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The healthcare industry is transforming digitally, marked by increasing technology integration to improve patient care. However, the human touch remains essential, with virtual medical assistants playing critical roles in this revolution.
These remote professionals are trained to improve efficiency, increase productivity, and enhance coordination. Their services elevate patient experiences and treatment outcomes.
If your medical practice is looking to enhance patient care and is considering hiring virtual assistants, this article is for you. It explores how these professionals can help your facility deliver quality service.
1. Increasing operational efficiency and productivity
To better illustrate how virtual medical assistants streamline tasks, let’s first explore the nature of their role.
These remote professionals are an extension of your in-house medical team and are often hired through business process outsourcing (BPO). For those wondering what BPO is, it is the practice of delegating specific tasks to an external provider.
How outsourcing works is that the BPO firm deploys remote professionals with a deep understanding of the healthcare industry’s intricacies and complexities, such as medical codes, regulations, and practice-specific policies. The vendor also equips virtual medical assistants with advanced tools to manage outsourced activities effectively.
To enhance efficiency in patient care, virtual medical assistants cover the following administrative tasks:
- Appointment scheduling and management (e.g., booking, rescheduling, and canceling appointments; handling reminders and follow-ups; and managing waitlists
- Medical records management (e.g., retrieving and uploading patient data, maintaining accurate and updated records, and ensuring compliance with privacy regulations)
- Insurance verification and authorization (e.g., collecting information, verifying eligibility, obtaining preauthorizations, and following up on denied claims and appeals)
- Communication management (e.g., answering phone calls and emails, coordinating between patients and healthcare providers, handling concerns, and managing referrals)
- Billing and coding (e.g., generating and sending patient bills, processing patient payments, and posting payments and adjustments to patient accounts)
Outsourcing administrative tasks in healthcare increases productivity within your practice. According to Deloitte’s 2023 Global Shared Services and Outsourcing Survey, it helped 82% of businesses achieve efficiency.
2. Improving decision-making for healthcare providers
Timely and accurate information is critical in the healthcare industry. However, transforming raw data into actionable insights can be daunting. Virtual assistants focus on enhancing efficiencies by carefully collecting, organizing, and analyzing patient data.
They handle data management and analysis complexities, helping your practice make more informed decisions for optimal patient care.
Here’s a deep dive into what they can contribute:
- Data standardization (adhering to standardized data entry protocols to maintain integrity and consistency)
- Data completeness (verifying all patient data is captured and entered into electronic health records or EHRs)
- Data structure (organizing patient data in a logical and accessible manner for quick retrieval)
- Data cleaning (identifying and correcting errors or inconsistencies in patient data)
- Data security (complying with data privacy regulations such as the Healthcare Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 or HIPAA)
- Data visualization (creating visual representations of data, such as graphs and charts)
- Identifying patterns (analyzing patient data to find patterns and trends that inform clinical decisions)
Healthcare BPO services help your practice understand patient populations and trends. By enhancing efficiency in patient data management and extracting meaningful medical care insights, virtual assistants empower decision-making.
3. Boosting patient engagement and proactiveness
Empowering patients to advocate for their health is the foundation of modern healthcare. Patient proactiveness makes medical services more efficient and effective.
The healthcare process in BPO considers this a critical component. Virtual assistants are pivotal in increasing patient engagement through the following means:
Patient education and empowerment
The first step to proactiveness is providing patients with the knowledge and skills they need to understand their health conditions, treatment options, and self-care practices.
Here’s how third-party virtual assistants can help in this aspect:
- Developing and delivering personalized health education materials based on specific patient needs, conditions, and learning styles
- Providing easy-to-understand information about diseases, treatments, and preventative care
- Equipping patients with self-management skills, such as medication adherence, symptom monitoring, and healthy lifestyle habits
Patient portal navigation and support
Assisting patients in accessing their online portals to understand healthcare processes enhances engagement. According to a study submitted to the National Library of Medicine, individuals who use patient portals are more proactive in preventive care.
To enhance patient engagement within your healthcare practice, virtual assistants can perform the following:
- Guide patients on how to access and navigate patient portals
- Ensure patients can easily view their medical records, test results, and appointment information
- Help patients understand complex medical terminology and data presented in their portal
- Assist patients with communicating with healthcare providers through the portal
4. Elevating patient support and experiences
One of the most prominent ways virtual medical assistants transform patient care is by providing accessible, responsive, and personalized support. Their ability to offer 24/7 assistance, multilingual support, and remote capabilities significantly enhance patient experiences.
Let’s explore the different ways you can enhance patient care and experiences through virtual assistant services:
Round-the-clock support
Reputable BPO providers have operations in various countries, giving them the advantages that come with time zone differences. They utilize the follow-the-sun approach and coordinate their team’s shifts to optimize coverage and seamlessly pass workloads to other staff.
This continuous operation allows your medical practice to provide support beyond regular business hours. Patients can connect with healthcare services anytime.
Multilingual support
Reputable outsourcing companies are meticulous in choosing the right virtual assistant for their clients. If needed, they actively recruit multilingual professionals.
Hiring such virtual medical assistants empowers your practice to communicate effectively with patients from various linguistic backgrounds. For example, a virtual assistant for a Phoenix healthcare practice can offer support in English or Spanish.
Communicating with patients in their preferred language reduces misunderstandings and misinterpretations, improving patient outcomes.
Remote and online support
Telemedicine has become more widespread since the pandemic. It encourages patients to get medical attention by promoting more accessible and convenient practices. According to McKinsey, 55% of patients prefer virtual medical services to in-person consultations.
BPO in telemedicine can enhance online patient care as virtual medical assistants are experts in the digital field. As mentioned, they cover administrative tasks, including those critical in telehealth operations such as patient preparation and monitoring.
5. Enhancing treatment outcomes
Virtual medical assistants can be invaluable assets in patient care management. They help patients adhere to prescribed treatment plans and achieve optimal health outcomes through personalized support and attention.
Here’s a brief rundown of how they contribute to this aspect of healthcare:
Tracking treatment plans
BPO teams excel at building rapport with patients, which is essential for effective treatment management. This personalized approach promotes timely interventions and adjustments to the care plan, aligning it with the patient’s evolving needs.
Some tasks they handle include the following:
- Creating and maintaining detailed patient profiles
- Performing regular phone or video call check-ins to address concerns
- Tracking patient progress and asking about symptoms and side effects
- Collaborating with healthcare providers to update treatment plans
Monitoring treatment compliance
Virtual medical assistants can motivate and support patients in adhering to prescribed therapies through the following efforts:
- Helping patients establish medication schedules
- Troubleshooting challenges related to medication management
- Identifying potential barriers to treatment compliance
- Developing strategies to overcome hindrances to adherence
Additionally, you can enhance patient care and treatment compliance by letting virtual assistants offer emotional support. This human connection significantly influences patients to follow their medication and treatment plans more proactively.
The bottom line
Although virtual medical assistants don’t provide medical care, their contributions to your practice are substantial and multifaceted. Whether you offer telemedicine or in-person services, they synergize with your in-house team to realize better health outcomes.
They improve operations, decision-making, and patient engagement and experiences, elevating medical services.
If you want to learn more about virtual medical assistants or healthcare BPO, let’s connect!
