Cyber Liability
$2 million
Aggregate policy limit
The role, explained
What is a medical virtual assistant?
A medical virtual assistant is a remote team member who supports a healthcare practice with patient calls, scheduling, intake, insurance administration and documentation. Healthcare virtual assistant and virtual medical assistant are commonly used for the same type of role.
Best suited to: US practices that need reliable administrative support during clinic hours, with English–Spanish bilingual options.
Add capacity without adding a chair
Verified Jennifer R.
5+ years of clinical operationsJennifer is a Certified Medical Assistant who supports practices remotely across scheduling, intake, EHR documentation, insurance verification and patient communication, with telemedicine coordination experience on top.
EHR Documentation
95%
Scheduling and Intake
93%
Insurance Verification
Front-desk staff in a medical practice spend most of their day on work that does not need to happen at the front desk: returning calls, chasing referrals, verifying coverage, working the fax queue. A dedicated virtual assistant takes that layer off your in-office team so they can stay with the patients in the room.
- Phones answered live and appointments booked in your EHR
- New patients registered, forms collected and insurance verified before the visit
- Referrals, prior authorizations and records requests chased to completion
- Inbox, faxes and portal messages triaged daily
- HIPAA training before kick-off, refreshed annually, plus a signed BAA
- Full-time from $1,900 a month, part-time from $1,200
Why hire a virtual assistant for your practice
Most practices do not need another specialist. They need one reliable person who takes the mixed bag of admin that currently falls to whoever is free: the phone, the fax queue, the referral that needs chasing, the new patient who has not sent their forms. A generalist virtual assistant absorbs that whole layer.
Full US hours overlap
Your assistant works your practice hours, a full 9 to 5 on your clock, so patients and payers reach a person.
Trained and checked
HIPAA training before kick-off, annual refreshers, background checks and a signed BAA.
US practice experience
Only people who have worked in a US practice on Athenahealth, eClinicalWorks, NextGen, Kareo or similar reach your shortlist.
One monthly rate
From $1,900 a month full-time, $1,200 part-time. No placement fee.
What a medical practice virtual assistant does
A generalist virtual assistant takes the whole layer of admin that does not need a body at the front desk. What they focus on each week is set by you; what follows is the typical scope.
- Answer and triage inbound calls, return voicemails and portal messages
- Book, confirm and reschedule appointments in your EHR or practice management system
- Register new patients, collect forms and ID, and verify insurance before the visit
- Send and chase referrals, prior authorizations and outside records requests
- Work the fax queue, scan and file documents to the correct chart
- Send appointment reminders and follow up on no-shows and cancellations
- Prepare charts and pre-visit paperwork the day before
- Handle recall lists, patient outreach and simple billing enquiries
Specialties
Virtual assistants support primary care, internal medicine, pediatrics, OB-GYN, dermatology, orthopaedics, physical therapy, behavioural health and most outpatient specialties. If it is a US outpatient practice with a front desk, the role transfers.
Skills and Qualifications
Practice assistants usually come from medical assistant, front-desk or practice administration backgrounds. What matters is having worked inside a US practice and its systems, not a degree.
- Experience in Athenahealth, eClinicalWorks, NextGen, Kareo, Tebra or similar.
- Working knowledge of insurance verification, referrals and prior authorization.
- Professional English on the phone and in writing, with Spanish a common plus.
- Organised, comfortable owning a task list and reporting on it.
How to hire a virtual assistant for your practice
Which EHR or practice management systems have you worked in day to day?
Candidates should name the system, describe scheduling, charting and messaging in it, and give an example of a workflow they ran end to end rather than a feature they have seen.
How do you prioritise when the phone, the fax queue and a referral deadline all land at once?
Look for a specific triage order: patient on the phone first, urgent clinical messages routed to the provider, then referrals and authorizations by deadline, then the queue. Vague answers about multitasking are a warning sign.
How do you handle protected health information in a remote role?
A strong answer covers minimum-necessary access, not discussing patients outside the practice, secure channels for PHI, and what they would do if they received records for the wrong patient.
What practices hand off first
Our business insurance
Insurance you
can verify.
Your practice needs clear answers about privacy, responsibility and insurance. MedicalVirtual maintains five business insurance policies alongside our HIPAA training, security procedures and Business Associate Agreements.
Documentation for your vendor review
Ask for our certificate of insurance and BAA before your assistant starts.
Request our certificate & BAA →Employment Practices Liability
$2 million
Aggregate policy limit
Technology Errors & Omissions
$2 million
Aggregate policy limit
Crime & Fidelity
$1 million
Aggregate policy limit
Commercial General Liability
Coverage maintained
Certificate and policy limits available on request
Coverage is subject to policy terms, conditions, exclusions and applicable limits.
From task to handoff
Which medical virtual assistant services does your practice need?
Start with a defined queue, an approved process and a named reviewer. These examples help you decide what to delegate and what a completed task should contain.
| Workstream | Remote support | Expected handoff |
|---|---|---|
| Patient access | Coordinate calls, scheduling, reminders and intake paperwork. | An updated schedule and complete administrative handoffs. |
| Insurance administration | Check eligibility, organize authorization requests and follow up on payer status. | Documented benefit checks and clearly owned follow-up tasks. |
| Documentation and billing | Match a specialist to scribing, records, coding or claims support. | A defined work queue with appropriate clinical or billing review. |
Where responsibility stays: Remote administrative staff do not replace licensed clinicians or hands-on medical assistants. Diagnosis, prescribing, clinical triage and final clinical decisions remain with qualified professionals.
Published industry data
Administrative work has a measurable cost.
In the AMA’s 2024 physician survey, respondents reported an average of 39 prior authorization requests each week. Processing that workload took about 13 hours of physician and staff time per physician, weekly.
Source: American Medical Association, March 25, 2025. These are survey findings, not MedicalVirtual client results or a promise of hours saved.
39 requests
Average weekly prior authorization workload reported per physician.
13 hoursPhysician and staff time spent each week on that workload.
Explore prior authorization support →Plan your budget
How much does remote medical staffing cost?
MedicalVirtual staffing starts at $10 per hour. The agreed rate depends on the role, experience and schedule. Direct hire and built-team engagements are quoted separately.
| Hours budgeted per week | Weekly at $10/hour | Average month at $10/hour |
|---|---|---|
| 20 hours | $200 | About $867 |
| 40 hours | $400 | About $1,733 |
Illustrative calculations, not package quotes: hourly rate × weekly hours × 52 ÷ 12. Actual invoices follow your agreed rate, billable hours and contract. Availability and minimum schedules are confirmed when quoted. Include any additional software seats or practice-side costs in your budget.
See staffing, direct hire and team pricing →Which systems will the assistant use?
Your EHR, practice-management system, phone platform and approved messaging channels. Candidate experience varies: share your software, specialty and payer mix so we can assess the actual match.
Use individual accounts and permissions appropriate to the work. Your practice approves access, provides its procedures and names the person who handles exceptions.
How should you measure the work?
Choose a baseline for the queue you delegate: unanswered calls, incomplete intake, pending authorizations, unsigned notes or unworked claims. Review quality and turnaround together.
Agree the definitions and review a sample of completed work during onboarding. Set targets from your own baseline; results depend on workload, staffing and practice processes.
Ready for the first working day
What should you prepare before hiring?
- Define the workload. Share weekly volume, required hours, language needs, software and the tasks that stay with your team.
- Assess the actual role. Interview shortlisted candidates and use de-identified examples to check the skills your workflow requires.
- Set up approved access. Complete HIPAA training and the BAA before PHI access, then configure individual accounts and practice-approved communication channels.
- Start with a supervised queue. Provide scripts, task checklists, an escalation contact and a review process before expanding responsibilities.
Matching and onboarding time depend on the specialty, candidate availability and your access setup. Agree a realistic start date after the role is scoped.
HIPAA training alone does not establish compliance. Contracts, administrative procedures and technical safeguards must work together. Read the HHS guidance on business associates and HIPAA Security Rule safeguards.
Discuss your practice’s workload →Explore the role that matches your workload
Frequently
Asked Questions
Still have questions?
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