Because of ever-increasing competitiveness in the healthcare industry, many practices are considering making use of a virtual receptionist. This practice can help save on several costs. But while a virtual hire may be considerably less expensive, many in the healthcare industry worry about the service provided and how much to budget for this type of service. This is what a virtual receptionist is and the role they play in a practice.
A virtual receptionist is a remote worker who plays an important administrative role in a business. In medical practice, for example, they may manage your patients’ appointments, manage their inquiries, and schedule specialist appointments as needed. You can even put your virtual receptionist on an iPad so they can greet patients as they walk in.
Engaging the services of a virtual receptionist with Cool Blue VA will help you save on costs and offer your practice a more scalable solution to ensure your continued success. Your virtual receptionist’s time is not limited to normal office hours.
One of the main considerations when setting your budget is what you get out of hiring a virtual receptionist. In other words, what value do they provide as a member of your team?
One of the most important tasks conducted by a receptionist is appointment management. You need to take into consideration appointment scheduling, the rescheduling of missed appointments, and the management of cancellations. These tasks take up valuable time in practice. Outsourcing this task, however, leaves your in-house staff free to focus on other vital areas in your practice.
A key aspect of a receptionist’s responsibilities in a healthcare setting involves patient interaction and handling inquiries. They may need to answer questions about appointments, assist a patient in filling out paperwork, and even provide clear directions to get to your practice. When hiring a virtual receptionist, you have one person designated to specifically oversee all patient queries. This also means your in-house staff does not have to spend valuable time managing these issues on a phone.
Keeping your patients’ records up to date is another key responsibility a virtual receptionist could accommodate. Updating contact and insurance information as well as someone’s medical history takes time and effort. By keeping this information up to date, your in-house staff has an advantage as the information is there exactly when it is needed. They do not have to waste valuable time updating the information when interacting with a patient.
As a healthcare provider, you may often find yourself in a position where you need to refer a patient to a specialist. You can save yourself, or another in-house staff member, a significant amount of time by giving your virtual receptionist this responsibility to help you handle referrals.
Many healthcare practices send out appointment confirmations. It helps reduce the number of missed appointments and reminds your patients about their appointment times and dates. A virtual receptionist can easily manage this task by making use of text messages or emails.
One of the many key roles a virtual receptionist can play in a healthcare practice, filing insurance claims on your behalf frees up other staff members so that they can have the time to pursue more essential tasks. This task - submitting insurance company claims, checking on their status, and putting forth appeals - is very time-consuming.
Patients may need to make co-pay payments or settle an outstanding balance. Your virtual receptionist can easily manage payment processing through a card reader and a secure, office-situated platform. They can communicate with your patients using their computer screen and a virtual communications platform such as Zoom, for example.
A healthcare practice has many costs involved. But you can streamline the fee you pay for a receptionist. Unlike an in-house employee, for whom you need to pay a wage that keeps in mind living costs, holiday leave, insurance, and other benefits, you are not constrained by the same criteria when hiring a virtual receptionist.
If you have a small practice and employ only two or three additional staff members, a virtual receptionist may save time for them on essential tasks, while saving money on office space as well. You may not need all the services a virtual receptionist can provide in this case, and may only need help for a few hours per week. On the other hand, in a large practice with multiple healthcare practitioners and a large staff member contingent, you may need all of the services a virtual hire can offer. You may even need two or more virtual receptionists to keep up with all your patients' needs.
In both cases, however, you only need to pay for the services offered and the hours worked. This lets you streamline your practice, only paying for what you need. So, hiring virtual help may become a cost-effective strategy to improve your patient services while ensuring your practice runs smoothly and efficiently.
A leading virtual receptionist provider in the healthcare industry, Cool Blue VA has a team of highly trained and experienced virtual receptionists that will help you run a more efficient medical practice.
You should consider hiring a Cool Blue VA virtual receptionist because:
If you need a cost-effective, efficient way to manage your front desk, a virtual receptionist from Cool Blue VA may offer you the perfect solution. Contact us today at 714-695-8000 to learn more about our cost-saving services.
