The Majority of You Don’t Use Virtual Assistants Services

question:

Do you or don’t you (or your business) use any sort of virtual assistant services?

Yes: 13%

• To explore marketing approaches, write letters, research topics. — Verbelee N., Orlando, FL
• For the last year, we have had our phones answered by a VA and she also pulls insurance authorizations. — Bart P., Lake Worth, FL
• We sometimes use a chat feature or when we verify insurance it is an automated call. — Caitlin N., Montrose, CO
• Yes, only if using ChatGPT counts. — Jennifer Y., Canandaigua, NY
• Phones! We just got a new virtual assistant, so we’ll see how it goes. — Amy F., East Brunswick, NJ
• We have an AI prepped to answer the phones and make appointments. Won’t have an opinion on it for at least a month or two. — Marc U., Pine Beach, NJ
• We’ve had a virtual assistant for about nine months now. He is the primary answerer of the phones and will address general questions (or transfer more specific questions to the appropriate department) and book/reschedule appointments. He has also recently started assisting with our insurance verifications. By taking these tasks off our hands, it’s given our in-office staff more time to be present with the patients that are in our office. — Christine H., Plainville, MA

No: 87%

• I believe a lot of the problems in private practice come from overreaching and attempting to please everybody. I teach my staff that busy is a bad word. We don’t want to be busy; we want to be productive. We laser focus on our main income streams (luxury eyewear, CL and specialty services) and don’t get overwhelmed with taking 20 insurances. We stick to the few best payers and work to attract those clients. Maximize RPP, reduce the amount of patients needing to be seen. By having less admin overhead, we can focus on providing the best customer service to our patients. The background busy work is minimized, and we don’t need to source low wage VAs from other countries. We don’t like outsourced customer service from large corporations, why bring in another thing for patients to disagree with? — Jason K., Phoenix, AZ
• It hasn’t been necessary. — Dan A., Port St. Lucie, FL
• They drive me nuts and I have zero desire to create that barrier between my business and the customer. — Nikki G., Oakdale, MN
• Ugh. Who needs more technology in their life? — Jen H., Sandpoint, ID
• We’ve been talking about this a lot recently. Mostly for admin tasks as they tend to be the most straight forward. But being an optical only with no doctor it’s a little bit harder to justify. — Travis L., Logan, UT
• I have thought about a VA scribe. We do have a remote person that does a lot of admin stuff. — Kristina J., Mishawaka, IN
• We are a small office and haven’t seen the need for these services yet. — Cynthia S., Lewis Center, OH
• Our practice is small, so we don’t really need anything like this. — Kelsey B., Winston Salem, NC
• Not enough staff! — Jennifer S., New Canaan, CT