Why You Need to Walk a Mile in a Pet Owner’s WalletOctober 13, 2015Originally published in the October 2015 issue of Veterinary Practice News. Enjoyed this article? Then subscribe today! I recently had to have a plumber and an electrician out to our Almost Heaven Ranch to work on our well — on, of course, a Sunday night. I live in a very rural area where both of the service professionals were friends, but let me tell you, I expected the bills to be high, and I wasn’t wrong. We knew we’d be able to pay the bill, or at least put it on a credit card, but I admit I swallowed hard when they handed me the invoices at the end of a long night. The experience made me think about what clients must experience at the veterinary hospital. Like electricians and plumbers, we, too, are service providers whose services don’t carry a visible price tag for easy consideration of value. Also like them, veterinary bills very seldom add up to less than expected! However, problems with the plumbing or wiring don’t carry the emotional impact of those with the beloved pet on your exam …
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No Obamacare for Pets EitherOctober 9, 2015You’ve probably heard it before: Veterinarians accused of only being in it for the money. But as we all know, medical care for pets is costly, and most veterinarians are barely breaking even. (Which sucks when you have vet school bills to pay.) It’s hard for people to understand the true cost of healthcare period, since we’re mostly unaware of the cost of our own healthcare, thanks to insurance companies and Medicaid/Medicare. It’s led to a popular joke around here: “Too bad there's no Obamacare for pets.” It’s no different over in the United Kingdom, as Veterinary Care Assistant Tracey Morgan writes in her opinion piece "There Is No NHS for Animals" over on the Huffington Post's UK website. Morgan says nothing we’ve haven’t already said before, but she does make a point of breaking down the real cost of human healthcare: “As humans in the UK we are incredibly lucky to have the [National Health Service], so let's look at how much human care actually costs. Well for a ten minute consult with a GP we cost the NHS between £45-70 (without taking anything away from GP's who …
Are You a Financial Slacker?October 8, 2015We are financial slackers. Such is the sad conclusion of a poll conducted by HSH.com, a mortgage information resource. It reveals that many of us are slackers when it comes to managing money and financial planning. Although Americans claim to strive for financial security, many of us did nothing to improve our credit profiles in 2014. Furthermore, a lot of us admit that we have no plans to do any better in 2015. Questions asked by HSH to about 2,000 participants included: Did you save money for retirement in 2014? Did you refinance a mortgage? Did you prepay part of a mortgage? Did you pay off credit card debt? Did you take any steps to improve our credit score? Results are concerning — to say the least. Here is what respondents said they did in 2014: 15% refinanced their mortgage. 27% saved money for retirement. 3% prepaid their mortgage. 24% paid off credit card debt. 24% improved their credit score. How about in 2015? Are people more willing to improve their financial health? 9% want to refinance their mortgage. 33% want to save money for retirement. 12% want to …
How Integrative Medicine Can Change Your Veterinary PracticeOctober 5, 2015If you have been in veterinary medicine for more than a minute, you have noticed that there is a growing trend amongst pet owners. They acknowledge pets more like family members, anthropomorphizing them along the way. Words like “parents” and “children” are common descriptors in the relationships between people and their pets. We have all heard the reports of how many billions of dollars consumers are spending on their pets annually, too. Combine this with the increasingly demanding personality of consumers and it becomes obvious that veterinary hospitals have to increase their service. This includes the patient care, the quality of medicine and the customer service. Considering patient care and the quality of medicine, veterinarians need to be thinking about what medical services they bring to the table. I have been in this industry for 18 years. For the last five I have been the practice manager of an integrative practice. This practice was started in 2009 — remember what the economy was like in 2009? Despite starting up in a tumultuous economy, it has grown exponentially, thanks largely to the conscientious pet owners that are no longer willing to accept mediocrity …
Is it a Dog-Eat-Dog World in the Veterinary Field?September 30, 2015Somebody once asserted that competition is for dogs and horses — a list that, in my experience, seems incomplete without one more category of competitor: vet students. As veterinary students we were cutthroat little nerds, were we not? We vied for seats in our class, for top marks, for scholarships, for summer jobs, for externships and internships, for top billing at graduation, sometimes for residencies, and, ultimately, for the best professional opportunities. Twenty years later, I’m grateful to have put that soul-sucking slog behind me. As if waking up every four hours to temp spoiled racehorses wasn’t bad enough, some of us found ourselves morally reduced to hoping our classmates were working at similar levels of sleep deprivation so we’d all look like zombies at rounds. While a case could and should be made for the utility of competition in such scholastic scenarios (OK, so maybe not that one), it’s only true to a degree. While an effective if crude means of motivation — spawning innovation and spurring laggards into action — competition has …
