Callback Programs Can Generate $404,000 A YearSeptember 10, 2013 At Main Street Veterinary Hospital in Flower Mound, Texas, every technician and client-service representative calls four clients per day with overdue-patient reminders. Employees submit completed call sheets daily to a manager. Main Street Veterinary Hospital pays employees $5 for every overdue preventive care visit that gets completed. "Some staff earn $75 to $80 extra per paycheck, so it’s a big incentive,” says Practice Manager MaryBeth Soto, CVPM. If the hospital paid a $75 bonus, the employee would have booked 15 overdue preventive care exams. According to the 2013 AAHA Veterinary Fee Reference, 8th edition, the total for an adult canine preventive health visit is $208, while cat owners spend an average of $186.1 Based on industry norms that 60 percent of patients are dogs and 40 percent are cats, you’d have nine dog exams at $208 each and six cat exams at $186 each for a total of $2,988—a great return on a $75 investment. Talking to the Clients While callbacks can produce immediate revenue, the primary purpose is to be patient advocates. Remember, dogs and cats can’t answer phones, check email or drive to …
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Revitalize Reminders And Watch Income RiseAugust 22, 2013 Since adding reminders for lab work, diagnostics have increased to 26 percent of income at Park Hills Animal Hospital in Park Hills, Ky. That’s higher than the industry benchmark of 18 percent found in a 2012 State of the Profession study.1 Veterinarians target pets ages 2 to 7, offering clients a $105 screen that includes a complete blood count, chemistry panel, heartworm/tick screen, urinalysis and thyroid screen. "Doing early detection has been one of our greatest successes,” says owner Mark Collett, DVM. "It’s important to check the pets that aren’t sick.” While you can’t predict when pets will become sick or injured, you can anticipate when they’ll need preventive care. Exams, diagnostics, vaccines, therapeutic diets and parasite preventives are renewable services that generate 38 percent of revenue.2 Reminders drive future visits. As a practice consultant, I frequently overhaul reminders as the top business growth strategy. Too many hospitals approach it as "that’s the way we’ve always done it” and aren’t adapting reminder methods based on today’s trends. Here are proven strategies to revitalize your reminders and watch income soar. Reflect your standards of care. …
Explaining Finances With ConfidenceAugust 7, 2013 When Tyson, a 14-week-old pit bull puppy, was playing with another dog, he fell off the couch and fractured his leg. The pet owner had funds available on his MasterCard for the $1,000 surgery but didn’t want to max out his card. Maureen Lovett, front desk supervisor at Rutland Veterinary Clinic & Surgical Center in Rutland, Vt., explained financing through CareCredit. The client put $500 on his MasterCard and financed the balance. "About 25 percent of our clients need a little extra help beyond their credit cards,” Lovett says. Having access to financing was a win-win outcome for the client and clinic. In 2012, Rutland Veterinary Clinic’s clients financed $208,550 through CareCredit. The AAHA-accredited general practice with four veterinarians also offers emergency care and orthopedic surgery. Communicating When you communicate with confidence about finances, more clients will accept the level of care that their pets need. Here are the tips I offer when I coach teams on communicating about finances. Choose the right words. Say "treatment plan” instead of "estimate.” "Treatment plan” emphasizes needed medical care, while "estimate” is simply about money. Also update forms in …
Selling The Value Of DiagnosticsJune 10, 2013 With persuasive conversations, technology tools and effective reminders, veterinarians can get more patients the preventive diagnostics they need. Since 2007, Ellie has taken nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs to manage her arthritis following two knee surgeries. The 11-year-old black Labrador retriever gets a drug-monitoring test every six months. When Peter Brown, DVM, of Chuckanut Valley Veterinary Clinic in Burlington, Wash., reviewed Ellie’s latest test results, he used Idexx’s VetConnect Plus to see trends over time. Ellie’s liver values had been steadily increasing and were now at the top of the normal range. Dr. Brown sat next to the client, showing her graphs of Ellie’s changing liver values on his iPad. He discussed adding a liver supplement and plans to recheck blood work next month. From his iPad, Dr. Brown shared lab results to the client’s Petly online pet health page through Idexx’s Pet Health Network Pro. "While she was still at our clinic, an alert on her phone indicated she had new lab results shared,” says Dr. Brown. "Now she can share results with the rest of the family at home.” A 2012 State of the Profession study found that diagnostics make up 18 percent of practice …
How To Introduce A New Product In Your ClinicJune 10, 2013 When an elderly couple visited Animal Hospital of Smithson Valley in Spring Branch, Texas, they complained about fleas covering their German shepherd. Dr. Roy Madigan confirmed the infestation and said, "Let’s put him on a dose of the new Frontline Tritak while we’re talking.” Five minutes later, fleas on the dog’s rear legs were seizing and falling off. By the end of the exam, they all saw a pile of dead fleas on the floor. "We decided to use Frontline Tritak for its quick flea-killing time,” says Dr. Madigan. "We also need strong tick control in our area.” Although the flea/tick category saw 15 new entrants between 2011 and 2012, manufacturers know veterinarians’ recommendations drive consumer demand. Last winter was the fourth warmest winter on record and prolonged the need for flea-and-tick products. "At the end of the day, we are all racing toward the same goal—to get more pets protected,” says Shawn Hooker, director of parasiticides long-term strategy at Merial Ltd. in Duluth, Ga. Before expanding pharmacy shelves, veterinarians need to evaluate whether a new drug meets the medical needs of their patients or fills a void, …
