Virtual medical assistant: Should I hire an in-house employee or an independent contractor?

 It is a commonly known fact that medical staff in the healthcare industry is overworked. Running a healthcare facility not only includes clinical tasks, but also non-clinical tasks, which can take up to 2-3 hours every day for a physician or doctor. Medical assistants are there to do the job. As the name suggests, they are there to assist doctors with non-clinical tasks. This helps doctors save time, and eventually, money.

 Now, when it comes to employing someone, you have two options available:

●        hire an employee on the company’s payroll

●        partner with an independent contractor



 In this post, we will compare both options, which will help you make an informed decision on the virtual medical assistant services you need for 2023.  

 What is a virtual medical assistant?                

 A virtual medical assistant is a remote employee who helps doctors with a range of administrative and non-clinical tasks. A medical VA can help a doctor with appointment scheduling, replying to patient queries, reminding patients about appointments, making calls, managing supplies, and other office operation tasks.

 A virtual medical biller and a virtual medical scribe can also assist a doctor with medical billing and medical documentation to the EHR.

 A medical VA works from a remote location. Your VA needs a computer, a headset, collaboration software, and a working internet connection to work remotely from any location. Working with a VA costs less than working with an on-site assistant because it saves money on operations costs and other considerations such as logistics and accommodations.

 In fact, the Global Healthcare Virtual Assistants Market is estimated to grow at a CAGR of 36.8%. It is expected to reach USD 2,103.75 million by 2027 from USD 439.1 million in 2022. Now, the only question left is whether I should hire a virtual medical assistant as an in-house employee or an independent contractor.  

 Virtual medical assistant: an in-house employee or an independent contractor

 We have compared virtual medical assistant services from an in-house employee or an independent contractor on the following factors:

  1. Hiring, training, and managing
  2. HR responsibilities
  3. Infrastructure cost
  4. Performance 
  5. Scalability

 1. Hiring, training, and managing

 An in-house employee  

 You need to go through the process of hiring, training, and managing an employee on the company’s payroll. You have to advertise the opening on the job portals and interview the candidates to hire a medical assistant or partner with a recruitment agency to find you the right candidate. This will take time, resources, and money.

 Also, you need to train the in-house employee and spend time tracking and measuring the performance of your assistant. Not just that, skilled medical assistants tend to get employment offers from nearby healthcare facilities. Thus, you need to focus on retaining the assistant also.

 An independent contractor             

 All you have to do is find a good virtual medical assistant services provider. An independent contractor will provide you with a skilled medical VA for a flat hourly fee on its own payroll. You do not have to worry about hiring, interviewing, and background verification. Your services provider is responsible for conducting all the hiring responsibilities. You will be provided with the profiles of the candidate and their pricing. Choose the one that serves your needs best as per the terms and conditions of the plan.  

 2. HR responsibilities

 An in-house employee  

 Hiring an in-house employee comes with a list of HR responsibilities such as self-employment and unemployment taxes, insurance, employee benefits, and payroll management. You need an HR manager or outsource your HR operations to ensure compliance with labor laws. This results in a decent amount of operational costs.

 An independent contractor

 Working with an independent contractor can help you get rid of HR responsibilities. An independent contractor does not have the protection of labor and employment laws or access to employee benefits. Your virtual assistant is working on the payroll of the contractor. Thus, your independent contractor is responsible for ensuring all the compliance requirements. 

 3. Equipment costs

 An in-house employee

 If your assistant does not have an IT setup, you have to pay for the IT setup. It may include paying for the whole IT setup or partially. For example, your assistant may have access to a computer, but not to the internet or collaboration software. You have to take care of the equipment costs. 

 An independent contractor

 You do not have to pay separately for the equipment. It is the responsibility of your independent contractor to get your virtual assistant onboard in working condition. Equipment costs are included in the plan. Though, you may have to pay for the membership for the collaboration tools as they are provided by a third party.   

 4. Performance

 In-house employee

 You are responsible for ensuring the productivity of your virtual staff. On average, a full-time employee is productive only for 2 hours and 53 minutes, in a day. You have to take into account the breaks, meal time, etc.  

 Independent contractor         

 Your independent contractor is responsible for ensuring productivity. They have a dedicated manager and online tracing software to ensure productivity. You are charged only for the time your assistant works on the project.   

 5. Scalability

 In-house employee

 You need to go through the entire process of hiring again if you need another medical assistant onboard your team. You may need to appoint a manager if you have multiple medical VAs on your team to manage them.    

 Independent contractor         

 You can scale your team anytime without any fuss. An independent contractor has access to a wide pool of human resources, which can be used to cater to your expanding healthcare facility needs.    

 The Verdict

 It is quite easily witnessable that independent contractors have an edge over in-house employees when it comes to appointing a virtual medical assistant to serve your healthcare needs. You can save time, money, and effort by partnering with a reliable medical virtual assistant services provider.

 VA.care is a leader in the healthcare industry for virtual medical assistant services. The company can help you with virtual medical assistants, virtual medical scribes, and virtual medical receptionists. You can visit the website to learn about the VA.care plans.           

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