Medical Virtual Assistant Hiring: A Comprehensive Guide for Employers
Healthcare professionals today are in need of all the help they can get. The work is hectic, high-pressure, and incredibly demanding. Anything that can lighten their workload is a welcome addition to their workforce. That’s where a virtual medical assistant comes in. Virtual medical assistants are the perfect helpers for doctors and other medical practitioners.
The more virtual assistants have stayed in the medical workforce, the more essential they have become. They went from being a luxurious benefit to a necessary addition to the clinic. Without them, clinical work is more tedious than it should be. Virtual medical assistants extremely lighten your workload so that you can focus better on your clinical work.
Since this job is highly coveted and in high demand, more and more medical virtual assistants have entered the industry. This is a double-edged sword. There are more virtual medical assistants for doctors to choose from. However, this also means they may end up hiring ones who are incompatible with them.
Hiring the right virtual assistant is important. Not only do they need to be skilled and experienced, but they also need to be the right fit for you and you knowledgeable in your branch of medicine. After all, a virtual medical assistant’s skills are useless if they are incompatible with you, your practice, and your clinic.
Defining the Role of a Virtual Medical Assistant
Virtual medical assistants handle a lot of roles in your medical clinic. They are multifaceted workers who do their best to make your life ultimately easier. From completing administrative tasks to overseeing patient exams, they are your trusted sidekicks in your journey to providing proper patient care.
To fully understand just how necessary these workers are, you’ll need to know everything they can and will do for you. With that said, here are the roles of a virtual medical assistant.
Completion of administrative tasks
This is the main role of a virtual assistant. They complete administrative tasks for you so that you can focus more on patient interactions and clinical work. They remove any time-consuming responsibilities from you and free up your time so you can dedicate your hours to more pressing matters.
Administrative tasks range from answering emails to ensuring everything in your medical office works as intended. This also includes various routine tasks such as paperwork and billing. In a nutshell, virtual medical assistants do a ton of administrative work, allowing healthcare professionals to free up their time to focus on patients, and even tend to their personal lives a bit better.
Medical records handling
Another job that’s handled by virtual medical assistants is the handling of medical records. They gather and organize patient records so it’s easier for you to retrieve them later on. They also collect electronic health records from the correct channels for the sake of patient care. As you know, this can happen quite frequently with patients who have records with previous healthcare professionals.
You can leave the task of retrieving their records from their former doctors to your virtual medical assistant. All the while, the virtual medical assistant follows standard procedures in retrieving and managing medical records in accordance with HIPAA regulations. These assistants are trained and educated in regulations so that EHRs (electronic health records) are secured and protected.
Productivity liaison
Virtual medical assistants are also great productivity liaisons. They don’t only pay attention to their own productivity, they can also keep an eye on the productivity of the entire clinic. This includes your own productivity. They do this by managing the schedule of everybody in the office.
They pay attention to your schedule, first and foremost. They ensure your days are productive. On top of that, they can also make sure everybody in the office is doing everything they’re supposed to do on any given day. They make sure tasks are done, deadlines are met, and quality meets standards. They also make sure that their own productivity is high and uncompromised.
Medical scribing
A medical virtual assistant can also work as your own virtual medical scribe. They can listen in on patient interactions, appointments, and even procedures to scribe and create SOAP notes. They remove this responsibility from you so that you can give your patients your undivided attention during these interactions.
Your virtual medical assistant is trained and knowledgeable of medical terms and jargon, allowing them to create accurate notes while scribing. Although this is something they do completely virtually, you can ensure that the notes are exact. Have them listen in during appointments and procedures and you can expect them to give you accurate notes afterwards.
Billing management
Managing your billing records, insurance verifications, and other financial paperwork is a grueling task. If you do this yourself, it can take up a ton of hours for you to finish managing your monthly financials. Thankfully, a virtual medical assistant is fully capable of doing this task yourself.
They can create invoices so that bills are accurate and fair. If you don’t have a payroll manager in your employ and are only managing a small team, your virtual medical assistant can also do payroll management. They will be fully in charge of your billing and financials which reduces your workload significantly. This can also reduce costs since you won’t have to hire someone else for payroll anymore.
Virtual medical assistants can also assist patients in insurance matters. They can contact insurance providers to ensure a patient’s record is accurate and up to date.
Scheduling appointments
Since the virtual assistant is responsible for your schedule, they are also in charge of scheduling appointments. They will handle phone calls, emails, and online inquiries regarding appointments and set dates for patients. They will go through your calendar and find open schedules so that your weeks are filled.
This job also entails following up on appointments, handling rescheduled, and ensuring no schedule conflicts arise. They’ll call patients to remind them of appointments and the like. All you’ll have to do is come in and they’ll handle your appointments. They’ll simply remind you of the patients you’ll meet at any given week or day.
Patient care and satisfaction
Customer service is a huge part of a virtual medical assistant’s job. They will take care of patient satisfaction so that your patient and client retention rate is high. They’ll keep your customers happy to keep your business afloat. They do this in a lot of ways.
The most common customer service task they do for patient care and satisfaction is answering queries. Potential patients and current ones will call and reach out to your office to ask a handful of medical questions. Instead of you answering these yourself, your virtual medical assistant can manage these questions. If there is anything they can’t answer themselves, they will ask you and reach back to the patient later on.
They can also conduct surveys to make sure your patients’ needs are tended to. They can do house calls to make sure your patients and customers are happy and satisfied with your medical practice.
Telemedicine support
If you provide telemedicine services, your virtual assistant can provide support on this aspect of your practice. They’ll manage call schedules, appointments, and scribe when necessary. They’ll make communication between you and your patients seamless.
They can also make sure your patients and potential clients are aware that you provide telemedicine services. Not everybody can allocate enough time to leave their homes or jobs to go on an appointment. You make this service easier to access with the help of your virtual medical assistant.
Digital marketing
Having online visibility in today’s economic landscape isn’t only helpful, but it is incredibly important. However, this may not be an area you’re particularly interested in, or even knowledgeable with. Your virtual medical assistant can help you with this.
Social media platforms are useful when it comes to this. They can create social media accounts for your practice so that you’ll have online visibility. Through these accounts, your virtual assistants can market your practice and help you reach a wider audience.
This can also be a viable channel for potential patients to reach you. Of course, the virtual assistant can handle these online queries for you as well.
Medical practice betterment
With all of that said, the main role of a virtual medical assistant is to better your overall medical practice. The things and jobs they do are all for the sake of making your practice better. They remove a ton of burden from you so you can focus on patients. They make things accessible and simple for patients for their satisfaction.
Medical Virtual Assistant Hiring: Where to Find the Right Candidates
If you want to find the best virtual medical assistant for you, look no further than here at VMeDx. We hire the best virtual assistants on the market today so that we can provide you with the best possible service.
VMeDx assistants are trained to the fullest. They are educated on the fundamentals of your specialty and the advanced mechanics of your overall practice. Their innate skills which are necessary for the job are also honed further. Skills such as empathy, communication, multitasking, attention to detail, and more are sought out and improved upon.
Everything from our interview process to the onboarding is meticulously handled.
Interview process
VMeDx only hires experienced or certified virtual medical assistants. The medical field is very demanding and high-pressure. The best way to understand the medical field is to have experience in it. Non-experienced medical virtual assistants can still survive and through in the industry, of course, but adjustment takes time.
VMeDx takes no chances. We make sure the virtual assistants who end up working for you are already aware of the ins and outs of the industry. This allows them to perform spectacularly from the get-go. We forego the adjustment period and jump right straight to top-notch performance.
On top of experience, we also watch out for traits every good virtual medical assistant must have. As previously mentioned here, a good medical assistant must be good at communicating, being empathetic, multitasking, etc. When an applicant has these traits, they are highly likely to join VMeDx’s pool of spectacular virtual medical assistants.
Onboarding
When you finally decide to work with VMeDx, we will help you find the right and most compatible virtual assistant for you. We will make sure that every aspect of the assistant, from skills and experience to personality and knowledge fits your liking.
Although our virtual assistants are highly trained, we will continue to provide ongoing education so your assistant can continue to learn and adapt to the ever-changing face of the healthcare world.
