You can run a practice by yourself, but it comes down to a value of time and money. It makes more sense to pay for a part time secretary and you can focus on more medicine related items.
It is hard to answer phone calls, schedule appointments, open junk and non junk mail, scan info if you are paperless, file it if you remain with paper, and see patient and return phone calls.
If you are not that busy, it may work, but if the volume picks up, you need help.
Although a sophisticated branching phone system may work for administrative things, a lot of patients call with clinical questions and often want to know "do I need to be seen?" Some simple ones can be branched, most will require a voice connection. Patients also prefer to speak to a live body and you are more likely to lose them if they feel they are only connected to a machine.
