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The Physician Philosopher Podcast

How Virtual Assistants Can Benefit Doctors

I’m a big fan of delegating tasks and freeing up my time so that I can focus on what I need to focus on in my business. And finding work-life balance (or life-life balance as some people like to call it) is one of the most common things doctors want. But how do we go about finding that?

Physician Disability Insurance

Enter virtual assistants for doctors. 

Beth LaChance created just the solution for many doctors on the road to burnout: a medical virtual assistant (VA) company that assists doctors with scheduling, pre-authorizations, paperwork, and more. If you’re a doctor who doesn’t know what a VA is or how they can help you get back some of your time (or potentially make you more money), this one’s for you.

Who Beth LaChance Is

Beth is the CEO of REVA Global Medical, a company that provides medical virtual assistants to offices, hospitals, and clinics. She has 16 years of experience as a business owner specializing in real estate project management and investing with Hat Trick Holding, LLC, and over 22 years of corporate experience in the private and public sector of surgical device, pharmaceutical, and specialty pharmacy industries.

Beth created REVA Global Medical when she saw how effective virtual assistants were in the real estate project management realm. Drawing from her own medical background, she was inspired to carry this idea into the medical field, so she did. In the process, she filled a gap for many overwhelmed and overworked physicians.

How medical virtual assistants play their role

When it comes to delegating work and getting that work to the virtual assistant, it’s no different than having a remote worker that works directly for the practice. The dynamic is very similar to that of an independent contractor. And Beth pointed out that REVA designates VAs that only work within your practice or system, not with multiple practices, so you know that you’re their primary focus.

VAs mainly offer support to physicians and front office staff by completing essential day-to-day tasks. With access to the client’s EMR, they can handle overflow calls or complete new patient intakes to relieve the front desk team. 

Services can also include obtaining prior authorizations, managing schedules, or following up with patients, among many others. They work the hours that the practice prefers, and can even accommodate slightly offset hours to be able to answer after-hours clinic calls as needed. 

REVA Global’s VAs are based in the Philippines, where most college degrees earned are in nursing, and where there aren’t enough nursing jobs to go around. 

Beth also reminded us that a medical virtual assistant is first and foremost a professional with a medical background. They’re HIPAA-certified and are familiar with the flow of work within medical practices and how the US healthcare system operates.

What medical virtual assistant delegation looks like

Let’s say you’re ready to offload some of the work that keeps you too busy. Go ahead and think about which tasks to delegate the VA, and how you want the VA to get those tasks done. There’s no one size fits all workflow, and medical VAs will work with you to figure out the best process for you and your practice.

Let’s use prior authorizations as an example. Beth explained that within REVA, prior authorizations are either delegated via EMR or a patient list collected ahead of time with no further action needed from you. The VA has all the information needed to call the insurance company, get the prior authorization approved, and then link that information directly into the EMR.

Why virtual assistants for doctors are a game changer

Many medical practices are unnecessarily wasting resources when they utilize their nurses or financial staff for insurance verification, prior authorizations, or obtaining specialty referrals. Could that be you, too? 

Instead, you could be saving time and money by making use of remote VAs and letting nurses and staff serve in patient-facing roles where they’re most needed. 

Delegating tasks to VAs also means a morale boost for your team. And even though the VAs aren’t physically within the practice, Beth sees staff often become very close with the VAs as they work together. Teams are frequently very cohesive and running as seamlessly as if they worked side by side. 

If this is exactly the kind of relief you’ve been looking for, start thinking about the scope of work you could offload to a medical VA and consider the budget you’re working with. You CAN do it by yourself, but you don’t have to do it alone.

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TPP

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