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Editor's Note: Take a look at our featured best practice, Healthcare Business Capability Model (1-page PDF document). A business capability model for a Healthcare company. To be used as a core document for Enterprise Architects and EA work. Also very valuable to Business Architects and Business Architecture projects/programmes. The Healthcare Business Capability Model provides a comprehensive framework for [read more]
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Front desks at small practices tend to break at the same points.
Phones ring out at 8 a.m., eligibility checks stack up before afternoon clinic and refill requests wait until someone has a spare minute.
Hello Rache is a well-known fix, but its hourly model isn’t the only way to staff reception, scheduling and call triage remotely.
This guide compares six alternatives on staffing model, listed price, front-desk coverage and compliance terms.
Every rate and feature comes from each provider’s own website as checked in September 2026.
In short, managed monthly plans suit practices that want vendor supervision.
Flat role tiers suit specialty hiring, while hourly and weekly models fit practices ready to train and supervise the assistant themselves.
Hello Rache places dedicated Healthcare Virtual Assistants with medical, dental, optometry and veterinary practices.
Its pricing page lists $9.50 an hour with weekly billing, no contracts, no setup fees and the option to cancel anytime.
Its roles include virtual scribe, virtual receptionist and administrative assistant, covering scheduling, calls, insurance and billing. The pricing page also lists time tracking with productivity reporting and says assistants work in any EMR or EHR system.
That makes it a simple hourly option. Practices may look elsewhere when they want vendor-side supervision, fixed monthly hours, role tiers or a trial before committing.
This option is best for practices that want admin owned by one dedicated person on a fixed monthly schedule.
A virtual medical personal assistant from Wing Assistant works exclusively on your account inside your existing EHR, building familiarity with your providers over time.
Why consider it:
Key services: Patient scheduling, appointment confirmations, reschedule requests, EMR updates, intake forms, insurance claims, coverage verification, lab coordination and provider messages.
Pricing: Starts at $1,099/month part-time or $1,799/month full-time, with no contracts and the option to add or reduce hours.
This option is best for practices hiring for a defined role, from front desk to billing or nurse-level support.
My Mountain Mover places full-time, Philippines-based assistants and prices them in three flat monthly tiers that cover salary, benefits and HR support.
Why consider it:
Key services: Medical reception, medical admin, health education, medical and dental billing, scribing plus bilingual or custom roles.
Pricing: $1,895/month Core, $2,195 Specialized and $2,400 Expert. The pricing page doesn’t state monthly hours.
This option is best for practices that want an hourly model with clinically trained staff.
MEDVA was founded by Los Angeles physicians Dr. Steven Kupferman and Dr. Omid Shaye, and its sales page says its assistants are primarily registered nurses from the Philippines.
Why consider it:
Key services: Patient calls, scheduling, appointment reminders, rescheduling, EMR updates, insurance verification, claims, provider record transfers and remote patient monitoring support.
Pricing: $10/hour on its sales page, with no payroll taxes or hidden fees.
This option is best for practices that want to test phone and front-desk coverage before committing.
Portiva, founded in 2009 and based in Collegeville, Pennsylvania, staffs practices with HIPAA-trained assistants who connect to the office live.
Why consider it:
Key services: Patient calls, scheduling, intake, refill requests, insurance verification, prior authorization, billing support, scribing and EHR updates.
Pricing: Billed hourly, starting around $10 to $15 an hour depending on the tasks.
This option is best for practices that budget weekly and want a clear upgrade path to scribing.
VA.care, founded by Mark Suleman, sells three tiered packages at either 30 or 40 hours a week.
Why consider it:
Key services: Scheduling, patient follow-up, reception, insurance verification, claims follow-up and virtual scribing, depending on tier.
Pricing: At 40 hours a week, $350 Lite, $390 Essential and $450 Scribe. At 30 hours a week, $280, $320 and $360.
This option is best for practices that need phones answered and routed by their own rules.
DocVA, based in Fort Lauderdale, places one named assistant per seat. Its service page says every assistant has worked inside a U.S. clinic and many hold an active RN license.
Why consider it:
Key services: Patient calls, scheduling with waitlist backfill, new patient intake, insurance verification, prior authorization, refills, chart prep, live scribing and billing support.
Pricing: $10.95/hour on its virtual medical assistant page.
Rates only compare fairly at the same hours.
The table converts each listed price to a full-time month. It uses 160 hours for hourly rates and roughly 173 hours (40-hour weeks times 52, divided by 12) for weekly packages.
| Provider | Pricing model | Listed rate | Approx. full-time month | Best for |
| Wing Assistant | Fixed monthly plans | From $1,099 (80 hrs) or $1,799 (160 hrs) | $1,799 | Managed coverage with vendor supervision |
| My Mountain Mover | Flat monthly tiers | $1,895 to $2,400 | $1,895 to $2,400 (hours not stated) | Role-specific hires, including US-registered nurses |
| MEDVA | Hourly | $10/hr | About $1,600 | RN-background assistants on an hourly rate |
| Portiva | Hourly | About $10 to $15/hr | About $1,600 to $2,400 | Trialing phone and front-desk coverage |
| VA.care | Weekly packages | $280 to $450/week | About $1,517 to $1,950 | Weekly budgeting with a scribe tier |
| DocVA | Hourly | $10.95/hr | About $1,752 | Call handling with triage routing |
The managed and tiered plans cost more than the cheapest hourly options, but they bundle supervision, account management or benefits that hourly models leave to your team.
Add your own staff’s training and oversight time to every hourly estimate.
Reception, intake and scheduling sit in the patient services layer of the healthcare value chain. A weak handoff there shows up later as billing delays and lost clinical time.
No single model wins for every practice. A managed monthly plan fits best when you want one person owning admin with a vendor team supervising.
Tiered and hourly services suit practices with a defined role and the bandwidth to manage it.
Start with one or two workflows, such as morning calls or eligibility checks.
Track accuracy as well as volume for 30 days, then expand the role once the numbers hold up.
Hello Rache, My Mountain Mover, MEDVA, Portiva, VA.care and DocVA all list phone or receptionist work on their own sites.
Portiva and DocVA go further and list triage, DocVA within call handling and Portiva among its remote clinical support tasks.
Its pricing page lists $9.50 an hour, billed weekly. At 160 hours a month, that comes to about $1,520.
If the vendor handles protected health information for your practice, HHS guidance calls for a written business associate contract requiring the vendor to safeguard it.
Confirm the agreement is signed before granting system access.
An assistant can collect caller details, route calls and escalate by your written rules. Decisions about urgency and care stay with licensed clinicians.
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