Virtual Medical Assistant Jobs
There are a couple of specific medical virtual assistant jobs out there. If you don’t need a multifaceted, all–around assistant, VMeDx offers assistants with specialized skills to perfectly match your needs. Here are a few examples.
- Virtual receptionist – They provide customer service and proper communication. They answer incoming calls, emails, and social media inquiries for you.
- Administrative assistant – An administrative assistant only handles paperwork and other administrative tasks outside of actual patient care. This ranges from collecting patient data to assisting in medication refills.
- Medical scribe – They provide SOAP notes for you during patient appointments and medical procedures. They free your hands and mind from note taking so you can focus on your patients.
- Medical biller – They take care of your healthcare practice by making sure your bills and finances are properly tended to. They maximize revenue by creating accurate invoices, minimizing rejection claims, and assisting in insurance verifications.
Tips for Effective Management
A good worker will remain good with the help of effective management. Even the best workers will eventually tire out and deteriorate when they are not managed properly. Through effective management, you ensure your virtual assistants remain hardworking, effective, reliable, and skilled. This is also a great way to retain a good virtual assistant.
Provide proper training and education
While we already provide our virtual assistants with proper training and education, we also encourage you to provide continuous learning to your VAs. Let them know how your clinic runs, and inform them of your routine, preferences, and patient frequency. Every bit of information about your clinic and practice is beneficial for your assistants so they can serve you as best as they can.
Make tasks clear
When you’re entrusting your virtual medical assistant with a task, be sure to make the tasks comprehensible and clear. Let them know exactly what is expected of them and how you want the tasks fulfilled. Your VAs work for your satisfaction. If they’re new to your employ, help them reach their maximum potential by making sure they’re aware of every job they’re expected to do.
Trust in the virtual assistant
Avoid micromanaging your virtual assistants too much. They work from a remote location, but they are skilled and knowledgeable enough to do the tasks assigned to them. Even when they overcome obstacles and hurdles, VMeDx has the proper resources to assist them do their jobs well.
Don’t overburden with tasks
Virtual medical assistants are willing and able to help you with your everyday needs. However, it is also important that you do not overburden your assistants with mountains of tasks. They can multitask, but they also burn out eventually. Keep your tasks to a reasonable, albeit challenging degree, and they’ll complete them without issue.
Keep tasks according to their job description
Make sure the tasks you give to the VA are according to their job description. Avoid taking advantage of good workers by letting them do work they have no business of doing in the first place. VMeDx’s virtual assistants are trained and qualified to handle administrative and clinical work that happens within the medical field. They’re capable of assisting you in a couple of personal matters as well, but it’s best to keep tasks that fit their role.
Touch base every once in a while
Dedicate time to touch base with your assistants every once in a while. Ask them how they’re doing, how the job is, and how their personal lives are running. Make them feel heard and valued and they’ll repay you ten times over.
Incentivize with the right benefits
Good workers deserve to be rewarded. That said, make sure your virtual assistants receive proper wages and benefits to keep them satisfied and happy working for you. A couple of acknowledgments are good, but rewarding them through monetary and meaningful means will encourage them to do an even better job.
Be a tad forgiving with mistakes
Mistakes are inevitable when you work in an industry as hectic as the medical world. As a doctor, you are very well aware of this. Whenever your VA makes the occasional mishap, be a bit more understanding and forgiving. Educate them so the mistake doesn’t happen again.
This doesn’t mean leniency, of course. If the mistake is dire and lead to terrible consequences, repercussions are necessary. However, if a mistake is minor, give them leeway and give them a chance to bounce back.
Conclusion
Virtual medical assistants are a necessity in modern healthcare. Doctors, physicians, and other medical practitioners benefit greatly from the services of VAs. That said, waste no time and allow yourself to be assisted by competent and able workers so your professional life becomes easier to manage.
Save time and money today by hiring a medical virtual assistant through VMeDx. We will ensure you end up working with the best VA your money can get. You, your practice, and your patients deserve nothing less! Talk to us today and let us help you advance your career and better your work-life balance.