Interview with Nathan Barz: how virtual medical assistants help healthcare practices preserve the patient experience
Nathan Barz is the founder and CEO of DocVA, the most recognized virtual medical assistant agency for healthcare organizations seeking high-end support, flexible staffing, and personalized customer service. For practices, specialized clinics, and direct-to-patient healthcare brands like CLARIA, the pressure is well-known: patients expect quick responses, teams are under strain, and every missed call or delayed follow-up can affect both the quality of care and growth. In this interview, Nathan Barz explains how dedicated virtual medical assistants can help healthcare teams preserve the patient experience while lightening the administrative load.
Q: What is the main staffing challenge you see in healthcare organizations today?
Nathan Barz: Most practices don't lack patients. They lack reliable support. The phone keeps ringing, appointments need to be scheduled, charts require attention, prior authorization requests are piling up, and billing questions never stop. At the same time, recruiting reception staff or on-site medical assistants has become more difficult and expensive.
This creates a real bottleneck. Practitioners and practice managers spend too much time solving administrative problems instead of focusing on patients and growth. For a hearing health company like CLARIA, the same principle applies. If patients don't get help, reminders, answers, or follow-up in a timely manner, the experience suffers.
Q: Why does this administrative pressure weigh so heavily on the patient experience?
Nathan Barz: Patients judge the healthcare system by how easily they can get help. They might not see the workload behind the scenes, but they feel the delays. They feel it when a call goes unanswered, when paperwork drags on, or when a team seems rushed.
In hearing health, communication is particularly important. Patients compare solutions, ask questions about products, or need advice after their purchase. Support throughout the care journey counts. Good administrative support makes the patient feel heard, understood, and well-cared for.
Q: How does DocVA's approach differ from that of a traditional outsourcing firm?
Nathan Barz: We don't try to take control away from the practice. We help organizations maintain their processes while adding dedicated support. I often describe this as an integrated model. The client works with the same virtual assistant every day, so that person gets to know the team, the tools, the patients, and the rhythm of the practice.
We also place great importance on the quality of our candidates. DocVA only recommends profiles with solid, proven experience in US clinics, facilities, and hospitals. Many are registered nurses, some with dual USRN and PHRN licenses. Others are licensed pharmacists, certified medical billers and coders, prior authorization specialists, or highly experienced medical scribes. This background in the healthcare field is essential, as the work requires judgment, rigor, and professionalism.
Q: What should a healthcare team expect when they start working with DocVA?
Nathan Barz: The process is very practical. We start with a discussion to understand the role, the processes, the tools, and the pain points. We then propose a shortlist of candidates, with resumes and introduction videos. The practice interviews the candidates and chooses the one that suits them best.
Then, we set a start date and stay involved. If something isn't working, we intervene quickly. This hands-on support is important because a virtual assistant is not a magic solution. The best results come when the practice provides clear processes and we provide a solid, reliable person to implement them.
Q: What concrete advice would you give to healthcare leaders who feel overwhelmed right now?
Nathan Barz: Start by listing the tasks that interrupt your team every day. Phone calls, scheduling, documentation, follow-ups, billing support, prior authorizations, email management. Then ask yourself which of these tasks actually require a physical presence in the office.
Most organizations discover that a large portion of the work can be entrusted to a dedicated and experienced virtual assistant. This doesn't replace human contact: it preserves it. When the right support is in place, your on-site team has more time and energy for the patients standing right in front of them.
DocVA is a virtual medical assistant agency that helps healthcare organizations gain experienced remote support for tasks such as scheduling, phone answering, documentation, billing, prior authorizations, and patient follow-up. Through a dedicated and integrated staffing model, DocVA helps practices reduce the administrative burden while improving their responsiveness and the patient experience.
