Frequently Asked Questions
With my advanced degree in psychology and experience in mental health, I bring a higher level of knowledge and insight to your practice management. I use my insight and skills to match you to the right Virtual Assistant for your practice. I apply my knowledge and experience to one-on-one training and supervision with each of our Virtual Assistants.
Our assistants communicate with people in distress with care and empathy, while maintaining an appropriate level of professionalism. This experience translates to a stronger first-contact experience for new clients and top-tier service for existing clients.
All assistants are certified in training on HIPAA laws for mental health and apply the necessary security measures in handling confidential information. We will also provide you with a Business Associate Agreement signed by both myself and your dedicated Mental Health Virtual Assistant, as per HIPAA laws.
Please read more about our new client intake process and learn more about how we hire our Virtual Assistants.
Each Virtual Assistant is chosen and trained based on years of experience working with mental health practitioners in various stages of creating and building their practices. Our Admin Virtual Assistants come to us with education and/or work experience in mental health related fields, as well as strong administrative and communication skills. We then build upon that foundation by providing them training in best HIPAA practices specific to mental health care providers. We will also train your Virtual Assistant in areas specific to your practice, such as the systems you are using, and the tasks you are requesting. Our Billing Virtual Assistants come to us with training and professional experience as medical billers.
We meet with each new client to discuss what areas you are seeking support in. We will find out the details of your practice, and when needed, help you brainstorm how best to use a Virtual Assistant for both your needs and your budget. We will then connect you with the Mental Health Virtual Assistant best suited for your needs and style. You will have the opportunity to interview the assistant. If at any point, you feel your assistant is not a good fit for you, or feel they are not meeting your expectations, we will help you find one better suited for you. Learn more about our new client intake process.
Many practitioners may feel overwhelmed in trying to balance managing the administrative aspects of their practice with their direct care to patients. Intakes, billing, updating electronic records, tracking therapist hours for payroll, and scheduling are very time consuming tasks that may be difficult to keep up with while seeing patients each day.
Returning new patient/client calls quickly is extremely important because many people make several calls at once when looking, so a quick and professional response is critical in building a practice. A rote call answering service could return the calls quickly as well, but would not do so with the same level of sensitivity and knowledge. Our Mental Health Virtual Assistants can do the initial clinical screening for the practitioner in order to get them the preliminary information they need, as well as answering questions that new patients and clients frequently have.
Our higher level of sensitivity leads to higher conversion rates from new client inquiries. We also build positive relationships with existing patients. Our clients have received numerous and frequent positive comments from clients/patients and their parents about their interactions with our assistants.
As most mental health care providers do not have a private reception area, a remote assistant does not require the practitioner to provide office space or supply equipment for their assistant.
For our Mental Health VAs, fees will cover a set number of hours of work per month. The work will be tailored to your specific needs and may include routine monthly tasks and/or newly assigned tasks.
For our Billing Assistants, we will provide a package rate based on the billing volume of your practice.
Our monthly fees include onboarding, set-up and consulting. You will not be charged additional fees outside of your monthly retainer fee.
By hiring a freelance Virtual Assistant, your fees will be all inclusive in that you will not have to pay additionally for office space and subsequent overhead, equipment such as computers, a printer, or telephone and internet service, all of which we provide. You will also not have to pay employment taxes (Social Security and Medicare). As freelancers, we will pay both the federally required employer and employee contributions. Additionally, you will have significant financial savings in not having to provide health care benefits. If you choose to pay by credit card, Stripe will issue us a 1099 at the end of the year including your fees paid to us. If you choose to pay by direct bank transfer, we will provide you with a signed W9 with our tax ID # so that you may issue us a 1099 at the end of the year. In both instances, you will be able to deduct all fees paid from your annual taxable income.
Fees are designed to reserve a specific number of hours in your assistant’s schedule each month. This ensures that your assistant will have the necessary time available for your practice on a regular basis. A monthly retainer fee will be charged on the first of each month for a specific number of hours for that month. If you are unsure of how many hours per month you may need, we will accommodate flexibility for the first month or two as we discover together what the ideal monthly hours will be for your practice. We provide an itemized hourly account to help you in determining how many hours you need. Payment can be made by online banking/ACH transfer or credit card.
Our assistants generally work Monday through Friday from 9:00 am – 5:00 pm within the client’s time zone. Tasks and communications may be sent at any time. Correspondence sent after hours, on weekends or holidays will be responded to the following business day. Exceptions can be made in the event of an emergency for an additional charge.
The following holidays are non-work days:
- New Years’ Day
- Martin Luther King, Jr. Day
- Presidents’ Day
- Memorial Day
- Fourth of July
- Labor Day
- Thanksgiving Day
- Friday after Thanksgiving
- Christmas Eve
- Christmas Day
- New Years’ Eve
- New Years’ Day
- Send us a message through our website contact form. We will respond to your message within 24 hours.
- Fill out our questionnaire so we can learn more about you, your business and your virtual assistant needs.
After carefully listening to your practice needs and reviewing the plans that we offer, I will begin to find the right match for your business. Once I select the strongest candidate, I will send you their resume, reference summary sheet, and HIPAA Awareness certificate to review.
If you are interested in interviewing the candidate, we will connect you to the candidate via Zoom/Google Meet or phone (your choice) for an interview. If you have any concerns about the candidate, we will offer additional options when available.
After completion of the initial interview with my proposed candidate, I will reach out to you for your feedback. If it feels like a good fit, we discuss a start date. A contract and a Business Associate Agreement will be sent which can be signed electronically. Upon completion of the necessary paperwork you can start working directly with your new Mental Health Virtual Assistant!
If after the interview you feel the candidate doesn’t match your needs or mesh with your philosophy, I will revisit my pool of candidates and send an additional option, when available, for you to consider based on your feedback.
Finding success with a virtual assistant requires attention to every stage of the hiring process. I make it a priority to stay in touch with both you and your VA to ensure the transition is running smoothly and assist in any fine-tuning needed. Throughout the course of our relationship, I am available for additional assistance and will work closely with both you and your VA if any troubleshooting needs should arise.
Contact us today for more information
Our Virtual Assistants come to us with education and/or work experience in mental health-related fields and/or medical billing experience. Individualized training is provided for each VA based on their specific background and the needs of the clients they are matched with. We build upon that foundation by providing training in practice administrative support and HIPAA practices for mental health. The team is based in the United States.
Our team goes through a rigorous screening process before hiring each assistant. The following steps are involved in hiring a virtual assistant:
-A highly descriptive and targeted ad is posted reaching out to candidates nationwide. Resumes are submitted and reviewed.
-A detailed questionnaire is sent to applicants with promising resumes. The questionnaire includes availability, skill sets, interests, and short answer questions to assess writing skills.
-An initial phone interview is handled by my assistant.
-After reviewing the feedback from the initial interview I conduct a second interview if the candidate continues to look promising.
-Upon completion of my interview, we reach out to 3 professional references provided by the Virtual Assistant to verify previous work history and experience and receive general feedback on the candidate.
-We run a background check including identity verification and a criminal background check.
– Terms of the arrangement are reviewed with the applicant and contracts are signed if all terms are agreed upon.
– The newly hired Virtual Assistant will complete a 90-minute online video training for HIPAA Awareness for Mental Health.
– Once the VA is paired with a client, we stay involved and require regular check ins to make sure that the fit is working well for both the virtual assistant and the client.
Interested in learning how a virtual assistant can benefit you? Request a free 30-minute consult at https://mentalhealthvirtualassistant.com/contact/ so we can connect.
