Wellness Plans Allow Vet Clients To Budget For Pets’ Preventive CareDecember 3, 2013 In the minds of most veterinarians there’s a plan for just about every pet they see to ensure that pet’s immediate and long-term medical needs. But the reality, according to proponents of wellness plans, is that those details too often go unrelated to pet owners. "We really do have a full-year plan for their pets in our head,” said Carol McConnell, DVM, MBA, chief veterinary medical officer with Veterinary Pet Insurance of Brea, Calif. "When a pet comes in you look at the age, where they live, and other factors, and you formulate a plan.” It’s a detailed plan, Dr. McConnell said, adding, "But we’re clearly not good an explaining it to clients.” VPI in January launched a wellness service for veterinarians to offer clients called "Preventive & Wellness Services, which McConnell pronounces as "paws.” "We are basically positing ourselves as a silent partner with veterinarians,” McConnell said. She said the service is proving popular, with between 2,000 and 3,000 plans across the U.S. in place through more than 100 practices. Jeffrey S. Klausner, DVM, MS, Dipl. ACVIM, senior vice president and …
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Business Builder: Word Makeovers Can Boost Compliance And Grow RevenueNovember 15, 2013 While consulting at a practice where dental compliance was 17 percent, I shadowed exams to determine why clients weren’t accepting treatment for their pets. The first exam revealed answers. After the veterinarian explained his diagnosis of grade 3 dental disease, he said, "The girls up front will give you an estimate when you check out.” After the client paid, the receptionist said, "Here’s your dental estimate.” The client left without scheduling the procedure. Extreme Makeover A communication makeover would significantly improve client compliance, patient care and hospital revenue. Taking the practice from its current 17 percent dental compliance to the AAHA benchmark of 38 percent 1 could bring $274,561 in additional revenue over the next 12 months (see Table 1). Five communication shortcomings were the cause in this practice. First, employees used the term "estimate” instead of "treatment plan.” Second, treatment plans were handed to clients without interactive conversations. Third, clients received treatment plans in the public lobby. Would you feel comfortable asking medical or financial questions with an audience? Next, front-desk employees gave clients treatment plans. Technicians, who perform dentistry, would be more skilled at explaining treatment plans in exam rooms. …
Keeping An Eye Out For ZebrasNovember 15, 2013 For many of us, the Veterinary Dental Forum has become a homecoming of sorts, an assurance that we will gather with old friends and meet new ones with similar interests every year. This year’s VDF met in New Orleans, and I am writing as I travel home from the group’s 27th annual conference. It is the nation’s—if not the world’s—largest annual conference dedicated to veterinary dentistry and oral surgery. The three-day educational experience is presented by the Veterinary Dental Oversight Group, VDF conference management, sponsors, exhibitors, lecturers, lab coordinators, instructors and many more. This year’s VDF offered fundamental, intermediate and advanced series, original clinical research, wildlife/exotics, equine and technician tracks. Wet labs were offered in a variety of fields, including canine and feline extractions, endodontics, prosthodontics, orthodontics and maxillofacial surgery. Piezoelectric Surgery I taught a laboratory on piezoelectric surgery, a relatively new technology in veterinary dentistry and oral surgery. Ultrasonic surgery’s use in dentistry was first documented in 1953.1 Recent advances have allowed for clinical improvements in cutting and shaping bone with piezoelectric technology. The passage of an electric current across ceramic crystals modifies them and causes oscillations. Voltage applied to a polarized …
They Ate What? Pet X-Ray Contest 2012 WinnersNovember 5, 2013 Follow Veterinary Practice News on Twitter at @vetpetnews It’s that time of year again. Veterinary Practice News puts out the call for radiographs relating to animals that have eaten weird things. And veterinarians have responded in kind. As usual, the entries didn’t disappoint. Veterinary Practice News team members, who judged the contest, selected Gary Sloniker, DVM, of Spooner Veterinary Clinic in Spooner, Wis., as this year's grand prize winner. He submitted a radiograph of a Lab puppy who chowed down on a fishing pole. "This year’s entries show once again how important radiography is to the veterinary practice,” said Greg Stoutenburgh, director of marketing for Sound-Eklin of Carlsbad, Calif., contest sponsor. Dr. Sloniker wins a digital single lens reflex camera and the two runners-up each win a digital point-and-shoot camera. Be sure to check out all of the winners below. And if you enjoy this article, please check out these other contest winners: They Ate What? 2011 Pet X-ray Contest Winners 2013 Pet X-ray Contest Winners: They Ate What? Grand Prize Winner Gary Sloniker, DVM Spooner Veterinary Clinic Spooner, Wis. The clients …
Hospice: The Last HopeOctober 28, 2013 At the last big conference I attended, I spent some time meandering through the exhibit hall and seeing what was new out there in the veterinary profession. I couldn’t help but notice that there were MANY more companies offering pet insurance than I’d ever seen before, and the policies for each were quite different from the others. I quizzed the representatives about some of my major questions regarding genetic/breed inherited problems, discount for veterinary professionals and claims coverage. A colleague of mine was along, and she was asking about coverage for claims regarding hospice care, as there are insurance companies out there that will not cover hospice services. She received an affirmative answer from a few, meaning they would cover this type of care. But one of the representatives (whose company name will go unmentioned) said that they only pay for hospice services up until the time when a veterinarian recommends euthanasia; so nothing pays beyond the time that statement is issued. In fact, there has to be a written statement from the veterinarian saying that euthanasia is recommended. This made absolutely no sense to me, and if you and/or your practice are looking at pet insurance companies, it’s …
The Silver LiningOctober 9, 2013 Recently, my community was blasted with a windy storm pushing gusts of over 80 mph. We only sustained minor damage to our new fence, while some around us had entire trees blow over, and in other areas many houses and garages were severely damaged. As the people pick up the pieces, literally, and try to move forward through their own personal tragedy, it occurs to me that even in the midst of such loss, there is someone who gains … the fence company who has new repair jobs, the construction crews who will rebuild houses and garages, the tree guy who cuts up and hauls off those fallen trees, for a price of course. Everywhere you look, when someone suffers, someone gains. I sat next to a geologist on a plane once who was hoping for a bitter, icy winter—his company sells ice for the roads. There are always two sides of the story, so to speak, and the most important thing is to remain sensitive to that other side; you don’t celebrate the new job when a family has lost their home, for example, at least not in their presence. Also, their decisions, whether …
Don’t Risk Losing Your Pharmacy IncomeSeptember 30, 2013 When faxing prescription authorization requests to veterinarians, 1-800-PetMeds now asks you to provide the next exam due date. Be cautious; this may be a marketing strategy to get your clients to refill prescriptions before their preventive care exams. If clients already have preventives and other medications, they won’t need to buy drugs from your hospital. Veterinarians own majority market share of the $4 billion pet medication market.1 But Internet and retail pharmacies have tasted success with flea/tick sales, and now they’re hungry for pet prescriptions, which are projected to grow to $9.3 billion in 2015.2 The American Animal Hospital Association (AAHA) reports that pharmacy, food and over-the-counter product income makes up 26 percent of gross income in small animal practices.3 If pharmacy income shifts to retail and Internet pharmacies, most hospitals couldn’t raise professional fees enough to counter the income decline. Follow these proactive strategies to protect your in-clinic pharmacy. Refill medications during exams. Your technician would say, "For your preventive care visit, we will do a nose-to-tail exam, vaccines, intestinal parasite screen, heartworm/tick screen, and refill 12 months of parasite preventives. …
Endoscopy Primer: What To Ask Before BuyingSeptember 30, 2013 If you’re a clinic owner and a technophile, you probably have all the latest and the greatest equipment available. But when it comes to endoscopy, the first thing you need to know is that you will use it, said Eric Lindquist, DrMedVet. Lindquist, a highly experienced endoscopy practitioner and incoming president of the International Veterinary Ultrasound Society for 2013/2014, advises veterinarians that before laying out the cash for endoscopy equipment, the first part of your plan should be to make sure it’s going to be economically viable for your clinic. "The main thing is to make sure they are actually going to use it and work it into their workflow in a useful and economically viable manner that merits the purchase and the training and the time involved to become proficient at endoscopy,” Lindquist said. "I have known people who could be in and out of the gastrointestinal tract in 15 minutes with optimal samples with endoscopy, and others that take an hour-and-a-half with inadequate samples. "It depends on the person and the ability to become efficient at this instrumentation.” Unlike ultrasound, which can be applied to just about any internal medicine case, endoscopy …
Advising Our Kids Against A Career In Veterinary MedicineSeptember 30, 2013 My son is a 15-year-old high schooler who excels in the sciences and adores his animals. With those vital qualifications and a veterinarian for a mom, it makes sense to me that he might see veterinary stars in his future. But now that he’s finally admitted he doesn’t, I had to ask myself: Am I disappointed, or relieved? Different Directions I’m not alone in wondering how I’d feel if my child chose this profession for himself. A quick online poll of my colleagues and classmates confirmed this common mental thread among veterinarians of a certain age. We definitely think about it, perhaps more than we’d like to admit. Despite the fact that ours is a career path most parents would embrace with enthusiasm, "most,” it would seem, doesn’t include us. As it turns out, my decidedly unscientific poll intimated that the stats on a warm reception to the notion of a future veterinarian in the household drops off when it comes to the possibility of our very own vet wannabes. One offered this: "What do I think about my 10-year-old’s obsession with my scrubs, stethoscope and clogs? At the …
Acupuncturists See The Light, Go High TechSeptember 30, 2013 A move is afoot across the globe to make acupuncture high tech.1 As stated by acupuncture’s most innovative researcher, Gerhard Litscher, "[N]ovel biomedical and neuroscientific methods are of paramount importance for the fast and efficient modernization of the ancient Asian healing method.”2 By bringing modern biomedical engineering technology to the field, Litscher propelled enthusiasm for the quantification of biologic responses to a host of interventions, including electroacupuncture, needle stimulation and now, laser activation.3 A 2008 systematic review of laser acupuncture research found evidence to support its application for myofascial pain, postoperative nausea and vomiting, and the alleviation of chronic tension headache.4 Lasers "Laser acupuncture” shines laser light into acupuncture points instead of inserting needles. While any laser therapy unit may be used for laser acupuncture, the high-tech acupuncture laboratory at the Medical University of Graz, Austria, has studied multichannel laser needle acupuncture, which allows for the stimulation of several acupuncture points simultaneously by multiple semiconductor injection laser diodes. Flexible optical fibers deliver the light to the site with minimal loss of intensity. Power density may reach 20 joules/cm2 per acupuncture points, with 30-40mW per needle, and 500 micron diameter spot size.5 Emission wavelengths vary, but …
