. Rough US figures, so you can see what you're getting.

We start four new businesses a month.By hand, on a call, so each one gets the tune-up it needs.
What's in the BoxThe Three-Agent Crew
  1. The Assessment45 minutes with us to find the tasks eating your week and the agent for each.
    $250
  2. Install DayOne screen share. Agents installed in your own accounts, email and calendar connected from your side.
    about $1,200
  3. The InterviewYour voice, your prices, your rules, written into every agent before it drafts a word.
    about $600
  4. Three Launch AgentsNew-Patient Desk, Recall and Reactivation, Claims and Authorization Tracker. The same three jobs as hires.
    $5,000 to $12,500 a month
  5. Your Second Unit LeadDaily status, one request at a time, and the walkthrough for every small change.
    included
  6. Two Weeks of TuningWe read the drafts with you on days 3, 7, 10, and 14, and tighten the rules each time.
    about $1,000
  7. Job Cards and Rules, Yours to KeepEvery agent's instructions on paper, in your Notion, so the crew stays with you.
    about $500
Bought as people and consultants, the first month aloneabout $8,500 to $16,000
Your crew, once$2,500 to $6,000
Then about $50 a month in software, paid to Grok Bot and Notion.
The Tune-up Guarantee.

If most of your drafts aren't going out untouched by the end of the two-week tune-up, we keep tuning at no charge until they are.

What it costs

Priced to the size of your practice, and settled on the assessment call, not before. A single-provider practice sits at the low end of each range. A practice of ten providers sits at the high end.

Setup, per agentRange
One Agent, Set Up and Tuned
The assessment, the install, the interview, and two weeks of tuning.		$1,000 to $2,500
The Three Launch Agents Together
New-Patient Desk, Recall and Reactivation, Claims and Authorization Tracker.		$2,500 to $6,000
The Whole Crew
All eight agents, installed a week apart so each gets its tuning.		$6,500 to $16,000

Then Pick One of Two Paths

Ongoing Care

$100 to $750 a month per agent, scaled the same way. A monthly check-in, tuning as your practice changes, support when something's off, and the next agent when you want it. Ninety days minimum, then month to month with 30 days' notice.

Setup Only

No monthly fee. Your Second Unit Lead agent walks you through changes to the other agents yourself, and when you'd rather we did it, we're on call by the hour.

The assessment call is free, and there's nothing to decide until it's done. You pay for your own software: about $30 a month for Grok Bot and about $10 a month per seat for Notion, paid to them, not to us.

What the Same Help Costs as People

Rough US figures for hiring the equivalent, so you can see what you're getting. These are estimates.

If You Hired People$60,000 to $150,000a year
  • Front-desk coordinator$38,000 to $50,000 / yr
  • Patient coordinator and recalls$40,000 to $52,000 / yr
  • Insurance and billing coordinator$45,000 to $60,000 / yr
  • Outsourced billing service4% to 8% of collections
  • Office manager$55,000 to $75,000 / yr

Before payroll taxes, before benefits, and before they've learned how you like things done.

Your Second Unit Crew$2,500 to $6,000once, the three launch agents$6,500 to $16,000once, the whole crew
  • Works every day, including the week the front desk is out
  • Trained on your voice, your insurance list, your lines
  • About $50 a month in software, paid to Grok Bot and Notion
  • Ongoing care from $100 a month per agent, or setup only with support on call
  • Yours to keep. If we part ways, the crew stays with you

Three agents for about one month of one salary.

What the agents won't do

What changes

The new patient who filled in the form on Saturday has a reply in your drafts by Saturday, with the insurance answer and two windows. The 300 overdue recalls become reminders your front desk sends between calls, and the chair time fills. The denied claim gets its resubmission drafted the day it lands, not found in a pile at 60 days.

You still write the important emails. You just stop writing all of them.

Book a free 45-minute assessment Not ready? Read what the agents won't do and see exactly what they read, write, and never touch.
A dentist in a white coat at the reception desk talking with an older patient
Every overdue recall is a patient someone has to remind.