The National Commission on Veterinary Economic Issues and VetPartners have released financial and operational metric benchmarking tools designed specifically for referral practices. The collaboration was sparked because of the lack of comparative metrics available for referral centers, according to the two groups. It is difficult to gather benchmarking data for referral practices because their size, shape and business models vary greatly, the groups said. “Our goal is to provide referral practices with the same level of data and benchmarks as general practices, but tailored just for them,” said Karen Felsted, DVM, CPA, MS, CVPM, the CEO of NCVEI. “And our hope is that armed with this information, referral practices will continue to grow and improve, even in these economic times.” Two sets of tools will be available at NCVEI's re-launched website NCVEI.org: one for the referral practice and one for board-certified specialists and emergency doctors. The practice tools include data such as revenue per doctor, compensation, benefits, management techniques and number of referring DVMs. The specialty doctors’ tools include information on production, compensation and benefits categorized by specialty. Phase two of the referral practice tools, which will be available by the end of September, will include a profitability estimator and fee comparisons. Comparative results will be available on the website as soon as information from a “minimum number” of practices has been provided. “Minimum number” has been defined as 15 or 20 practices. These results will be updated daily as more practices provide data. The NCVEI was founded by the American Veterinary Medical Assn., the American Animal Hospital Assn. and the Association of American Veterinary Medical Colleges. Financial support is provided by the founding organizations and Merial, Hill’s Pet Nutrition, Veterinary Pet Insurance, Fort Dodge Animal Health, Bayer Animal Health and CareCredit. The referral practice tools are made possible through the NCVEI and grants from Pfizer Animal Health and VetPartners. <HOME>
