You may have heard the term "Virtual Assistant" but you don't understand what they do or how they might be able to help you and your practice.

 

With today's internet technology a Virtual Assistant can provide you and your staff with office support and specialized services and to get you the help you need, when you need help, without ever having to hire an employee.

 

Wikipedia (en.wikipedia.org) defines a Virtual Assistant (typically abbreviated to VA, also called virtual office assistant) as an entrepreneur who provides professional administrative, technical, or creative (social) assistance to clients from a home office.

 

Virtual Assistants normally work from a home office utilizing today's technology to deliver their services and communicate with clients. With Virtual Assistants working from home the client is saved from the worry of providing additional office space and equipment for a temporary solution.

 

Virtual Assistants support their clients over the Internet, via email and fax. The tools that the VA uses depend on how technology savvy the client might be, and the level of trust established with the client. 

Occasionally there may be a need for items to travel via US mail, be picked up, or dropped off. However VA's can usually manage a majority of services using just the Internet and a fax machine. VA's use remote access tools such as PC Anywhere, LogMeIn, and GoToMyPC which are especially helpful for sharing applications and data. Conference call or online meetings typically utilize NetMeeting, WebEx, or Skype-making location a non-issue for those working remotely.

 

More than ever before businesses are utilizing VA's. Simply put, it's because office managers and administrators are under budget restraints or need to cut costs but cannot afford to sacrifice the services provided to their patients.

 

Professional VA's are increasingly popular since they are able to handle the bookkeeping

 

This, in turn allows physicians and office administrators additional time to spend with their patients, or simply take some much needed time off for themselves!

 

Many practices believe that keeping these services in-house will save them money, when in fact; outsourcing certain tasks could help increase productivity in the practice.

 

Administrators and physicians often spend 4-10 hours per week completing tasks that do not generate revenue. Outsourcing some of these tasks could actually save them money when their own "hourly wage" is taken into consideration. Time spent doing administrative tasks could be better spent on revenue producing activities or improving and increasing patient satisfaction at your practice, thus increasing patient retention. You may already outsource other professionals such as financial advisors, specialists, human resources, telephone answering services and more. With a Virtual Assistance, help is only a phone call or click away!