How Ask CORAL AI Works

CORAL moves through five stages: Reef Health diagnoses, Ask CORAL AI helps you understand, the Practice Playbook implements, KPIs and calculators measure, and Team Bonus System aligns the team. Ask CORAL AI is the Understand stage — it turns what the other systems produce into explanations you can act on.

A general question — “How can I improve profitability?” — is answered from CORAL methodology. When you're signed in and a CORAL result is available to you, such as a Reef Health result or, on the CORAL Suite, a Team Bonus System month, Ask CORAL AI can answer about that specific result instead. It keeps general questions general, even while a result is open.

Every figure in an answer belongs to one of five kinds, and Ask CORAL AI keeps them apart:

Practice-reported

Figures your practice entered, such as collections or Operating Profit. CORAL uses them as entered; it does not audit them.

Doctor/Owner policy

Choices the practice made, such as its Team Compensation Guardrail or Minimum Operating Margin. These are decisions, not findings.

CORAL-calculated

Results a CORAL system produced — for example the Team Bonus System pool from PS-01. Ask CORAL AI repeats them; it never recalculates them.

CORAL interpretation

Ask CORAL AI's explanation of what those results mean and how they relate to each other.

Worth reviewing

Items that deserve a second look before relying on a result — prompts to check, not conclusions.

PS-01 calculates every Team Bonus System figure. Ask CORAL AI reads those figures and explains them; it cannot change them, and it will decline requests to adjust inputs, classifications or guardrails just to reach a different pool. For legitimate "what if" planning, it points you to Team Bonus System scenarios, which use the real PS-01 rules without saving anything.

A result can show that collections moved or that profit was tighter — not why. If CORAL hasn't been given procedure mix, receivables, scheduling or overhead detail, Ask CORAL AI says so rather than guessing, and it treats your reported figures as reported, not verified.

Ask CORAL AI names what's missing and suggests where it would come from — a CORAL calculator, a Reef Health assessment, or a question for your CPA or office manager. When a result can't be produced yet, it explains which inputs are still needed.

Where it helps, answers link to the relevant CORAL resource — for example the Practice Playbook for staffing and operating systems, the Dental Practice KPIs for practice-wide measures, or the Reef Health Diagnostic for a whole-practice read.

• “What does Operating Remainder tell me?”
• “How do collections and team labor cost relate?”
• “What did my Reef Health result say about scheduling?”
• “Why is this month's team bonus pool what it is?”
• “What should I review before relying on this month?”
• “Which of these should I take to my CPA?”

• Doctor/Owner. Sets policy — guardrails, participation, eligibility — and decides what to act on.
• Office Manager. Confirms hours, roles, eligibility records and day-to-day workflow context.
• CPA / bookkeeper. Confirms Operating Profit, payroll taxes, benefits and how provider compensation is classified.
• CORAL. CORAL systems calculate; Ask CORAL AI explains the results and points out what deserves review.

Ask CORAL AI is practice guidance, not clinical, legal, tax or employment advice. Please don't share patient details with it.