The growing digital world is significantly changing healthcare, and medical virtual assistants are at the forefront of this shift. While it might seem like their main purpose is simply to make things faster, more personal, and better for patients by using remote workers, the reality is deeper.
Let’s explore what this new technology truly aims to achieve and how it’s reshaping the entire healthcare experience.
What is a Virtual Medical Assistant?
A Medical Virtual Assistant (MVA) is a trained professional who provides remote administrative, clinical, and medical billing virtual assistant support to healthcare providers, clinics, hospitals, and other medical organizations. They work remotely, often from their own home or office, utilizing VoIP technology and your practice management system to perform tasks that would typically be done by an on-site medical assistant or administrative staff.
Think of them as a digital extension of your healthcare team, helping to streamline operations and improve efficiency without the need for a physical presence in the office. For all practical purposes, they are a member of your existing staff, just working remotely. This setup necessitated and widely used during Covid firmly demonstrated its practicality.
What a Medical Virtual Assistant Does (A Day in the Life)
A medical virtual assistant (MVA) is more than just an answering service they are fully integrated, proactive members of your team. Their day is focused on administrative efficiency, allowing your clinical staff to prioritize patient care.
| Time Block | Typical MVA Activities | Impact on Clinic |
| Start of Day (8:00 AM) | Reviewing the daily patient schedule, processing new patient intake forms, initiating insurance eligibility verification for upcoming appointments. | Minimizes patient wait times and reduces claim denials. |
| Mid-Morning | Managing high-volume inbound and outbound patient calls, handling prescription refill requests, securing prior authorizations for procedures or medications. | Frees up on-site staff from phone duty and complex paperwork. |
| Afternoon | Updating patient EHR/EMR systems with consultation notes, managing referral networks, addressing patient portal messages, and following up on pending lab results. | Ensures accurate, complete patient records and seamless care coordination. |
| End of Day (5:00 PM) | Finalizing day-end billing summaries, submitting clean claims, scheduling patient follow-up appointments, and reporting daily metrics to the dedicated Doctoc Business Success Manager. | Guarantees timely revenue cycle management and high scheduling adherence. |
Optimal Match for Your Clinic Requirements
Finding the perfect virtual medical assistant for your clinical work means doing some homework and picking a reliable company. Doctoc is known for providing excellent virtual medical assistants made just for healthcare teams worldwide.
Doctoc’s virtual assistants are highly experienced and proficient in medical terminologies, clinical workflows, and meeting diverse patients’ needs.
Since every clinic has it’s own workflow pattern, we will pick the right candidates tailored to your needs, share their CV’s with you that you can shortlist and conduct and interview with one or more VA’s to ensure that the Virtual Assistant will be the perfect fit for your Clinic.
What is the benefit of hiring a virtual assistant, not an on-site one?
Between 2021 and 2025, a significant 42.9% of medical clinics in the US have made a notable shift towards hiring virtual medical assistants. However, this isn’t about offloading all their work but strategically bringing on virtual support to specifically tackle and simplify some of their most time-consuming and challenging tasks.
1. Cost Savings:
- Lower Labor Costs: You pay as low as a flat $1599/monthly for an FTE, around 70% lower than the experienced on-site employee’s salary and benefits (health insurance, paid time off, retirement contributions).
- Reduced Overhead: You save on expenses associated with an on-site employee, such as office space, equipment, utilities, and supplies.
2. Increased Efficiency and Patient Care:
- Improved Productivity: You can count on our virtual medical assistants to be fully dedicated to your clinic and your clinic only, handling their responsibilities timely and meticulously.
- Focus on Core Tasks: By delegating administrative and routine tasks to a VA, you and your on-site team can focus on patient care.
3. Doctoc’s Exclusive Business Partnership Model:
- Strategic Outsourcing: Simple outsourcing does not work unless you integrate. Our medical virtual assistant services seamlessly integrate within your clinic’s workflow, support in-house staff and work under your clinic’s protocols.
- Business Success Manager: Doctoc assigns a dedicated manager to supervise, review, and report on the virtual assistant’s work, leading a complete team effort to achieve your business objective and ours.
Use Case Examples for Specialty Clinics.
The power of an MVA is in their specialization. Our team is trained to handle the unique administrative challenges of various medical fields. For example,
1. Dermatology Clinic
- Prior Authorization Management: Expediting complex prior authorization for high-cost specialty biologics and prescription drugs.
- Cosmetic Consultation Coordination: Scheduling, confirming, and documenting details for non-insured cosmetic procedures.
- Patient File Organization: Digitally organizing and tagging patient photo documentation and treatment consent forms.
2. Cardiology Clinic
- Diagnostic Test Scheduling: Coordinating appointments for EKGs, stress tests, and echocardiograms across multiple facilities.
- Referral Management: Tracking and managing external referrals to specialists (e.g., vascular surgeons) and ensuring necessary documents are sent promptly.
- Data Entry: Inputting readings and data from remote monitoring devices (e.g., pacemakers) into the patient chart.
3. Physiotherapy/Rehabilitation Clinic
- Recurring Appointment Series: Managing long-term treatment plans, coordinating a series of 10-12 appointments, and handling necessary rescheduling.
- Insurance & Claim Processing: Submitting claims for multi-session care and managing documentation required for extended disability or workers’ compensation cases.
- Patient Education Support: Distributing customized digital or printable exercise sheets and post-treatment instructions.
Pricing and Plan Overview
We believe in transparent, value-based partnerships. Doctoc offers flexible engagement models designed to fit the unique needs and growth trajectory of your clinic.
Our model focuses on providing a Fixed Monthly Rate for a dedicated, full-time equivalent (FTE) virtual medical assistant. This structure allows clinics to accurately budget and realize significant savings—often reducing administrative labor costs by up to 70% compared to hiring a similarly experienced on-site employee.
Request a personalized quote today to see your potential savings calculated.
(FAQ)
What tasks can a virtual assistant perform for a clinic?
MVAs handle a wide range of administrative, clinical, and billing tasks including patient scheduling, insurance verification, prior authorizations, medical billing/coding, phone triage, EMR/EHR data entry, and patient communication.
Is the service HIPAA-compliant and U.S.-based?
Yes. Doctoc is a HIPAA-compliant platform, and all workflows are secured by Business Associate Agreements (BAA). We primarily serve U.S. clinics with staff trained to U.S. healthcare standards.
How much can a clinic reduce admin costs by using a virtual assistant?
Clinics typically reduce their labor and overhead costs by 40% to 70% per FTE compared to hiring a full-time, experienced, on-site employee with benefits.
How quickly can we onboard a virtual assistant?
Once you select your ideal candidate after an interview, the onboarding process typically takes 1-2 weeks. This time is used for training the VA on your specific EMR/EHR system and clinic protocols.
Do your MVAs handle medical billing and coding?
Yes, our virtual assistants are certified in medical billing and coding can assist with claim submission, denial management, coding support, and managing the entire revenue cycle process.
What technology or software is required to work with a VA?
You only need a secure, internet-connected computer and a VoIP system. Our VAs integrate seamlessly with all major EMR/EHR platforms and communication software used by clinics.
Embrace the future of your clinic with Doctoc’s qualified Virtual Medical Assistants: your key to streamlined workflows, enhanced patient care, and more efficient practice. Explore the possibilities today!
