360 Virtual Medical Assistant & VMeDx: Who Wins?
Technology and innovation stand at the forefront of every industry in our day and age. The healthcare industry in particular is an advocate for innovation. Hospitals, medical organizations, and private practitioners need innovation and progress to improve their practice for themselves. One of the innovative developments embraced by the medical industry is the emergence of virtual medical assistants.
Virtual assistants are revolutionizing how medical professionals conduct their practice, especially in the digital space. They oversee various operations, administrative tasks, and other services to make the lives of doctors and other healthcare professionals easier. Not only that, but they also ensure the patient’s welfare, as well as make their protected healthcare information secure.
What is a 360 Virtual Medical Assistant?
A 360 Virtual Medical Assistant is your trusted healthcare partner in everything from clinical to non-clinical tasks. These 360 Virtual Medical Assistants are registered nurses and highly trained medical professionals. They are your indispensable assets that enhance patient care, streamline administrative tasks, and elevate the overall efficiency within your organization.
In a nutshell, virtual assistants allow you to focus solely on your medical practice while they handle the other tasks that keep your operation running. They are the unsung heroes that provide you with advanced virtual assistance and unwavering administrative and clinical support so that you can work properly and efficiently and your patients are safe and content.
Our virtual assistants are selected carefully. We only select those who are experienced and trained in the medical field. Despite this, they continue to undergo a comprehensive training process. They are taught the latest innovations and updates in practice and compliance rules so that they are confident and skilled enough to handle your every need.
Features of Virtual Medical Assistants
Virtual assistants are responsible for transforming doctor’s lives regularly. They remove burden off of you by doing all-around work. They can be a medical transcriptionist. They can also be medical coders, appointment generators, administrative assistants and so much more. They weave through the complex tapestry of healthcare and weave together various tasks for the sake of safety and efficiency.
That’s just a few examples, though. In the spirit of all-around work, here are some of the things a virtual assistant does on a day-to-day basis.
Administrative tasks
Administrative tasks are among the many features of making use of virtual assistance. They’re capable of handling tasks such as account management, handling your schedule, data entry, email management, and more. They can handle anything administrative and business-related outside of actual patient care, which you can then solely focus on.
One example of these administrative tasks is medical record handling. Your virtual assistant can assist in retrieving a patient’s medical record and health information so that you can have access to that quickly during consultations. On top of that, they can also create clinical documentation of patient encounters and update their healthcare records if it is necessary. All the while, they ensure to protect the patient’s healthcare information while making it easy for you, the medical practitioner, to access them.
Patient engagement
Patient engagement is highly important in your practice. However, this can also be incredibly time-consuming. Thankfully, patient engagement is one of the specialties of virtual assistants. They are trained and equipped to handle patient communication. They can manage customer service, patient registrations, account management, follow-ups, and more. Consider your virtual assistant as your liaison with your patrons.
Your virtual assistant can become your own prior authorization specialist and interview the appointees before they even visit your clinic. This ensures the ones that visit you are suitable with your practices and you are well equipped to look after them.
Another aspect of this is feedback and surveys. One of the best ways to elevate your practice is to listen to feedback from the customers who keep it running. Your virtual assistant can expedite surveys and feedback. They can regularly conduct surveys and ask them how they want your services to improve, or whether or not they enjoy and feel comfortable having you as their medical practitioner.
Appointment management
A virtual assistant can handle patient appointments. They can manage appointment waitlists, in-clinic check-ups, and telehealth appointments. This is one of the ways a virtual assistant can handle your schedule. They oversee the people that visit and leave your clinic, and even setup appointment rescheduling. They can also send automated appointment reminders to a patient in case they forget their appointment dates.
Insurance verification
Virtual assistants can also function as insurance verification specialists for you. This is a part of your practice which can be undeniably taxing. The virtual assistant can solve this problem for you. They will verify a patient’s insurance account information. They will make billing processes streamlined and minimize discrepancies.