Pet Wellness Plans Increase Monthly VisitsApril 1, 2013 At age 12, Kodi was diagnosed with cancer, adding to his multiple medical problems. When veterinarians at Union Lake Veterinary Hospital in Waterford, Mich., wanted to perform ultrasound, blood work, and X-rays, Kodi's family easily said yes. Kodi has been enrolled in a senior preventive care plan for four years, which covers unlimited exams, vaccines, heartworm tests, intestinal parasite screens, deworming, EKG, blood pressure check, tonometry, abdominal ultrasound, chest and abdominal X-rays and senior preventive blood work. Because core medical services are on monthly payments, Kodi's family could afford the level of cancer treatments that their dog needed. “Kodi is probably surviving cancer much better because we diagnosed it early,” says Annette Engler, LVT, CVPM, CCRP, the hospital administrator. Over four years, Kodi's preventive care plan has saved the family an estimated $1,000 and cemented their loyalty to the nine-doctor practice nestled in the heart of the Big Three—General Motors, Ford and Chrysler. Decades of economic downturn in the Detroit area often had clients requesting monthly payments, Engler says. Now preventive care plans deliver the standard of care that veterinarians want, while giving clients financial solutions. After four years, 600 clients have enrolled, with …
What It Takes To Be An Effective LeaderSeptember 24, 2012 A leader can both use and exploit different forms of power to assist herself in her position, but many of these forms can have some pretty problematic side effects. For example, while the power of position, the power to give rewards, the power to punish and the power to control information may have some strength in limited situations, they ultimately place the people being led in an unhealthy position of weakness. Leaders who use coerciveness and threats to accomplish their objectives are seen as autocratic and out of touch, and rarely succeed in exerting any positive influence over their organization or people. Societies have changed tremendously over the last 50 years, and today individuals are encouraged to create their own power and take responsibility for their own decisions. Few of us enjoy having power exerted over us and will do what we can to undermine those who try to use these powers on us. As Mahatma Gandhi said, “I suppose leadership at one time meant muscle; but today it means getting along with people.” The Art of Power Today’s effective leaders have found a tremendous amount of power in knowledge, and that pursuing the …
Veterinary Practice Staff News Briefs - July 2012July 10, 2012 The Mississippi State University College of Veterinary Medicine’s first class graduated from its four-year veterinary medical technology degree program in May. Class president Kayla Jaynes took a job at the University of Mississippi Medical Center in Jackson, Miss. n The Tucson chapter of the National Association of Women Business Owners named Jan Woods, hospital administrator and co-owner of the Veterinary Specialty Center of Tucson, as its 2012 Business Woman of the Year. n The California Veterinary Medical Association named Linda Markland, RVT, its Registered Veterinary Technician of the Year in Non-Private Practice. Markland is a senior veterinary education specialist for Veterinary Pet Insurance Co. of Brea, Calif. n The American Association of Equine Veterinary Technicians and Assistants planned to host a CE and Educational Day in June at the Hagyard Equine Medical Institute in Lexington, Ky. The event was to feature a presentation by Michele Frazer, DVM, on anemia in foals and a full day of wet labs and demonstrations. <HOME> 7/10/2012 3:04 PM
Key Performance Indicators: What You Don’t Know Can HurtMay 29, 2012 You may have heard the saying “You can’t modify what you don’t measure,” but that’s not an accurate statement. The fact is you can modify all you want as often as you want, but without good data behind these changes it is similar to driving a car with a blindfold on—you have absolutely no idea if you are headed in the right direction! More often than not, the result of this haphazard business approach can lead to less than optimal decision making. The good news is that most people are aware that driving blind is not an option and make it a priority to monitor and measure key performance indicators (KPIs). Too often, though, a lack of training and guidance in the area of KPIs can lead to errors in judgment that are as significant as those made when not measuring data at all. The purpose of KPIs is to reduce the complex nature of performance to a small number of valuable indicators in order to recognize trends and make appropriate business decisions. In reality, though, the term is often overused to describe any form of measurement data and performance metrics, regardless of their actual value. …
Wanted: Strategic ThinkersMay 29, 2012 With the introduction of off-the-shelf wellness-plan solutions, the veterinary industry has been hard at work creating products for small animal practices to manage declining patient visits, and more of these products undoubtedly will be available in the future. In many ways, the situation qualifies as a phenomenon. A year ago, interest in wellness plans was a mere whisper, and 12 months later it is commonly referred to as a hot topic. I can’t think of a time when a broad solution for improving the business was made available in this format. Yes, the veterinary industry has engaged in notable campaigns to improve care—dentistry and three-year vaccine protocols come to mind—but these drivers did not take the shape of “boxed” solutions. In those cases, articles, media attention and AAHA guidelines assisted with the practice of higher quality medicine. This time, because of the more critical economic nature of the problem, practitioners are being offered greater assistance. And this is a good thing. Considerations to Ponder I think a word of caution is required. Don’t misunderstand me. I have promoted monthly billed wellness plans and will continue to do so because they can be a great …