Have You Tried Open Book Management in Your Vet Practice?September 30, 2015If you own or manage a veterinary hospital, you’ve asked these questions: How much money are we making? Where did it all go? How can we manage it better? These questions seem simple but the answers can be very revealing about business protocols and operations. One of the biggest expenses a veterinary hospital faces is that of human resources. A high-quality, productive team does not come easy and turnover is expensive. A well-trained, well informed team that is afforded a healthy work environment will produce for the practice. So it seems obvious that nurturing and training the team on basic business operations is a worthwhile investment for two reasons. First, it strengthens the bond between the team and the practice leading to increased loyalty and performance. Second, the business will prosper under the guidance of a dedicated and informed team. One training technique that I have found very beneficial is that of open book management. By allowing the team to be a part of the questions above gives the team the opportunity to help …
How to Discuss Costs of Preventive Care With Your Veterinary ClientsSeptember 25, 2015Originally published in the September 2015 issue of Veterinary Practice News Pet owners may not budget for routine preventive care and can be surprised at the cost. A pet owner with an adult dog 1 to 6 years old can expect to spend $107 for a preventive veterinary care exam, distemper and rabies vaccines, intestinal parasite screen and heartworm test, according to the American Animal Hospital Association Veterinary Fee Reference, 9th edition.1 Add 12 months of flea/tick and heartworm prevention for $300, which averages $25 a month, and the visit would total $407. Too often, pet owners perceive that “shots” were $407! Your health care team’s ability to confidently explain financial information to clients affects their decisions to accept preventive care. Asked about price, 34 percent of pet owners say veterinary care is higher than they expected, according to the Bayer Veterinary Care Usage Study.2 Here’s how to handle financial conversations during preventive care visits. 1. Have technicians give an overview of services without prices. The technician should introduce himself, explain his role and prepare the client for which services are due. Say, “Good morning, I’m <your name>, the …
Pregnant Veterinary Staff? Follow These HR RulesSeptember 23, 2015Originally published in the September 2015 issue of Veterinary Practice News. “It must be in the water!” You may have thought this when it seems like everyone in the practice is pregnant at the same time. With the veterinary profession being predominantly female, pregnancy is an ongoing issue in our workplaces. While pregnant women are a protected class — legally protected from discrimination — this should not keep us from considering pregnant team members as valuable, contributing parts of our team. We also should not be afraid to hold them to a standard of performance. The important thing is to have the right mindset and open up an ongoing conversation with the mother-to-be. It is not uncommon for team members who leave for the birth of their child to choose not to return to work, or at least not to the same practice. How we handle the pregnancy could be a precursor to whether that team member will return after the baby is born. Many people seem to think that once a woman is pregnant, she no longer can be fired or involuntary terminated. …
How to Go Fear Free in Your Veterinary ClinicSeptember 21, 2015Originally published in the September 2015 issue of Veterinary Practice News. Here is the scary reality of our profession: Despite our best efforts, 37 percent of dog owners and 58 percent of cat owners say their pets hate going to the veterinarian, according to the 2014 Bayer Veterinary Healthcare Usage Study. In addition, 26 percent of dog owners and 38 percent of cat owners report that just thinking about going to the vet is stressful. Most patients, even the silent or seemingly happy ones, experience some level of anxiety, stress or even fear. When they are driven to a strange-smelling building, are circled or feel cornered by other pets and people, and have strangers grab them, lift them, hold them down and stick things into places they thought were one-way only, why are we surprised that pets are stressed out? The entire process is frightening. Stress makes the sympathetic nervous system and the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis release multiple hormones that lead to negative physiological and metabolic changes. The fight or flight mechanism sometimes starts before patients leave their driveway. Veterinarian Marty …
About Veterinary Malpractice InsuranceSeptember 18, 2015Veterinary malpractice law has evolved significantly in the past 50 years. This evolution has tracked an evolution in the way in which the law views pets, from mere property to a specialized category of property with subjective value, akin to “heirlooms, family treasures, and works of art, or family heirlooms” (Houseman v. Dare), or even as companions and protectors (Brousseau v. Rosenthal). The effects of this evolution have significantly impacted veterinary malpractice cases. For a more extensive review of the legal issues, see “Detailed Discussion of Veterinary Malpractice” by David S. Favre, Michigan State University College of Law, which: “provides a short history of the development of veterinary malpractice as a cause of action and also explores the elements of a malpractice suit. It further delineates the concepts of standard of care, proximate cause, and res ipsa loquitur. Defenses to malpractice actions are also discussed.” The overview of case law presented herein should be considered …
