6 Ways A Virtual Medical Assistant Can Support Your Practice

6 Ways A Virtual Medical Assistant Can Support Your Practice
Dr Josh August 21, 2021 virtual assistant

The marriage of healthcare and technology is a match made in heaven. For healthcare to grow leaps and bounds, technology needs to be integrated into it as a niche fully. Medical virtual assistants can be highly beneficial to clinical experts. Virtual assistance, in any shape or form, allows you to fulfill organizational objectives holistically, creating extra opportunities at work while also simplifying complex tasks.
In the context of the pandemic, the healthcare sector has had to rely more on virtual assistance and it has augmented clinical infrastructure, creating virtual healthcare world that is thriving and growing. Essentially, virtual medical assistants are receptionists and aides who work for practices offsite; it is a virtual medical staff.

What Does a Virtual Medical Assistant do?

A virtual medical assistant can perform a variety of tasks, such as:
1. Responding to patient questions: The virtual medical assistant can clarify and respond to patient questions and queries via social media, emails, and phone calls. They can also handle payments, documentations, referrals and transcripts. A virtual assistant can organize documents well, creating a smooth-running system that is easy to navigate.
2. Medical Records: Virtual assistants can secure medical records, keeping sensitive patient information safe. Patient details can be secured and organized so that they can be accessed as per schedule. In some cases, virtual assistants can also examine how severe a disease is and plan patient visits accordingly.
3. Detailing insurance coverage: Healthcare professionals can rely on virtual medical assistants to document insurance coverage and carry out other tasks related to it, such as authorizing transactions needed for insurance and completing the required paperwork.

SmartClinix EMR can help ease your practice the way a virtual assistant would

Benefits of a Virtual Medical Assistant

As seen above, medical virtual assistants tasks include a variety of things, such as handling appointments and addressing queries. The tasks take the burden off other labor while adding additional benefits. There are six ways a virtual medical assistant can aid your practice:
1. Managing appointments and schedules: For many healthcare professionals the act of collecting patient details and organizing, updating and managing them is a hassle. It eats up productive time that can be spent attending to a patient or dealing with other pressing concerns. Virtual assistants free up the doctor’s time, and he or she can be much more productive at work and otherwise.
2. Transcriptions: Machines have been replacing human tasks since the very beginning. Machine learning-powered virtual assistants can be programmed to create transcriptions of the doctor-patient conversation. These programs are not hindered by the need for dictation or prompting words. Instead, they deliver correctly formatted and fully transcribed clinical notes which can be integrated into the patient’s electronic health records.
3. Enhancing scope: Your virtual medical assistant is a virtual health assistant and virtual medical receptionist all in one. It can handle a variety of administrative tasks while allowing the doctor to focus on curating healthy interactions with patients. Your virtual assistant optimizes quality time for you, creating space for personal and professional concerns.

Related Links: Advantages of Cloud-based EMR For Medical Practices

4. More flexible office space: Your virtual medical assistant does not need any space at your practice. You can expand the layout of your office space and utilize it by adding in any clinical equipment, instrument and other practice that you may not have had space for otherwise.
5. Medical record keeping: Record keeping is an essential and crucial part of the practice as much as it is time-consuming and tedious. Automating the task is an excellent way to support your clinical practice. You can opt for a machine-learning virtual assistant that automates clinical record documentation. You can even navigate patient records through voice commands. Paperwork can be reduced by a large percentage for doctors and other clerical staff at the clinic. Opting for a virtual medical assistant may therefore lead to greater job satisfaction, as well as the filing of more accurate records that are easily accessible.
6. Improved patient well-being: Virtual assistants can be extremely beneficial for patients who are elderly, have chronic diseases or who belong to rural areas where access to healthcare is minimal. Patients may also feel much more comfortable sharing details related to their health conditions and other personal issues with a virtual assistant rather than a human. There is less room for judgment and embarrassment in this case. This allows doctors and practices to create an environment in which patients feel comfortable. It also creates a much more well-rounded picture of patients and their conditions, allowing doctors to get into the nitty-gritty of the situation before proceeding with a health plan.

Virtual Medical Assistant Vs Personal Assistant

The benefits of virtual medical assistants outweigh the benefits of a personal assistant. While the former has the advantage of a human element, virtual medical assistants are well worth the investment as their role is all-encompassing. They have direct and indirect benefits as detailed above – they computerize both menial and complex tasks making them far more efficient while also freeing up doctors, their professional and personal lives, as well as their space.

SmartClinix EMR can help ease your practice the way a virtual assistant would

Dr Josh

Dr. Josh is a physician who's helping spread the knowledge about Telehealth and its advantages. At SmartClinix, he's providing his expertise and knowledge in the form of engaging articles on various health & tech related topics.

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