Introduction

Laborde Case Study

Laborde Therapy Center is a private practice offering a wide range of physical and occupational therapy services at four locations in Louisiana. Given the high cost of operating and growing a practice with multiple locations, management was looking for ways to reduce costs without compromising the patient experience or increasing the risk of noncompliance with HIPAA regulations.

Laborde Therapy Center had one employee working remotely and understood this model could work if you have the right people and systems in place. However, they hadn't seriously explored the possibility of outsourcing to an overseas healthcare virtual assistant until Business Manager Thomas Laborde, CPA, CIA, met members of the snapscale Services team at a private practice conference in 2022.

"This was still a big change for us because our only remote worker had worked in the office first," Thomas said. "We were skeptical about an overseas virtual assistant because we had questions about whether they understood our healthcare system and terminology. Snapscale put our mind at ease because they not only understand the healthcare world, but they also have local offices with local management in India and the Philippines. They weren’t trying to manage people from the other side of the world."

HIPAA-Certified Virtual Assistant Steps in to Absorb Workload

Snapscale met with the Laborde Therapy Center team to identify their specific needs, learn how the practice functioned across four locations, and assess what systems they were using.

"They painted a very clear picture of what both sides would need in terms of both operations and compliance," Thomas said. "We can train anyone and set up any system, but making sure their system stays compliant is a bit out of our reach. Snapscale takes care of all that extra work on the backend and makes sure their virtual assistants are HIPAA-certified."

Snapscale assigned Ryan to Laborde Therapy Center as the practice's healthcare virtual assistant. Ryan's primary function is to work with patients and insurance companies to verify and authorize insurance coverage. A new hire typically takes about a year to fully grasp healthcare and insurance terminology, but Thomas was impressed by Ryan's understanding from day one.

"Ryan already had experience with American insurance," Thomas said. "He understood visit limits, expiration dates, different types of insurance plans, and what insurance companies require. That was a big deal. Snapscale already did the work of searching and screening to find someone who had the specific experience we needed. Then we had the opportunity to interview Ryan and make the final decision."

The Results

Practice Growth and Improved Service through Ethical Outsourcing

Partnering with Snapscale for outsourced healthcare virtual assistant services has had a direct impact on the operations of the practice. Because Ryan is managing the stack of paperwork that comes with dealing with insurance companies, in-house Laborde Therapy Center employees can focus more on serving patients and growing the practice – all for a significantly lower cost than hiring an in-house employee.

Thomas has also been impressed by how snapscale treats overseas employees. In fact, when Ryan was forced to temporarily move away from snapscale's main office, which significantly increased his commute time, Thomas approached snapscale to see if anything could be done to make life easier for Ryan.

"Ryan never complained but I knew the commute would be hard on him," Thomas said. "I expressed my concern to snapscale and they set him up to work remotely a few days a week. Ryan does such a good job for us, and I appreciated that snapscale helped him. They value each employee and their families and treat them extremely well."

Given the shift to remote work during the pandemic, Thomas believes more healthcare practices should be proactively exploring virtual assistant services. With multiple offices in the hurricane belt in Louisiana, having a reliable team member in a different location is especially valuable to Laborde Therapy Center.

"You may have to make minor adjustments to your processes and how you communicate, but it's absolutely worth it," Thomas said. "The world is going virtual. Even if you don't do it right now, you should understand how to do it because we saw what happened in 2020. Having a virtual assistant enabled us to get more accomplished and grow, and at a lower cost. Snapscale has been a valuable partner in supporting our growth."

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