There’s no such thing as the perfect healthcare practice as there’s always room for improvement. This is why the very best healthcare practices are constantly looking to innovate and enhance their productivity. After all, the more productive you are, the more efficient your patient care is. And when you consider that patients spend up to $4.5 trillion per year on healthcare, you want to keep them happy. So, how do you stand out? It’s simple, you hire a healthcare virtual assistant.
The Essentials of Virtual Assistants
A healthcare virtual assistant is one of the many virtual assistants which now make up an exciting, modern staffing solution. And they can seriously increase the fortunes of your healthcare practice.
First making headlines around 15 years ago, virtual assistants are rapidly becoming popular with businesses across nearly every industry. In particular, the role of a healthcare virtual assistant is becoming more and more popular, with the market estimated to be worth $3.125 billion by 2028. Their major breakthrough came during the pandemic, when remote working became the norm for many employees. This shift had a lasting impact, with employers keen to keep remote work practices in place.
Before this shift, the idea of a virtual assistant was hard to imagine. Although broadband internet was available, the speed and bandwidth were not sufficient for processing large amounts of data. Fortunately, advancements in internet technology have provided powerful, reliable connections that allow significant data processing through home internet. Videoconferencing and audio calls via VoIP services are now free of buffering, and large files can be accessed almost instantly.
The technological foundations put in place by this setup enables a virtual healthcare assistant to work remotely, needing only a PC and a high-speed internet connection. All they need from their client is a set of login credentials to connect directly to their IT infrastructure. This allows the virtual healthcare assistant to access applications, communication systems, emails, and databases. For all intents and purposes, it’s as if the virtual healthcare assistant is sitting in your practice, but without taking up any physical space.
The Game Changing Benefits of a Virtual Assistant
When you hire a healthcare virtual assistant, you open your practice up to a wide range of benefits associated with virtual assistants. In-house assistants, of course, are fantastic and provide you with an effective set of services but, as we’ve already stated, there’s always room for improvement. And virtual assistants come pre-loaded with the following benefits:
Cost Reduction:
As a healthcare virtual assistant is a remote worker, you stand to save your business up to $11,000 per employee annually. This cost reduction comes from not needing to supply IT equipment, vacation pay, pension contributions, or sickness pay to virtual assistants employed through a virtual assistant agency. In total, it’s estimated that you could save up to 78% in operating costs by partnering with a healthcare virtual assistant.
Round-the-Clock Availability:
A remote receptionist can be located anywhere, even in a different time zone, providing 24/7 coverage for your patients. For example, if you hire a healthcare virtual assistant, they could be based in the Philippines, a region well known for its industrious healthcare virtual assistants. This continuous availability is crucial in healthcare, ensuring your patients’ needs are met at all hours.
Access to Global Talent:
The problem with relying on local talent is that you’ll inevitably be restricted to the skills available. But when you take your search global, with a healthcare virtual assistant, you suddenly get access to much more diversity. This increases your chances of securing specialist skills and enriches your team with varied perspectives.
Increased Efficiency:
The healthcare industry is currently suffering from a burnout epidemic, and this is affecting the efficiency of many healthcare practices. Much of this burnout can be contributed to the overwhelming administrative tasks faced by healthcare workers. However, by bringing in a healthcare virtual assistant, your core team can delegate their administrative backlog and focus directly on patient care, enhancing your overall efficiency.
Unmatched Flexibility:
One of the major benefits of virtual assistants is their flexibility, essential for any fast-paced industry. Thanks to their contractual flexibility, a healthcare virtual assistant will always be available to meet your specific needs. Whether you need their assistants for a few hours a day or sporadically throughout the week, you can rest assured that a healthcare virtual assistant will be available.
What Can a Healthcare Virtual Assistant Bring to Your Practice?
The big picture benefits of a healthcare virtual assistant are undeniable, but what they can do for your practice on a day-to-day basis? How can they fit into your operations and begin making headway with your productivity? The good news is that they can do almost everything a traditional, in-house assistant does. The only difference is that, thanks to their vast experience and training, they do it more effectively.
The typical tasks which a healthcare virtual assistant can take on with ease are:
Appointment Scheduling:
Your practice relies on accurate and efficient appointment scheduling, so it pays to have a professional in charge of this. A healthcare virtual assistant can manage your appointment scheduling by taking incoming calls, booking appointments, sending reminders to patients, and rearranging cancelled appointments. This reduces administrative workload, minimizes missed appointments, and ensures your patients get to see their healthcare professional.
Processing Medical Bills:
Many healthcare businesses are struggling under the weight of medical billing requirements. The complexity and time take to process medical bills correctly puts a huge administrative strain on your staff. But this is where a healthcare virtual assistant can step in to make the difference. They can generate invoices, submit insurance claims, and follow up on unpaid claims. This reduces the workload of your healthcare professionals, improves the financial health of your practice, and keeps it running efficiently.
Patient Record Management:
Accurate record management in the EHR is crucial for providing high quality patient care. Organizing and updating this data, however, is time consuming for physicians. This leads to longer hours and increased risk of burnout. So, to enhance productivity and protect the health of your staff, why not turn to a healthcare virtual assistant? From ensuring that all medical histories, test results, and treatment plans are accurately documented, a healthcare virtual assistant can skillfully update your records.
Telemedicine Support:
Even though the pandemic has ended, the world of telemedicine is here to stay. But telemedicine systems are still far from perfect, with many technical faults leading to cancelled appointments and frustration for both patients and providers. Thankfully, the IT expertise of a healthcare virtual assistant eliminates this negativity. They can field technical faults, talk patients through the login procedure, and ensure physicians know when patients are in the digital waiting room.
Insurance Verification:
Verifying patient insurance coverage before appointments can easily be taken care of by a healthcare virtual assistant. This ensures patients are aware of their coverage, reduces future billing issues, and streamlines the check-in process. Your organization is, therefore, confident that there will be no financial issues down the line, and your patient’s anxiety levels over insufficient coverage is suitably reduced.
Email Management:
Email remains important in healthcare, but it doesn’t come without its challenges. The sheer number of emails arriving each day can quickly overwhelm a team, and important information may be missed when time is of the essence. Luckily, a healthcare virtual assistant can take control of your inbox by dedicating their time to managing it. They can forward emails where necessary, remove junk emails, and create categories to help organize your emails effectively.
General Administrative Support:
Healthcare practices are busy environments and administrative tasks can quickly stack up. A healthcare virtual assistant can come in to take on these tasks such as formatting letters to patients, handling referrals, and updating practice policies. This allows your healthcare team to focus more on patient care and complete the work that only they can do. As a result, your patients receive the care they deserve, and your practice runs like a well-oiled machine.
Prescription Management:
Patients rely on their prescriptions and expect them to be issued in a timely manner. The impact of an overworked team, though, means that prescriptions and refills can often be held up. A virtual assistant in healthcare can solve this dilemma by efficiently managing prescriptions. They can manage prescription refills, send prescriptions to pharmacies, and handle incoming patient inquiries about their medications. This ensures your practice adheres to medication regulations and enhances patient outcomes.
Patient Communication:
One of the cornerstones of excellent healthcare, patient communication should always be one of your priorities. A healthcare virtual assistant can make this a reality by answering queries, providing test results, and offering pre and post-appointment instructions. They ensure patients receive timely and accurate information, enhancing patient satisfaction and allowing healthcare providers to focus on clinical care.
It’s Time for a Virtual Assistant in Healthcare
It’s clear that the impact of a healthcare virtual assistant is significant. A virtual assistant in healthcare represents a game changer, and it’s a business decision you need to make sooner rather than later. There’s just one big question: where do you find a healthcare virtual assistant?
The Philippines is a hotbed of virtual assistant talent, with a proud heritage of hard-working characteristics which are prized the world over. These are the individuals who you want to bring into your healthcare practice, especially when you take into account the global reputation of Filipino healthcare workers.
But how do you reach out to a set of virtual assistants on the other side of the world? Well, it’s easy, and you’re already in the right place. Hello Rache has been working in the virtual assistant industry for several years and has an extensive set of contacts. This allows us to handpick the perfect Filipino healthcare virtual assistant for your practice.
Best of all, if you need a virtual assistant in healthcare, we can provide one to you at a flat rate of $9.50 per hour. This is the most competitive rate in the industry and comes with no hidden extras. There are no contracts, no setup fees, and you can cancel at any time. Your organization has the opportunity to work with the same person every day, tracking software allows you to monitor performance, and a dedicated account manager is always on hand to assist you.
Transforming your healthcare practice operations is simple and affordable. Discover what Hello Rache can do for you and your practice by clicking here and starting a conversation.
