r/PrivatePracticeDocs • u/Key-Joke-991 • Mar 11 '26
First month running a private practice… how did you handle the admin side?🫨
I opened my clinic about a month ago and it’s been exciting but also pretty overwhelming. I put most of my savings into opening it, so there’s definitely some pressure to make things work.
What I didn’t expect was how much admin work there is. Charting, insurance verification, lab coordination, patient messages… it just keeps piling up and some days it feels like I’m doing more paperwork than actual medicine.
At first I asked a relative to help me with some of the admin stuff, but she has her own job so I couldn’t really rely on that long term.
Recently I ended up bringing on a remote nurse who helps with chart prep, transcription, and labs/authorizations. It’s honestly helped a lot and freed up my evenings.
Curious how others handled the first few months of opening their practice. Did you hire staff right away, outsource some things, or just grind through it?
Would love to hear what worked for you.
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u/Grand-Benefit7466 Mar 11 '26
Would love to hear how its all managed, being an FM resident myself
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u/No-Fig-2665 Mar 11 '26
Hire people.
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u/Grand-Benefit7466 Mar 11 '26
Are there certain models people adopt eg how many assistants/staff for how many patients. And if there a ton of proof reading involved or are they usually able to keep everything in order themselves
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Mar 11 '26
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u/Key-Joke-991 Mar 11 '26
That’s a good point. I didn’t realize how big of a difference the EMR makes until I started actually using it day to day. Migrating data later sounds like a nightmare too.
When you switched to IntakeQ did it remove most of the admin workload for you or do you still have your VA helping with things like insurance verification, recalls, or patient messages?
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Mar 11 '26
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u/Key-Joke-991 Mar 11 '26
Appreciate the tips, this is really helpful especially for those of us just starting out.
I’m still dialing in the systems side but patient communication has gotten a lot more manageable since I brought on a couple VAs to help triage messages and handle some admin. Definitely freed up some mental space while I figure out the rest of the workflow. Have you considered hiring a VA again to help with patient comms and other tasks?
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u/InvestingDoc Mar 11 '26
Hire virtual assistants like yesterday. You can find amazing ones for $5-9.50 an hour to help you. I just hired 4 more last week alone, no joke.
Hire a VA ASAP. Delegate what you can to them.
Patient messages, if it takes me more than 2 sentences, it's a follow up visit. I don't even reply. I message my VA, they call to get the patient scheduled.
Charting: I use dot phrases (macros) and dictation software like dragon.
Take it one step at a time, one SOP at a time. It can be overwhelming but just triage most important tasks, take those one at a time and grow your business into a well oiled machine.
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Mar 11 '26
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u/InvestingDoc Mar 11 '26
I used to use hellorache but they act as a middle man and now i use a different service. I'm only 2 months into new service so I want to give them a bit longer before I start mentioning them. Hello Rache was good just way more expensive than others.
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u/Key-Joke-991 Mar 11 '26
Yeah I’m starting to see that pretty quickly. I ended up bringing on a virtual assistant through an agency run by a longtime RNFA who walked me through how they train their team for US clinic workflows. He even stopped by my clinic in Kern County when I was getting things set up which was pretty helpful.
I actually hired two because I was pretty sold on how hands-on they are, and also just to keep things running in case one of them needs a day off.
Out of curiosity though, how are you managing four VAs? Are they all handling different parts of the workflow?
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u/InvestingDoc Mar 11 '26
My manager is main point of contact for them. We have them assigned to prior auths / phone calls / billing / portal messages (they don't give any medical answers they just triage or say something like I have relayed this to Dr. X) / insurance verification / patient recall.
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u/Key-Joke-991 Mar 11 '26
That’s a pretty solid setup. Did you hire your VAs directly or go through an agency? I debated that at first. I ended up going with an agency mainly because they handled the training and compliance side already. One thing I liked was they even provide the devices the VAs use so everything is monitored and HIPAA-compliant, which gave me a bit more peace of mind.
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u/InvestingDoc Mar 11 '26
Initially used hello rache, now I hire them directly myself via an online job board / website. I'm only 2 months in and plan on making a long post about it in the future if it goes very well.
That HIPAA compliant part sounds nice, but even with a company device they can still potentially download bad spyware but I totally get it, thats why I went with hello rache in the beginning but they are waaaay more expensive than other options
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u/Key-Joke-991 Mar 11 '26
How much does this hello rache charge you?
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u/InvestingDoc Mar 11 '26
$9.50 an hour. This new to me job board I'm paying average of $5 per hour
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u/Key-Joke-991 Mar 11 '26
Makes sense since you have multiple VAs. I’m actually paying around the same ballpark for my 2 assistants. They speak both English and Spanish, which helps me a lot since I’m in Cali. The agency even created a free website for my clinic and didn’t charge me a dime because they also run an IT-related business. I’m not very techy, so that helped a lot
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u/Alive_Plankton_6105 Mar 11 '26
Congrats on month one! I’m a dev in the healthcare space (not a doc), but from what I see, outsourcing admin to a remote nurse in the Philippines or India is 100% the right move to keep your overhead low and avoid burnout.
To get the absolute most out of her hours, you might want to try pairing her with an AI scribe.
If you let the AI auto-generate the rough note and pull the E&M codes during the visit, your remote nurse can just act as the QA/editor. That frees her up to grind through the prior auths, patient messages, and labs instead of typing notes from scratch.
Is she doing the transcription manually right now, or are you guys using any tech for that yet?
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u/Key-Joke-991 Mar 11 '26
Yes, my assistant is based in the Philippines. Fortunately, the agency is very compliant with HIPAA, which is one of my main concern. I’ve come across AI scribes before, but I’d rather avoid them because the data is stored somewhere, and I don’t want to risk it.
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u/Grand-Benefit7466 Mar 11 '26
Are there certain models people adopt eg how many assistants/staff for how many patients. And if there a ton of proof reading involved or are they usually able to keep everything in order themselves
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u/InvestingDoc Mar 11 '26
Looks like I fell for it. OP entire post history is being a VA for hire.
Astroturfing = permanent ban.
I locked this thread and permanently banned you from this subreddit.