Hiring a Medical Assistant versus Using a Digital Assistant in your Direct Primary Care Practice
There is definitely a tension point in many Direct Primary Care practices around how you, the doctor, allocates your time. How much time should you be spending doing paperwork and busy work? How much time should you be spending seeing patients? How much time are you spending growing the business.
These are tough questions that are difficult to answer - really there is no perfect answer. But, I would advise you to spend more time working on your business, and less time working in your business. This means that you should be directing the work of others, rather than doing all of the little tasks yourself.
When to Hire a Medical Assistant in your Direct primary Care Practice?
One of my mistakes in starting and growing a Direct Primary Care practice was not hiring a Medical Assistant sooner. A great medical assistant can create a warm and welcoming environment for your practice, give great customer service for your patients, and help you with the little tasks around the office like adding medications to the inventory or putting vital signs into the chart.
When you have a great Medical Assistant, they can build rapport with your patients and help with retention. For example, our Medical Assistant at Plum Health is Chris. He is excellent at drawing blood and giving flu shots, among other things. One of our patients bruises easily, and she said, “I always get a bruise when I have my blood drawn.” Chris responded “not this time.
A bet was made, and a plate of cookies was on the line. Chris drew the blood and our patient didn’t bruise, so delivered a delicious plate of White Chocolate Macadamia Nut Cookies, Chris’ favorite kind.
How do you find a great Medical Assistant for your Direct Primary Care practice?
So how do you find a great Medical Assistant? I found Chris while working at an Urgent Care center. Chris was the best MA that I had ever worked with. I told him that when we were working together, and he told me that the feelings were mutual. When I left the Urgent Care, I wrote thank you notes to each of the staff members that I enjoyed working with, especially Chris.
Anyways, I knew that I would one day want to hire Chris or someone like Chris, so when that day came, I made the phone call. Chris answered and said that of course he’d love to work at my practice. Most Doctors have been in a similar situation – they have worked with a trusted and well-respected Nurse or Medical Assistant and they hire this person when they start their DPC practice.
A lesson here: always be kind to everyone that you work with. Your fellow Physicians, Nursing staff, and Medical Assistants may one day work with you, and they will definitely refer patients to you if they admire and respect your work. Make it easy for them to be excited about your practice by being kind to them through every interaction.
Our Conversation with Neil Batlivala of Sling Health
An alternative to hiring a personal Medical Assistant would be to use a tech-enabled solution like Sling Health. From their website:
Sling Health modernizes primary care with tech-enabled clinical support teams. Our software enables our remote team of care coordinators to provide high-touch care to patients, helping them better understand their care plan, navigate the complex healthcare system, and achieve their health goals. Our solutions reduce healthcare costs, improve health outcomes, and empower patients to be active participants in their healthcare plans. Based in San Francisco and founded by experienced healthcare technologists and clinicians, Sling Health aims to empower both patients and clinicians to rethink healthcare access and navigation.
There are a few DPC Doctors who have found this solution helpful, but I do not have any personal experience with this platform. Their pricing structure has recently changed from $5 per patient per month to a more tailored, à la carte payment structure.
Of note, a living wage for a medical assistant is roughly $2,500 to $3,000 monthly, depending on your community. Further, this person that you hire can create a warm environment for your patients and they can advocate for your practice.
Here’s our full conversation: