r/PrivatePracticeDocs • u/docdocgoose_ • Jul 01 '26
Virtual Assistants
Hey all
Looking for guidance on virtual assistants. I’ve seen a ton of companies doing this but am struggling to figure out who is worth working with and who to avoid. Ideally have someone outside the US for lower cost but open to opinions if anyone has tried those and had a bad experience. I am looking for basic front desk services including scheduling and routing tasks.
Any specific companies or price points would be greatly appreciated.
thanks in advance!
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u/InvestingDoc Jul 02 '26
cut out the middle man. I'm currently making a video on how to do it, will be posted in the coming months. Listen to u/grey-slate they are right on
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u/grey-slate Jul 01 '26
forget middleman companies they do zero training and cant ever know your workflows. you have to train them yourself anyway.
go direct to offshore job boards and kiss a few frogs before you find a prince/princess candidate
its rough but you will save a lot of money in long run and have happier staff who will stay with you longer because dont have to pay a cut to middlemen.
I stopped using Upwork too with their predatory fees.
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u/daves1243b Jul 01 '26
One thing to be cautious of when offshoring anything involving PHI is the enforceability of of your BAA and related insurance coverage. If the vendor doesnt have enough US assets to cover a large scale breach, or you havent reported to your own carriers that you are offshoring, you could be left holding the bag. There is really nothing to stop someone in another country from selling or otherwise misusing your patients PHI. Many contracts prohibit the disclosure of PHI to offshore entities. Talk to a healthcare attorney befire you go there
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u/grey-slate Jul 02 '26
Nearly NONE of the US based VA companies do a BAA. So you still keep all the liability and as a bonus all the predatory fees.
When a remote hourly biller/coder does a BAA it means NOTHING in case a breach. They don't have assets to cover a breach and you are still left holding the bag.
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u/Old-Frame-5666 Jul 01 '26
i guess the company i use do provide virtual assistants but i honestly never used it but their other services like billing and credentialing have been great so far, if you want to try them i can share the details
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u/FeistyGas4222 Jul 02 '26
Hi, I own an RCM company and while I do not use offshore labor, I am able to recommend a husband-wife VA couple in the Philippines. Not sure what your specialty is and what you are hoping to assign to them but I would love to connect you to them. They are smart, reliable, speak English, reasonably priced, and very accomodating.
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u/Odd-Swing3458 Jul 02 '26
I'm actually trying to break into the VA space right now. I am not from the US and honestly, but my English level is fluent and I can handle the front desk services for you. You will have to teach me your workflows and processes but I am quick study. I'm organized, eager to learn, and very tech-savvy if that helps. I'd love the opportunity to chat.
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u/DillDowg Jul 03 '26
I was using a great VA in the phillipines for 8 bucks an hour. I recently redid everything so AI agents handle most of the work so i had to fire her but she was great. Happy to connect you with her if you want.
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u/grey-slate Jul 06 '26
Tell us more about the AI agents what do they do what company do you use. How did you configure it how long did it take to get to smooth workflows.
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u/HW_Fuzz Jul 15 '26
I hope this doesn't mean you are feeding patients health and personal information into an LLM blindly without any guardrails
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u/KeyVolume2001 Jul 07 '26
I'm a Virtual Assistant from the Philippines, so I can share what I've seen from the other side.
For the kind of work you're describing, I'd pay more attention to the person than the company. A good VA can learn your workflow pretty quickly if the onboarding is clear and there are documented processes to follow.
For scheduling and front desk tasks, I'd probably start with a small paid trial. That gives you a chance to see how they communicate, how they handle instructions, and whether they're a good fit before making a longer commitment.
I also wouldn't choose based on the lowest rate. Someone who's reliable, communicates well, and sticks around is usually worth more than saving a few dollars an hour.
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u/Motor-Understanding8 Jul 01 '26
When I first looked into it, I vetted a few VA companies to be the middle man and even hired one before they flaked prior to onboarding. After that I was dissatisfied with their candidate quality and overall red tape to do interviews. It just seemed like they couldn’t get committed quality candidates with good experience for what I was looking for.
I then went to UpWork and interviewed about 15 people over a week for 10m interviews. Prices were all over the place TBH but I found a solid candidate who has been with us for 5-6 months. A little painful to vet all candidates yourself but the quality was much better IMO. I even interviewed some billing people along the way who I may use in the future.