Compress your schedule for efficiency

By Wendy S. Myers, CVJ

After COVID, Melissa Magnuson, DVM, cut Saturday and Sunday hours at her three New Hampshire practices. "It was the best business decision I ever made," says Dr. Magnuson, owner of Canobie Lake Veterinary Hospital, All Pets Veterinary Hospital, Greenland Veterinary Hospital, and an American Animal Hospital Association board member. "The more I compress the schedule, the better my teams get. We learned to become more efficient and do more during the week."

Slightly less than half (49.6 percent) of all veterinary practices in the U.S. offer Saturday hours, while only 8.6 percent are open on Sundays, according to the 2026 AVMA Economic State of the Veterinary Profession.¹

The four-day workweek is sweeping the dental profession, with 30 percent of dentists under 40 considering or already working a shorter clinical week. Among practice owners, the number is lower (18 percent to 22 percent) but growing.² Driven by rising staff turnover rates, increasing employee burnout, and competition for workers, forward-thinking dental practice owners are experimenting with compressed work schedules that promise better work-life balance without sacrificing patient care or practice revenue.³

Most dental practices with a shorter workweek choose a compressed schedule model of four 10-hour days. Production typically holds at 95 percent to 100 percent of the five-day output while overhead drops three percent to five percent because practices eliminate one day of facility and staffing variable costs.²

Here's how to evaluate if a compressed schedule or eliminating weekend hours is right for your practice:

Measure your appointment fill rate

Aim for a fill rate of 85 percent.⁴ To calculate your appointment fill rate, take the number of appointments seen divided by the number of available appointments.

Exceeding 90 percent capacity could lead to less same-day appointment availability for sick patients, turn away new clients who cannot get timely care, and risk team burnout. Fill rates below 80 percent can hurt profits and limit employee wages. If your appointment fill rate drops below 85 percent, consider reducing hours to compress your schedule.

Optimize scheduling

Practices moving to compressed schedules typically extend their daily hours and optimize appointment scheduling to see the same number of patients.³ This might mean opening 30 minutes earlier and closing an hour later, or staggering lunch breaks to maximize appointment availability. The key is to maintain patient access while achieving meaningful schedule compression.

Gain efficiency through technology use

Which administrative tasks take the most time? A compressed schedule makes technology integration essential. Streamline administrative tasks, reduce manual entry, and automate routine processes.

• Online appointment scheduling. Include QR codes and links in recall notices that can lead clients to book directly 24/7. Research shows 60 percent of consumers book their appointments online, with 76 percent of millennials more likely to choose a provider that offers online scheduling.^5,6
• AI-assisted medical record keeping. Veterinarians and technicians can use AI notetaking tools during appointments to capture accurate notes and save an average of 30 hours per week.⁷ "My notes are more detailed now with AI than they were before," says Jeffrey A. Sachar, VMD, of Milford Animal Hospital in Milford, Conn. "I'm done before the next client walks in."
• Telehealth. This includes virtual consultations or communications with clients. About 28 percent of veterinary practices use telehealth for tele-triage, follow-up care, behavior consultations, diagnostics, and remote patient monitoring.8
• Online clinic pharmacy. The 2026 AVMA Economic State of the Veterinary Profession found 69.2 percent of practices have their own online pharmacies. Are you maximizing auto-ship opportunities for preventives and chronic medications?
• Intake forms. Two days before appointments, send digital intake forms based on the reason for the visit. The medical team can review submitted online forms before starting appointments and simply ask follow-up questions—zeroing in on chief complaints and compliance gaps.

  Online forms can save the medical team 10 to 15 minutes of history taking per appointment. Basic history questions for a wellness appointment about diet, supplements, parasite protection use, activities, eating and drinking normally, changes in urination or defecation, lumps or bumps, vomiting, diarrhea, coughing, sneezing, scratching, chewing, and more get asked upfront. The online form at Just Cats Veterinary Clinic in Guilderland and Mechanicville, N.Y., asks if the cat is on flea/tick/heartworm prevention. If a client answers no, the veterinarian will discuss feline heartworm disease prevention. If the client's answer meets your standards of care for parasite protection, praise the pet owner and move on to higher priority topics.

• Client communication software that integrates with PIMS. When emails, texts, digital payments, and AI recordkeeping write back to your software, you will avoid manual entry and potential errors.

Evaluate weekend revenue and case types

What are your expenses and revenue for weekend hours? Are your weekend appointments existing clients or one-time visitors?

Monitor employee retention

The average annual turnover rate among veterinary team members is 23 percent, with almost one in four leaving their jobs yearly.9 Magnuson saw employee retention improve after cutting Saturday and Sunday hours, especially among single moms who appreciated more predictable work schedules and weekend family time. "When your staff is happier, your clients are happier," she says.

Implementing a successful compressed schedule depends on patient volume, local competition, staff size, and practice type. Carefully evaluate these factors before changing practice hours.

Wendy S. Myers, CVJ, trains veterinary teams to communicate with clarity and confidence, inspiring client trust and better medical care. Founder of Communication Solutions for Veterinarians, she teaches proven skills through online courses, conferences, and consulting. Myers' experience as a partner in a specialty and emergency hospital gives her insight into practice challenges. Explore her online training at CsvetsCourses.com.

References

1. 2026 AVMA Economic State of the Veterinary Profession. 2026 AVMA Convention.
2. The 4-Day Work Week in Dentistry: What the Revenue Data Actually Shows. The Dental Signal. Accessed July 22, 2026. https://www.thedentalsignal.com/four-day-work-week-dentistry-revenue-impact/
3. The 4-Day Work Week Experiment: Why Dental Practices Are Rethinking Traditional Schedules. Intake Dental. Accessed July 22, 2026. https://intake.dental/blog/the-4-day-work-week-experiment-why-dental-practice
4. Suiter A. Stop-Gap Measures. Today's Veterinary Business. Accessed July 22, 2026. https://todaysveterinarybusiness.com/stop-gap-measures
5. 63 Appointment Scheduling Software Statistics You Must Know: 2024 Data Analysis & Market Share. Finances Online. Accessed July 22, 2026. https://financesonline.com/appointment-scheduling-software-statistics/
6. Rivard T. Online Appointment Scheduling: A Missed Chance to Boost Patient Satisfaction. Physicians Practice. Accessed July 22, 2026. https://www.physicianspractice.com/view/online-appointment-scheduling-a-missed-chance-to-boost-patient-satisfaction
7. Beyond the Bark: Communications That Transform Clinic Success. Accessed June 24, 2026. https://otto.vet/client-engagement-2025/
8. Neill C, Morgan K. Few Differences in Rural and Urban Adoption of Veterinary Telehealth Services. AVMA. Accessed July 22, 2026. https://avmajournals.avma.org/view/journals/javma/263/2/javma.24.08.0508.xml
9. Lederhouse C. Study: Fair Pay, Appreciation for Work Top Factors in Employee Retention. AVMA News. Accessed July 22, 2026. https://www.avma.org/news/study-fair-pay-appreciation-work-top-factors-employee-retention