In today’s digital age, more and more businesses are turning to virtual medical assistant providers like My Mountain Mover, to help with a wide range of administrative tasks. The healthcare scene is no different. Virtual medical receptionists or virtual assistants can take care of various tasks that would require hiring additional staff. And for many medical practices, using a virtual medical receptionist is becoming increasingly popular to reduce costs and improve efficiency.
Origin
A virtual medical assistant has been around for as long as doctors have been practising medicine. In the past, their primary responsibility was to greet patients and answer office calls. However, their role has changed over the years.
Traditional receptionists are usually at the front desk and are the first person you see in an office setting. A medical receptionist’s tasks were to handle incoming calls to schedule appointments, make outgoing calls to confirm charges, and communicate with patients and other offices regarding billing or co-management.
They are primarily in charge of all the paperwork the clients, other healthcare professionals, and finance-related industries need. While traditional receptionists are limited to doing all of the administrative work and none of the clinical tasks, this presents the ideal setting and gives us a glimpse of how early medicine was able to develop into the modern one we have now.
Healthcare providers were not so much required to document everything in the past as they had someone else doing that for them. This allows them to manage people in the best way possible during an examination. They can later review and evaluate their procedures at a later time and make notes on how they can be done better.
Unfortunately, there was a time when limited people were going into the healthcare field receptionists handling the administrative work and some of the clinical tasks. Hiring nursing graduates as assistants became a cost-effective way to cover both the executive and clinical work in the office. This worked well for a while until problems eventually arose with the addition of many more documents required from healthcare practices and more people with health concerns coming in.
Today, a medical receptionist has expanded responsibilities that include a wide range of administrative work aside from handling incoming and outgoing calls. This is primarily since medical practices are under increasing pressure to reduce costs and become more efficient. Receptionists even have to undergo HIPAA compliance training and other professional ongoing courses to deliver better service and customer care.
A medical receptionist at the hospital
Medical receptionists in hospitals changed the way medical records are kept. By having an actual receptionist assigned to a provider, the doctor can focus more on patients and less on taking notes. A receptionist also helps to ensure that all relevant information is documented in the medical record, which can be critical in cases where a patient needs to be seen by multiple specialists.
Recent technological advances have made it possible for receptionists to work remotely, which has opened up a whole new world of possibilities and led to the emergence of virtual medical receptionists. One way that many medical practices are achieving efficiency while reducing costs is by outsourcing some of their administrative tasks to virtual assistants.
A virtual assistant can take care of various tasks that would require hiring additional staff. Having a virtual assistant, you can get the same level of customer care and medical office work done for a fraction of the cost. And for many practices, using a virtual assistant is becoming increasingly popular to reduce costs and improve efficiency.
Most virtual assistants previously worked in-house and decided to have a more flexible schedule with more time at home. This shift in the healthcare scene makes it possible for providers to retain the staff needed for clinical procedures and outsource the administrative part to virtual assistants.
So, if you’re looking for a way to improve your practice’s efficiency and bottom line, consider using a virtual medical receptionist. Thanks to their many benefits, they are quickly becoming a vital part of the healthcare landscape.
Adam Mulligan did his degree in psychology at the University of Hertfordshire. He is interested in mental health, wellness, and lifestyle.