Prescription refill assistance
While it is you who personally prescribes a patient’s prescription, you can have your virtual assistant facilitate prescription refills. They can coordinate with pharmacies and other providers so that your customers will always receive their medications timely. This is another level of service you can provide when you hire a virtual assistant.
Remote monitoring
A virtual assistant can help in monitoring your customers remotely. They can give them a call to ask how they are physically doing, assess their progress, and gather information to report to you. This removes another responsibility for you since a virtual assistant can keep track of all the customers under you.
Productivity manager
If you manage a sizable team or operate with other medical practitioners, a virtual assistant can help boost the productivity of your entire workforce. They can do this by monitoring daily activities and tasks, making sure tasks are done on schedule, and ensuring everyone is performing at the level they are expected to. This goes the same for you, of course. Your virtual assistant will help in making sure your productivity is exactly at the level you want it to be.
HIPAA Trained
Your virtual assistants all undergo rigorous HIPAA training. This is to ensure compliance and to protect your patient healthcare information. The HIPAA training also allows the VA to easily access and provide you with a patient’s healthcare information during consultations without the risk of compromising their privacy and comfort.
Virtual Medical Assistance Benefits
To say that having a virtual assistant has benefits when you work in the medical industry is a galactic understatement. They transform your practice in ways you never thought it would. Virtual assistants make your job easier and they make your patrons feel more satisfied.
That being said, here are some of the benefits you can gain the moment you get a virtual assistant.
Rise in efficiency and patient-care
Having a skilled virtual assistant on your payroll causes a gradual and definite increase in your efficiency. This is because a virtual assistant facilitates multiple facets of your practice that contribute to efficiency, ranging from streamlined communication to timely and accurate administrative duties. Information is easier to access, customers are easier to reach, and tasks are done on time.
When your practice feels easier to do, your customers receive better care from you. You handle the patient care, the virtual assistant will handle everything else that will make things easier for you to do. The contributions of the virtual assistant will lead you to perform better when it comes to handling your customers.
Better communication
When you get so caught up in your practice, with all the people you handle and the recent developments in your field you have to keep up with, it can be tough to communicate with your customers and your fellow medical practitioners regularly. That being said, having a virtual assistant can streamline communication for you. They can monitor your emails and calls and siphon out the information you don’t immediately need and prioritize the ones that require your immediate attention.
This allows you to maintain the level of efficiency you want to have at your job without disregarding your employees and the people you look out for. You pay attention to every facet of your practice. Your virtual assistant makes that possible.
Ease of information access
Information is king when you work in the medical industry. Information you need includes a patient’s healthcare information and account, recent developments in the industry, changes in regulations, and technological advancements. All of this is tricky to keep track of. A virtual assistant can gather all of the information you need at a moment’s notice. They can handle research and inquiries for you to review.
Reduced stress levels
The medical field can be incredibly stressful. You handle the lives of others, after all. Considering that fact and all the other aspects of your work that you constantly have to deal with, you are right in the middle of an industry that’s ripe for stress. However, when you hire a virtual assistant that takes a lot of workload off of you, your stress levels reduce dramatically. You enjoy your job even more, which in turn allows you to take care of your customers better.
Inventory management
Virtual assistants can also keep track of your inventory, from the medicine and tools you have on hand, as well as the integrity of your materials and pieces of equipment. A virtual assistant will make sure all the resources you have at your disposal are readily available and in top condition. All of this is done for your peace of mind, as well as the well-being of the people who look to you for healthcare advice.
Virtual assistants can be meticulous when it comes to protocol adherence, inventory management, and timekeeping. They have excellent attention to detail. They can function like a virtual medical scribe with the way they document everything in your organization. All of this causes them to maintain a high-quality of standards when it comes to your practice and patient care. Hire a virtual assistant and the overall standard of your practice elevates to a greater height.
Cost-effective
While it may initially seem pricey to hire a virtual assistant for yourself, this addition to your workforce will prove to be an endeavor that’s worth the investment in the long run. That is because a virtual assistant performs tasks that increase your revenue and lessen your liabilities.
