Don’t You Think Human Touch is Necessary in Virtual Assistance

Don’t You Think Human Touch is Necessary in Virtual Assistance

Virtual Assistant

In this era of digital age and AI being the buzzword, we first think of a robot assisting us manage our ancillary tasks. But in reality, we are not very comfortable with the word “ALIEN” to conduct our day-to-day chores. So, what if we are assisted by a human assistant who are trained and qualified; someone who is there to assist but not intrude; someone who is efficient and available on demand to assist? In most of the cases, the answer is a resounding “YES”. Here comes our virtual assistant team who is ready to serve and assist you remotely carrying out administrative tasks while you focus on your core tasks without worrying about ancillary and non-core tasks.

What is a Virtual assistant (VA)

A virtual assistant provides administrative and other support services to clients remotely. Virtual assistant services typically depend on the nature of business of the client but it involves ancillary administrative tasks and other non-core tasks of the client. Virtual assistants work remotely, so they have the flexibility to work from home or any location with an internet connectivity and necessary communication setup.

A virtual assistant must possess exceptional language and communication skills, adequately knowledgeable in client’s area of business, and proficient in technology and computer operations. Virtual assistants perform various tasks that depend on their clients’ requirements. This can include a wide variety of tasks such as managing schedules, emails and calendars, making travel arrangements, performing front desk assistance, handling inbound and outbound calls, data entry, editing documents, and several other office administrative tasks. In an organized setup, virtual assistants are trained properly about their work assignments, roles and responsibilities before engagement.

The Role of Virtual Assistant in Healthcare Industry

The demand for virtual assistants is growing tremendously since 2020 and healthcare industry is no exception. In fact, the demand for virtual assistants in healthcare is increasing more rapidly than others due to increasing workload and healthcare practitioner’s focus on care delivery. Higher operating cost to maintain full-time administrative staff is another reason for growth in demand for virtual assistants in healthcare industry.

A healthcare virtual assistant works remotely to ensure smooth administrative process in healthcare organizations and offers a wide variety of services to assist clients focus on their core expertise area, i.e. care delivery. A virtual assistant supports a wide variety of administrative tasks, such as patient registration, appointment scheduling and follow-up, coordination & communication with patients, front desk tasks, patient data entry, documentation support and many others administrative tasks.

The goal of a healthcare virtual assistant is to ensure smooth administration in healthcare establishments and assist medical practitioners manage their core tasks more efficiently without wasting time on ancillary tasks.

Benefits of Hiring a Virtual Assistant

Virtual assistants excel in performing routine and time-consuming tasks, offering a highly cost-effective solution. A virtual assistant can work on anytime offering flexibility, and a part time virtual assistant removes the burden of bearing expenses of full-time employment.  Besides the benefits of cost and flexibility, engaging a trained and qualified virtual assistant for administrative tasks, healthcare practitioners are able to refocus their core area of patient treatment and delivery of quality care.

A superior virtual assistant service offers a multitude of advantages to healthcare practices, especially in small & medium sectors, enabling the delivery of quality care and fostering continuous growth.

  • Streamlined and more organized administrative tasks
  • Enhanced patients experience and satisfaction
  • Free-up practitioner’s valuable time to focus on patient care
  • Better patient documentation improves claims submission
  • Improved patient coordination & communication
  • Effective time management
  • Cost efficiency
  • Flexible and after office hours support

How to Choose the Right Virtual Assistant Service

Success of every endeavor depends on proper planning and organization; and efficient execution of a well-defined plan. Hiring a virtual assistant too requires a high-level clarity of needs and requirements, tasks that require virtual assistant support, and a set of guidelines and protocols for the virtual assistant to work for the client. Above all a short but effective hand holding support is essential to get the best and desired service from any virtual assistants. An organized and process oriented outsourcing partner provides the required assistance to the client to hire the most suitable virtual assistant for the specific service,

  • Define requirements outlining virtual assistant’s roles and responsibilities of the assignment, tasks to be performed etc.
  • Select the virtual assistant from the pool of resources
  • Execute a service agreement that defines service requirements, performance criteria, escalation mechanism among others and a confidentiality agreement
  • Assign the outsourcing partner to provide client specific training to the virtual assistant and extend hand holding support
  • Evaluate performance on a monthly basis

Conclusion

Healthcare virtual assistance is a relatively new but evolving concept that is revolutionizing the healthcare industry by offering cost effective services to address many challenges faced by healthcare practitioners. The versatility and flexibility of virtual assistants ensure that healthcare professionals are able to organize their administrative tasks efficiently, streamline communication and focus on their primary tasks through an efficient time management. In a dynamic and ever-changing landscape of healthcare, where patient engagement, efficiency, and accuracy are essential for financial stability, healthcare virtual assistant service can lead to a better patient-focused reality in the healthcare industry.

In spite of a plethora of benefits, healthcare practitioners are hesitant in adopting virtual assistant service, primarily due to concern of outsourcing and with the term “VIRTUAL”. A solution to this unspoken concern is to partner with a reliable and trustworthy virtual assistant service provider. But how do we measure “reliability” and “trustworthiness” of an outsourcing service provider? A simple rule is to check their process management capability, quality and compliance procedure, management commitment to the service, and quality of resources they have. Above all, it is important to sense whether they are ready to walk that extra mile to meet your business objective.