As healthcare capabilities become more comprehensive and advanced, patient expectations grow right alongside them.
And while these advancements allow practitioners to provide patients with better care, keeping up with daily administrative work often takes too much time.
That’s where virtual assistants come in.
Many modern healthcare facilities are looking for new ways to improve their operations. And thanks to virtual assistants, providers and other staff can focus their efforts on patient care and well-being rather than tedious receptionist work.
Here’s how to run a more efficient practice with a virtual healthcare front office.
Why Choose a Healthcare Virtual Front Office?
Whether you’re tending to patients, sending emails, scheduling appointments or writing prescriptions, there isn’t always enough time in the day to get everything done.
With that said, you likely need some help. But not all help is the same! For obvious reasons, a virtual assistant can’t help you with actually caring for and tending to patients.
However, you can hire them to handle various administrative duties. In turn, you have more time (as the business owner and/or medical practitioner) to care for your patients.
[Related: Considering Using AI in Your Healthcare Practice? Here’s Where To Start]
What Are the Job Duties of Virtual Healthcare Front Office?
Here are some examples of duties that a healthcare virtual front office can handle. Additionally, you can rest assured that it handles all these tasks per HIPAA regulations:
- Taking and receiving calls
- Scheduling and confirming appointments
- Verifying insurance information
- Sending prescription requests
And the best part is that your patients feel like they’re working with a real-time, real-life human receptionist.
Now, let’s explore some of the ways that a virtual healthcare front office makes your practice more efficient.
How a Virtual Healthcare Front Office Makes Your Practice More Efficient
The five duties below eat up a ton of time, which is why you should strive to make them more efficient. With a virtual front office, healthcare practices can streamline that time and free up flesh-and-blood staff.
Improving Communication
In-house staff can certainly handle all sorts of communication. But in a healthcare office, virtual front office assistance takes everyday communication up a notch.
For example, a virtual assistant can easily take care of scheduling for both staff and patients. This is especially helpful on the patient side, when they need to make appointments but no one’s in office to handle the requests.
Increasing Time With Patients
Another way that virtual assistants make your practice more efficient is by giving you more free time.
This seems counterintuitive because having more time on your hands usually indicates being less productive. But because a virtual assistant handles various online tasks, you (as a practitioner) have more time to care for patients rather than pick up phone calls.
So it doesn’t matter whether your patients need swift physical checkups or more intensive care for chronic illnesses. Regardless, you’ll have much more time available to meet their needs and restore their health and well-being.
Saving Money
Another way you’ll see better efficiency in your office is through cost savings.
Enlisting a healthcare virtual front office is far less expensive than paying a human employee. And this makes a big difference if your funds are tight. If your practice’s circumstances are similar, you might hire a virtual assistant rather than recruit, train and pay more staff.
With the money you save, you might put it back, increase employees’ salaries or invest in newer (and potentially more reliable) equipment. In a healthcare office, virtual front office assistance can go a long way.
Reducing In-House Staff Workload
Most people know that healthcare practices have a lot on their plate. Solving health issues and dealing with all that comes with doing so (like finances) are no simple tasks.
With that said, in-house staff might feel overwhelmed with their day-to-day workloads. But with a virtual front office, healthcare office tasks (especially the pesky, tedious ones) are completed much more consistently and less stressfully.
As a result, in-house staff can focus on patients (and their own mental well-being) instead of handling piles of paperwork and never-ending phone calls.
Suddenly, a healthcare virtual front office handles those menial tasks, and you have happier staff and practitioners. In turn, they’re more productive thanks to less stress. And that’s not to mention that they have more time to focus on improving and learning new skills.
Eliminating an Answering Service
Many healthcare practices use an answering service that patients have to deal with whenever they call. But it often leads to patients losing their patience (pun intended) and hanging up.
A virtual healthcare front office can make your answering service far more engaging. Instead of relying on that stiff and emotionless voice that patients dread hearing, you can lead a friendlier conversation.
In turn, you’ll have fewer people ending calls and not getting their needs met (aka more satisfied patients).
[Related: 5 Patient Engagement Strategies for Your Healthcare Practice]
Make Your Practice More Efficient With Wendi
Now that we’ve explored why virtual assistants are so helpful and how they make your practice more efficient, are you ready to get one?
If so, contact Wendi. We offer the best virtual healthcare front office you could ask for. Wendi’s top-notch AI healthcare assistance streamlines all areas of your practice — and then some.
To learn more about Wendi and what it can do, schedule a free demo today.
Featured image via Unsplash
