Episode Details

All the Benefits of Medical Office In-House Staff with a Virtual Assistant

In this episode, Barbara and Danielle discuss:

• The role of a virtual assistant in a medical office.
• What a VA can do and how they can be HIPAA compliant.
• Questions to ask when looking for a Virtual Assistant.

Key Takeaways:

• Many virtual assistants are hired as part-time, if you are looking for quick responsiveness and turn times, you may consider looking only for full-time virtual assistants.
• There is HIPAA certifications that can be received by virtual assistants.
• Know the difference between wanting a virtual assistant and hiring one – you need to be prepared monetarily as well as being prepared to let go. 

“[Hiring a virtual assistant] is a very flexible and on-demand option.” —  Danielle Cuomo

 Transcription

Barbara:         Welcome to another episode of Marketing Tips for Doctors. This is your host, Dr. Barbara Hales. Today, we have with us Danielle Cuomo.

Danielle is the owner of Virtual Assistant USA, a company that provides all the benefits of an in-house staff and support team without all the cost that an employee would require. For the past 12 years, her company has been supporting healthcare providers in augmenting their team when they need additional help. Welcome to the show, Danielle.

Danielle:       Thank you very much for having me.

Barbara:         Danielle, what is the role that a virtual assistant can play for a medical office?

Danielle:       Well, a virtual assistant can help a medical office or a healthcare provider in a number of ways. We can basically handle the business or operational, administrative end of things so that the practitioner can focus on practicing. So we can help with any administrative tasks, back-office tasks. We have clients that will use their virtual assistants for things like helping with referrals, authorizations, EMR management, any type of medical billing, insurance verifications, appointments, pretty much anything that the doctor doesn’t need to do themselves.

Barbara:         Where does HIPAA compliance come into play?

Danielle:       Well, HIPAA compliance is something that is really important for all of our clients that are in the healthcare space. We are the only HIPAA compliant virtual assistant. All of my team members are certified in HIPAA compliance as well as our system is HIPAA compliant. So obviously, that privacy and protection is very important for our clients in the healthcare space and it’s something that we take very seriously.

Barbara:         Well, that is so important and kudos to you for getting that. Having the function of being one of the only companies that is HIPAA compliant is really very impressive.

Danielle:       Thank you very much. Yeah, we’ve taken the courses, the certification in HIPAA privacy, security and confidentiality, the omnibus role, the enforcement roles. And when we work with a client who is in healthcare, we operate under a BAA or a business associate agreement as well.

Barbara:         Tell me, how do I go about hiring a virtual assistant?

Danielle:       Well, if you want to hire a virtual assistant, a really great place to