For one, they help bring in new customers through online visibility through ads and social media posts. They then help retain them through invaluable customer service. Then, they ensure your tools are always in top condition so you don’t always have to replace them. Finally, they maintain a level of standard when it comes to compliance. This prevents you from having to pay fines and, god forbid, legal fees.
Emergency preparedness
During training, virtual assistants are educated on common emergency situations that arise in your field. They are shown cases and videos, then they are put in simulated emergency settings and scenarios and are taught the proper responses for them. This is so that they can remain calm and collected and can properly assist you should these situations arise in the real world. That being said, your virtual assistant is fully emergency-prepared and can make things easier for you during these scenarios.
Cultural assistance
As a medical practitioner, you will handle people from different walks of life. You’ll handle people of various ages, backgrounds, and lifestyles. You will encounter people who have different cultural mindsets and backgrounds from you. You must be able to properly communicate with these individuals as a healthcare professional. A virtual assistant can be the liaison between you and a patient when there’s a cultural barrier. They can assist you in understanding a different culture better so you can address a patient more effectively.
Information protection
Due to their HIPAA training, virtual assistants are highly aware and sensitive when it comes to a patient’s protected healthcare information. They make them readily available to the physician for the sake of the patient’s safety but they also ensure they remain safe and uncompromised. They are adamantly compliant and consistently adhere to the ever-changing nature of medical regulations.
Increased collaboration and team cohesion
Collaboration is important in the medical industry. You learn a lot by working and collaborating with other healthcare professionals. There also needs to be proper cohesion among your team so that you can properly take care of your customers. A virtual assistant can be your advocate for this. They’ll give you avenues to other healthcare professionals and they can help give your time as a whole a more symbiotic relationship.
Implementation in Healthcare
Based on everything you’ve read thus far, virtual assistants give the healthcare landscape a profound transformation. These highly trained and sophisticated assistants are adept at handling administrative tasks and patient welfare. They are not only useful, but they have become such invaluable assets that they are almost a necessity in every medical practitioner’s life.
The impact of virtual assistants in the medical industry is widespread. They play pivotal parts and act as overseers in almost every facet of your practice. Most importantly, they make lives better for doctors like you who give their all and do their best for their customers.
As the years go by, more and more medical practitioners have employed virtual medical assistants, and other remote workers to outsource services. Not only has this been a technological evolution, it is a genuine shift in how the industry moves forward. The virtual space is an excellent platform and virtual assistants are effective gateways to this space. They make the transition seamless and they make you visible to more clients in your general area.
Case Studies
According to a 2014 study conducted at Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois, doctors have spent too much time looking at computer screens rather than paying attention to the needs of their customers. A virtual assistant mitigates this issue by giving health professionals proper information on a regular basis.
Virtual assistants have also allowed patients to be more adherent to their medication schedules. It is part of the job of virtual medical assistants to constantly remind them to take their medications. With their help, those who are forgetful or too busy to take medications promptly can take their medicines more adequately.
Studies have also shown that the use of virtual assistants in the healthcare sector can improve the efficiency of healthcare systems, as well as provide proper medical care to people who need it. With all of that said, you only bring better results for you if you decide to hire a virtual assistant under your employ.
Conclusion
The importance of virtual assistants in your practice should be crystal clear to you now. They make your practice more efficient, they make things more streamlined for you, and they help patients adhere to their medication regulations for the sake of their health. Virtual assistants make your services as a whole better for you and your customers. They make your jobs easier and they make your customers healthier and happier.
This fact has been backed up by studies and reviews done by doctors, scientists, and behaviorists. It is a technological advancement every healthcare professional should consider adopting and embracing to ensure that their healthcare practice remains patient-centric and effective. The medical landscape is ever-transforming and this simply is just one of those transformations.
With all of that said, be sure to consider hiring a VMeDx virtual medical assistant for you today. Have your needs met and think about the welfare of your patients, as well as your own physical and mental health.