Most of a practice’s admin load happens on the phone and in the EHR, so a dedicated remote hire with clinical background can take it off your providers and front desk.
Short answer
A medical virtual assistant handles a practice’s admin work remotely: verification of benefits and prior authorizations, scheduling and patient calls, billing and coding, collections, referrals, fax logs and medical scribing. At VirtueStaff, medical professionals include NCLEX-passed RNs and medical scribes, at $15 an hour full-time, about $2,600 a month.
Prior authorization alone is a part-time job. In the American Medical Association’s 2025 survey of 1,000 practicing physicians, practices completed an average of 40 prior authorizations per physician each week, and physicians and their staff spent 13 hours a week on them.
That’s time your providers and front desk aren’t spending on patients. Most of it happens on the phone, in the payer portal and in the EHR, which is exactly the kind of work a dedicated remote hire can own. This guide covers what a medical virtual assistant does, who you can hire, what it costs and what to settle about HIPAA first.
In this guide
What does a medical virtual assistant do?
The admin work that happens on the phone, in payer portals and in your EHR. Here’s the work by area.
| Area | What the remote hire does |
|---|---|
| Prior authorizations and benefits | Verifies benefits, submits and follows up on prior authorizations |
| Scheduling and patient communication | Books and confirms appointments, answers patient calls and messages |
| Billing and coding | Prepares and submits claims, works denials |
| Patient balances and collections | Follows up on balances and payment plans |
| Referrals and records | Processes referrals, manages fax logs and data entry |
| Medical scribe and chart prep | Documents visits and prepares charts before appointments |
Hands-on care stays in the building. Everything in the table above lives in software and on the phone.
Who can you hire?
Clinically trained professionals, not just general admins. Our medical candidates include:
- NCLEX-passed registered nurses
- Physicians preparing for the USMLE and the Match process
- Medical scribes
- Prior-authorization specialists
- Billers
- Care-management professionals
They have years of experience and a bachelor’s degree or higher, with healthcare, dental and veterinary backgrounds. They’re familiar with Epic, Cerner, athenahealth, eClinicalWorks and AdvancedMD, among other EHRs, and they come from the Philippines and Latin America.
Every candidate goes through the same seven-step screening, including an English and accent screen and a specialized evaluation for the role. Over 5,000 candidates are screened per week, only the top 1% are presented to clients, and you interview the finalists and choose.
What does a medical virtual assistant cost?
$15 an hour full-time, about $2,600 a month, at VirtueStaff. Part-time is $16 an hour with a 20-hour weekly minimum. Here’s how that compares with the national median wage for similar in-house roles, from the Bureau of Labor Statistics:
| Role | Median hourly wage, May 2025 | Median annual wage, May 2025 |
|---|---|---|
| Medical secretaries and administrative assistants | $22.08 | $45,930 |
| Medical records specialists | $24.59 | $51,140 |
| Receptionists and information clerks | $18.27 | $38,010 |
| VirtueStaff medical professional (full-time) | $15 | About $31,200 (40 hours a week, 52 weeks) |
The BLS figures are wages only. An in-house hire also brings payroll taxes, benefits and the cost of a desk; our virtual dispatcher cost guide shows how those add up line by line. Our rates are flat with no hidden fees, contracts are month-to-month for most services, and as long as the hire agrees, extra hours are billed at the same flat hourly rate, with no overtime surcharge.
What about HIPAA?
Settle it before a remote hire touches patient records, and get advice on your own setup. Under HIPAA, a “business associate” is a person or company that creates, receives, maintains or transmits protected health information on a covered entity’s behalf, other than as a member of its workforce. Whether a remote hire falls under your workforce or under a business associate arrangement depends on how the work is set up and who directs it.
Before any remote hire starts, settle with your compliance advisor:
- The business associate agreement your hire will sign with your practice.
- What access the hire gets: role-based logins to your EHR and portals, never shared credentials.
- How devices and connections are secured.
- What training on your privacy policies they complete in week one.
How it works with us: every hire you bring on signs a business associate agreement directly with your practice. The agreement is between your practice and your hire, because your hire is the one doing the work with your patients’ information; VirtueStaff isn’t a party to it.
Which task should a practice hand off first?
The one costing your providers the most time each week. For many practices that’s prior authorizations; for others it’s the phones or the billing backlog.
- Prior auths are piling up: start with a prior-authorization specialist.
- Patients can’t get through: start with a scheduling and patient-communication hire.
- Claims and denials are aging: start with a biller.
- Providers chart after hours: start with a medical scribe.
Hire for the bottleneck, not the title. Our first-30-days onboarding playbook shows how to bring a remote hire up to speed, one system and one task at a time.
Do this week
Count how many hours your team spent on prior authorizations, scheduling calls and billing follow-up this week. The biggest number is your first remote hire.
Frequently asked questions
A medical virtual assistant handles a practice’s admin work remotely: verifying benefits, submitting prior authorizations, scheduling and confirming appointments, billing and coding, patient collections, referrals and medical scribing. Hands-on care stays in the building.
At VirtueStaff, a full-time medical professional is $15 an hour, about $2,600 a month, and part-time is $16 an hour with a 20-hour weekly minimum. Rates are flat with no hidden fees, and contracts are month-to-month for most services.
Yes. Prior authorizations are portal and phone work, and our candidates include prior-authorization specialists. In the AMA’s 2025 survey, practices completed an average of 40 prior authorizations per physician each week.
HIPAA obligations depend on how the work is set up, not on the job title. At VirtueStaff, every hire you bring on signs a business associate agreement directly with your practice, because the hire is the one doing the work; VirtueStaff isn’t a party to it. Set role-based access and train the hire on your privacy policies before they touch patient records.
Our medical candidates are familiar with Epic, Cerner, athenahealth, eClinicalWorks and AdvancedMD, among others.
Tell us which part of your practice’s admin is costing your providers the most time. See how our medical professionals work.
Sources
- American Medical Association, 2025 AMA prior authorization physician survey (1,000 practicing physicians, December 2025), read 23 October 2026.
- U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, May 2025, national median wages: medical secretaries and administrative assistants, medical records specialists, receptionists and information clerks, read 23 October 2026.
- 45 CFR 160.103, definition of “business associate”, read 23 October 2026.
