Specialists and super-specialists have studied hard to obtain their qualifications. But when you move into private medical healthcare, and start to build up your practice, you will find assorted challenges.
The realities of running a business soon come to the fore. Most of this relates to the mountain of administrative tasks that builds up. You need help – so think about hiring a virtual medical assistant.
A virtual medical assistant will make light of the heavy workload, and get you back on track, helping to make your practice run smoothly.
What a virtual medical assistant can do
Especially when the practice is small, or in its early stages, a doctor may not have the need for a full-time onsite employee, never mind the funds to pay for one.
The benefit of hiring a virtual medical assistant is not limited to a small practice – larger, more established medical rooms can also benefit by lightening the admin workload.
The virtual assistant will conduct their work remotely, and the tasks delegated to them can vary. Below are some of the key virtual assistant duties: taking phone calls, email inbox management, handling appointments, invoicing, and billing, sustaining patient database, social media management, back-office support, and insurance pre-certification and verification.
In many cases, the admin team is the patient’s first point of contact – the efficiency of the admin team can influence the practice and the doctor’s reputation.
Weakness in this part of the business can also hurt the physician’s name. But a virtual assistant can benefit the practice in various ways.
Time-saving
Dividing your time can be difficult, especially if, as a specialist, you have more than one consulting room. Being at various places while seeing that the admin is up to date simply does not work.
Moreover, it is cheaper to hire a virtual assistant to conduct the admin work for a doctor’s practice. The doctor can then better allocate the time.
Such includes giving more time to the patients and having more time to attend medical conferences.
How the virtual medical assistant can save time
A virtual assistant can gather all the patients’ details, ensuring that they are current. They can also have the patients complete questionnaires, filling in family medical history, which the doctor can use.
Also, if any blood tests have been done, the remote assistant can gather the information and add it to the patient’s file.
The virtual assistant will not only save the doctor’s time but also that of the onsite team. If the practice has an onsite team, the remote assistant can help to complete the repetitive and time-consuming work, such as data entry.
The virtual assistant will also help with tasks the core team lacks. For example, the virtual assistant can maintain the website of the practice; manage the social media channels, optimizing these to increase the chances of more people becoming aware of the practice.
Saves money
As mentioned before, a virtual assistant costs less than an onsite employee. This is because the additional employee costs, such as benefits, bonuses, insurance, and adding an additional workspace, are not applicable.
If the need for the virtual assistant expires, the doctor is not compelled to keep the assistant.
Therefore, the doctor will not waste funds on someone when there is no work for them. Additionally, as the practice saves money and is efficiently run, the doctor can expand, opening more medical rooms at other hospitals or outside the hospital.
This means that the doctor will be able to onboard locum doctors to work for the practice. The doctor will not just be saving money but will be making more money.
Increase productivity
Just as entrepreneurs have found, virtual assistants are a game-changer. A virtual assistant not only helps to save money, being a cheaper staffing solution, but such a person also helps to supercharge productivity.
More than merely augmenting productivity, the quality of the service can improve because the work does not build up. Emails are answered. Calls are answered. Billing is kept current, and outstanding payments are under control.
The result is that the patients will experience greater customer satisfaction, which will also elevate the reputation of the practice and the doctor.
How a virtual assistant can boost productivity
Virtual medical assistants that are hired are skilled at what they do. They are hired based on the needs of the practice, which means that they might need to have some prior knowledge of working with a medical practice.
In addition, they can take over the time-consuming tasks so the onsite team can focus on more high-level work.
Increase customer relations
More than 50% of the patients will experience a doctor or specialist shared with his or her team. If the admin is disorganized, or there are double-booked appointments, keeping the patient waiting, the patient’s experience will sour.
It is, therefore, key to ensure that such problems are avoided so that the practice can run smoothly and the patients experience a welcoming and pleasant time. Moreover, the doctor will have more time which may be critical for the patient, spending less with the admin team.
How a virtual medical assistant can boost customer relations
With the admin tasks running smoothly, there will be fewer negative issues. The doctor will not have to worry about tasks being completed − he or she can focus solely on the patients.
Additionally, the virtual assistant can manage the online reviews to help to assist with the public relations of the practice. The virtual assistant can also send out additional information to patients based on the instructions of the doctor.
A remote assistant can compile and send out newsletters, providing pre-approved information that can be useful to the patients.
Hiring highly qualified staff and flexibility
When doctors hire a virtual assistant, they hire someone skilled at completing their tasks. The outsourcing service will screen applications and eliminate unsuitable candidates so as to present only the top applications.
Moreover, virtual assistants are known to be more focused and are not subject to typical workplace politics and bad behavior. Moreover, a virtual assistant offers the doctor flexibility in the practice. Needs can change, and the success of the practice may be subject to vicissitudes.
How a virtual assistant can add flexibility
A virtual assistant is not normally hired over the long term. Rather, a remote assistant will be hired to complete work that has become excessive. If there is a downturn, the business can offboard the assistant; or the business might have special needs for a set period.
For example, the doctor might want to get the word out about a new practice and might decide to have a website. The doctor can therefore hire a virtual website developer to create a website that is optimized. The doctor might then need a social media assistant for a set period.
Also, if an onsite worker is on maternity leave, the worker can be temporarily replaced by a virtual assistant.
Time to take your practice to the next level
Boost your productivity, increase your profits, and ease the stress on yourself and your onsite team.
All you need to do is to hire a virtual medical assistant. You might have some questions before you hire such a virtual assistant.
We encourage you to book a complimentary call with our outsourcing expert. Our outsourcing expert will be able to provide you with the answers you are looking for, helping you to make the onboarding of a virtual assistant easy.
Don’t delay. Book your call now.