Introduction
In the past few decades especially since Covid rocked the shores of every continent in the world, the entire medical practice has experienced a shift in the mode of discharging healthcare. The pandemic truly emphasized the need to upgrade medical practices to a more virtual system to grow medical practices. Benefits Hiring medical virtual assistant services is key to effectively running medical offices while minimizing cost, saving time, and increasing the efficiency of administrative tasks.
Medical virtual assistants are the real deal when it comes down to automating tasks for medical offices; however, there’s the big question of how to figure out the right virtual healthcare assistant with the experience that matches your medical practice.
If you are new to working with a medical virtual assistant, figuring out how to integrate your administration tasks with your virtual assistant can be a bit of a hassle at first. As a great team player, you need to understand how you conduct your procedures properly to train a virtual assistant to take over your administrative tasks full-time or part-time.
Medical virtual assistants (VAs) can perform a wide range of tasks to support medical practices and healthcare providers.
- Administrative tasks: Medical VAs can handle administrative tasks such as scheduling appointments, managing patient records, and handling correspondence. They can also assist with tasks such as data entry, record keeping, and managing electronic health records (EHRs).
- Medical billing and coding: Medical VAs can assist with medical billing and coding tasks, which can be complex and time-consuming. This includes tasks such as submitting claims, tracking payments, and handling denials and appeals.
- Clinical support: Medical VAs with clinical experience can provide clinical support, such as triaging patient calls, taking medical histories, and assisting with medication management. They can also assist with tasks such as patient education and outreach.
- Marketing and social media: Medical VAs can assist with marketing and social media tasks, such as creating and managing social media accounts, developing marketing campaigns, and writing blog posts or articles.
- Research: Medical VAs can assist with research tasks, such as conducting literature reviews, collecting and analyzing data, and assisting with clinical trials or research studies.
- Customer service: Medical VAs can provide customer service and support, such as answering patient questions, handling complaints or issues, and providing support to patients and their families.
Here are some things you should consider before proceeding to hire a full or Part-time Healthcare Virtual Assistant
1. Create a list of administrative tasks for your medical practice.
Many medical practices get this wrong and end up running in circles. Before deciding to hire medical or healthcare virtual assistants, you need to sit back and evaluate your administrative task procedures from top to bottom. Categorize the administrative tasks only you can perform, tasks that can be automated, and areas that require meticulous care. Doing this will give you more insights into areas of your practice that require more attention and parts you don’t need.
2. Prioritize your task list & set a frequency for recurring tasks in your medical office.
Once your final task list is updated, organize your tasks in order of priority.
When you clearly define the priority of your tasks, your new medical virtual assistant will be able to hit deadlines and avoid being overwhelmed. If some tasks have known deadlines, note them down so your medical virtual assistant can put priority on them and manage time more efficiently.
If scheduled tasks are ongoing, whether daily, weekly, or monthly, clearly define your expectations, frequency, and expected time for completing each task. This helps virtual assistants to understand your practice better and arrange the calendar orderly.
3. Create systems in your medical practice
Systems are integral parts of a medical practice’s administration. Systems define the flow of your administrative tasks and provide a clear overview of every step taken to process a task. Many medical practitioner fail to create systems before reaching out to virtual medical assistants, and this causes them to work back and forth with frustration trying to teach the VA. It’s best to set up systems beforehand to make training your virtual assistant shorter and less stressful.
4. Conduct your research before hiring based on 1 & 2
Never be in a rush to hire a medical virtual assistant. Take your time to explore your options, and contact multiple medical virtual assistants to understand their prices, attributes, packages, and, more importantly, their personality. Bringing in a new person to your medical practice is a big step, so ensure you have the right fit. Please don’t shy away from asking for interviews and bombard them with questions!
5. Create a contact list for your medical office team.
Having a reliable communication system is essential when working with your virtual assistant. Medical virtual assistants work remotely and can utilize smartphones, tablets, computers, different software, and messaging apps to improve the flow of communication in your medical office.
Determine your preferred method of communicating with your medical virtual assistant, whether regular calls, emails, social media, video calls, or text messages.
Decide which members of your medical practice team need to be in contact with your virtual assistant and create a contact list. Additionally, list their preferred method of communication.
6. Retrieve your login information and passwords
Have your login credentials ready for your medical virtual assistant if you need your VA to access your social media accounts, emails, or administrative software. With two-factor authentication becoming more reliable in account security, be ready to assist your medical virtual assistant in verifying the login when the time comes.
7. Prepare for your first call and training
You’re right on track if you’ve prepped to this level. Once all the prerequisites have been ticked, you’re ready for your first call with your medical virtual assistant. Try to make out free time to pin your focus and be able to follow up on any scheduled training sessions. Training sessions are essential to familiarize your virtual assistant with your team’s internal processes and software. This can be done over video calls where you share your screen and give instructions on different processes.
Being prepared up front will set you and your virtual assistant on the right track from the start to success in your practice.
8. Understand that it’s a team effort and might not work the first time.
It is essential to understand that the person you’re hiring is also letting you into their business. If you want your practice to progress, you need to be aware of their expectations, just as you have set out your goals. As a great team player, patience is key to moving forward with your VA, lead your team with humility and authority, and your expectations will fall into place.
Conclusion
Although medical virtual assistant services can make managing your practice much easier, hiring a virtual assistant is not always the case. It might not work the first time you try but don’t give up if it doesn’t because of one bad experience. Many people find the right fit after a few tries and quickly they become integral team members.