Dentures: Facts, Figures and Friendly Advice for Seniors

How can dental clinics use virtual assistants?

16 October 2015

Herman Kim

For many business people around the world, using a virtual assistant saves them huge amounts of time and money. They can pick an assistant from a global talent pool and find people who will perform all sorts of tasks for them, from submitting accounts to posting on social media. And when you hire a virtual assistant in the Philippines, for example, you need only pay around $500 a month. But what exact tasks can you get a virtual assistant to perform for a dental clinic?

Appointment setting. If your dental clinic reception is dropping the ball on appointment confirmations simply because the in-house staff are overworked and distracted within the dentist's office environment itself, you can help them out by outsourcing this task to a virtual assistant. You can create a separate phone number for appointments only and have this whole line handled by your virtual assistant, who can also respond to email appointment enquiries. The receptionist within the clinic can then concentrate on the appointments made inside the office and offering the best level of service to every patient.

Insurance verifications. One of the most complicated things about having a dental clinic is dealing with all of the insurance claims. Some people will be covered by the state, some people will have private insurance, and some people might be travelling from abroad and have dental coverage on their travel insurance plan. If your receptionist is more of a people person who likes making everyone in the clinic feel comfortable and at home, dealing with this insurance headache might not be their strong point. But a virtual assistant with a technical brain could excel at this task. You'd have to give them a thorough training in insurance laws and procedures at first, but once that is done, they can take care of that whole side of your clinic month after month.

Social media. When you think of dental clinics, you don't exactly think of big marketing operations. But your dental clinic could benefit from social media too. If you are trying to promote a new teeth whitening service or that you are a family friendly dental clinic, getting the word out via social channels could be invaluable. Because social media for one clinic doesn't normally justify full time hours, this is something that you could hire a virtual assistant to take care of for a day or two a week.

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