A virtual medical assistant can help your practice in many ways. They can save time and money, keep your office organized, and help you stay connected with patients. Here are some of the ways a remote medical assistant can make your life easier:
What is a Virtual Medical Assistant?
A virtual medical assistant (VMA) is a remote employee who works from home and helps you run your business.
Virtual medical assistants can be hired on an hourly or contract basis and are often used to fill in for full-time employees on leave, dealing with an illness, or otherwise unavailable.
The Services Provided by VMs Include:
- Data entry
- Administrative tasks such as scheduling appointments, answering phones and email inquiries, filing paperwork, and other administrative duties keep a practice running smoothly.
What are Two Types of Medical Assistants?
There are two main types of remote medical assistants: clinical medical assistants and administrative medical assistants.
Both types of medical assistants play a crucial role in the healthcare system.
In contrast, clinical medical assistants are more hands-on with patients, and administrative medical assistants are more behind the scenes but are also crucial in ensuring that the medical office runs smoothly and efficiently.
1. Clinical Medical Assistants:
These medical assistants work directly with patients and perform tasks such as taking vital signs, preparing patients for exams, administering medications, drawing blood, and performing basic laboratory tests.
They also assist physicians and other healthcare professionals during exams and procedures.
Also, they must know basic medical techniques and be able to serve them with precision and accuracy.
2. Administrative Medical Assistants:
These medical assistants handle the administrative tasks of a medical office or clinic.
They may be responsible for scheduling appointments, billing, coding, maintaining patient records, and answering phones.
They may also order supplies, manage the front desk, and do other office-related tasks.
Also, they should know medical terminology and be proficient in computer applications and programs.
Virtual Medical Assistants Can Save You Money
While hiring a full-time staff member or outsourcing your administrative tasks may be tempting, this can be expensive.
A virtual assistant can help you reduce the cost of hiring full-time staff by handling various administrative jobs part-time.
For example, an office manager who works 40 hours per week and makes $50 an hour adds up to a $2,000 monthly salary alone (not including benefits).
If you hire an assistant for 20 hours per week at $25 per hour instead – and she does all the same things as your full-time employee – she’ll save you about $1,300 each month!
Now, imagine if she gets sick or goes on vacation one day. Or what happens when she has children?
Suddenly, she needs maternity leave, and another chunk is out of your budget because no one knows how things work here!
Virtual Medical Assistants Can Help Your Practice Stay Organized and Efficient
As a medical assistant, you are undoubtedly familiar with daily tasks that keep your practice running smoothly.
But what about those projects that don’t fall into your job description?
Virtual assistants can help organize patient records and schedule appointments, answer phones, manage billing and insurance claims – and even follow up on new patients after they’ve left their first visit.
They’re also great at keeping up with the latest technology so your office can stay up-to-date on software or hardware upgrades without hiring additional staff.
A Virtual Medical Assistant can Help You Stay in Touch with Patients Online.
Virtual assistants can be available almost 24/7, answering your questions anytime or at night.
They also have access to social media platforms like Facebook and Twitter, which means they can respond to patients’ comments or questions on the fly.
Suppose a patient has a question about their appointment date or location.
In that case, a virtual assistant can get back to them quickly – and if there’s an emergency that requires immediate attention (like someone calling 911), this is even more important!
In addition to handling basic customer service tasks like responding via text message or email, some virtual assistants will schedule appointments for you and follow up with past clients who haven’t seen you yet but may need medical care soon (for example, postpartum women).
This way, there will always be someone available 24/7 who knows precisely what needs to be done next and where all those files are kept!
Medical Practices Benefit From Assistants
A medical practice can benefit greatly from having an assistant who can help with administrative tasks and patient engagement.
Administrative Tasks:
You need to finish these things but don’t have time for them.
Examples include updating your website or Facebook page, responding to patient emails, scheduling appointments, receiving insurance payments (medical billing), organizing files/paperwork, and other office management duties.
Patient Engagement:
This is about communicating with your patients on their terms rather than just expecting them to come into your office when it’s convenient for you or handing out pamphlets at events like fairs or festivals where there may be thousands of people looking at things besides those pamphlets (which they probably won’t read anyway).
The Bottom Line: Medical Assistant and Why a Practice Needs One
It’s important to note that while a virtual assistant can be a great way to save time and money and stay organized, it is no replacement for having an actual medical assistant on staff.
It might be worth considering hiring one if you are looking for ways to increase efficiency or reduce costs in your practice.
3 Key Takeaways
Here are the three key takeaways from this article on virtual medical assistants for medical practices:
Virtual medical assistants can save money and improve efficiency: The article highlights that virtual medical assistants can handle various administrative tasks, such as scheduling appointments, managing records, and communicating, at a lower cost than hiring a full-time staff member. This frees up time for medical professionals to focus on patient care.
Virtual medical assistants improve organization and patient engagement: Virtual medical assistants can help organize patient records, manage billing and insurance claims, and even follow up with patients. They can also be available around the clock to answer patient inquiries online, improving overall patient communication and engagement.
Virtual medical assistants are not a replacement for in-house medical assistants: The article clarifies that virtual medical assistants are best suited for administrative tasks and patient communication. They cannot perform clinical duties typically handled by in-house medical assistants.