A virtual assistant is someone who helps you with some tasks and projects from a remote location. These are similar to personal assistants, but you do not meet face-to-face. You can communicate via video chat, but it is not necessary. Virtual assistants do any task that can be done from a computer or phone.
Healthcare offices benefit from having virtual assistants because they deal with repetitive tasks that pull your office employees away from important, thoughtful tasks that should be done within the walls of the practice. Professionals from all industries use virtual assistants for tasks like these:
- Billing
- Bookkeeping
- Correspondence
- Customer Service
- Database Management
- Editing
- License Monitoring
- Marketing
- Website Design and Maintenance
Even if your healthcare office runs smoothly, you will benefit from adding a medical answering service virtual assistant. Technology has made it easy to connect with someone off-site who can help you with your small, busy tasks. These are a handful of reasons why hiring a virtual assistant for your healthcare office makes sense.
1. Saving Money
Virtual assistants are contract workers, so they are not paid the same way that traditional employees are. You do not worry about withdrawing taxes or paying benefits. Virtual assistants work from their homes or somewhere with WiFi. The cost of finding and hiring employees is expensive, but the cost of hiring remote workers like a virtual assistant is not.
Virtual assistants use their own computers, which is another cost-saving measure. You do not have to pay for the desk they use or any of the other equipment they use to complete work for you. When you hire a virtual assistant, you work together to decide how to pay the assistant. Some are paid by the project; some receive hourly pay.
2. Opening Up Your Hiring Range
When you limit your hiring to people in your geographic region, you miss out on finding experts elsewhere. Healthcare offices in small towns are at a disadvantage because there is a limited workforce. Virtual assistants can work with you from anywhere in the world. You aren’t limited to who is or isn’t in your local area.
3. Freeing Up Time
When you hire a virtual assistant, you open up time for other things. Many healthcare providers are not only busy with their practice and other professional responsibilities, but they also have families to care for, too. You can pass your busy work to your assistant so you can spend some free time with your family or your hobbies.
Consider the tasks you do not like doing. When you have a virtual assistant, you can delegate your least favorite tasks. Your virtual assistant doesn’t have to know that you dislike the tasks, but you can happily pass them on to the expert you contracted to do the work.
4. Use Your Assistant As Needed
Virtual assistants do not have to be hired as permanent employees. As contract workers, they can work for you for a few tasks or for a long time. Some virtual assistants are available as needed. You can assign them tasks for a few weeks, then take some time off and rehire them when needed. But, having a long-term virtual assistant can be helpful because you will build a long-distance working relationship that benefits both of you. Once your virtual assistant learns how to do work for you, you don’t want to have to hire a new one and do it all over again.
5. Upping Your Efficiency
Virtual assistants can help make your world more efficient. They can tackle the tasks that you do not want to get done and how those hold you back. With a virtual assistant, the tasks get done, and you are able to accomplish your goals. Instead of hiring new staff and taking the time to train them, your virtual assistant will get the job done for you.
6. Saving Space in Your Office
When you have a virtual assistant, they work from their remote location. They do not occupy space in your healthcare office. Instead, you can use that unused space for other purposes, like more space for your employees, or another exam room for your patients. An extra exam room could help you bring in more money. The extra space could be used for in-house lab space, or something else creative that enhances your business.
Hiring a virtual assistant or medical call center agent isn’t something you should take lightly, but if you do find that it isn’t working out, you can tell them and look for someone else. You don’t have to worry about paying unemployment or worrying about other employment issues. Some healthcare providers will ask virtual assistant candidates to work on a trial basis to see if they are a good fit.
There are several good reasons to hire a virtual assistant. They can help healthcare providers save money and get busy work done. Virtual assistants do work under the same conditions as traditional employees, so if the situation does not work out, letting them go is easy.
