Today's Veterinary Practice provides comprehensive information to keep every small animal practitioner up to date on companion animal medicine and surgery as well as practice building and management.
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PRACTICE BUILDING | Put Your Plan into Action Turn to page 63 and read Dr. Sheila Grosdidier's article, Practice Step-by-Step: Leveraging Social Media Communication, to find additional advice on developing your plan for integrating today's technology into your practice. somewhat agreed with that statement. You don't know how your clients feel about your practice and what they want if you don't ask. Readily available web-based options make surveying much easier although the practice must be pro-active in collecting email addresses to get good results. Another way of tracking client satisfaction is by moni- toring what is said about the practice online. Google Alerts (googlealerts.com) is the most well-known tool but others exist as well. For example, TweetDeck (tweetdeck.com) let's you follow what is said about the practice on Twitter. Knowing what is said about your practice online lets you identify areas for improvement and better manage inaccurate reviews. PRACTICE INFORMATION SOFTWARE There are many choices in practice information man- agement systems with a wide variety of capabilities. Almost everyone agrees that practices generally under- utilize what they have. As with websites and newsletters, it's not enough to just have a PIMS. The best practices have sophisticated systems that contribute to better patient care, client service, and client communication. And the best prac- tices use their PIMS capabilities. Key Metrics The Bayer Veterinary Care Usage Study demonstrated that, in spite of the challenging economic times and decline in veterinary visits in many practices, practice owners aren't looking at key metrics on a regular basis. r 0OMZ PG QSBDUJDFT DIFDL OFX DMJFOU GJHVSFT BU least quarterly. r 0OMZ DIFDL QBUJFOU WJTJUT BU MFBTU RVBSUFSMZ Realistically, these and other metrics should be reviewed at least monthly to identify trends in the practice. Patient Visit Numbers Revenue metrics are readily available in most PIMS. 0OF FYDFQUJPO JT OVNCFS PG QBUJFOU WJTJUT " QBUJFOU WJTJU includes an examination, procedure, and/or surgery; it does not include a visit when an owner is only buying food or medications without accompanying veterinary services. However, some software systems' definition of visits includes the sale of food or medications and other systems don't readily show this information. If you're not sure about your own system, review the help information or talk to someone at the software com- pany. Doctor transactions can be used as a reasonable estimate of patient visits. Inventory Control As practice profits narrow, controlling expenses becomes even more important. Effective inventory control isn't possible without the benefit of com- puterized PIMS modules. In addition to tracking order histories and quantities on hand, systems that allow a practice to set re-order points, track overstocked inventory, and calculate inventory turn- over contribute to efficiency and higher profitability. SUCCESSFUL STEPS The tools and strategies discussed in this article are just a few of the many, many things a practice can do to take advantage of new advances in technology. r 4UBSU TNBMM GPS UIF CFTU SFTVMUT r 1JDL B TUSBUFHZ UIBU GJUT ZPVS QSBDUJDF DVMUVSF BOE appeals to the team. r "TTJHO UBTLT BOE QVU TPNFPOF JO DIBSHF r "TL GPS IFMQ JG ZPV OFFE JU r 'JOBMMZ GPDVT PO EPJOH POF UIJOH XFMM CFGPSF NPWJOH on to the next challenge. ■ PIMS = practice information management system References 1. Nicholson Kovac, Inc. Veterinarian New Media Usage Study, 2009. 2. Bayer Animal Health, NCVEI, Brakke Consulting. Bayer Veterinary Case Usage Study, 2011 (bayer-ah.com/nr/45.pdf). Karen E. Felsted, CPA, MS, DVM, CVPM, is the owner of Felsted Veterinary Consultants, Inc, which of- fers business consulting to both private practices and the animal health industry. She is the treasurer for VetPartners (avpmca.org) and the CATalyst Council (catalystcouncil.org) as well as a member of the Certified Veterinary Practice Manager (CVPM) board of directors (vhma.org). She previously served as the CEO for the National Com- mission on Veterinary Economic Issues (ncvei.org). In 2011, she received the Western Veterinary Confer- ence Practice Management Continuing Educator of the Year award. She received her BA in marketing from University of Texas at Austin, her MS from University of Texas at Dallas, and her DVM at Texas A&M; University. She practiced small animal and emergency medicine while maintaining a veterinary accounting and consulting practice. She has also provided services to Brakke Consulting, Inc, and Gatto McFerson CPAs, a veterinary-focused finan- cial and consulting firm. July/August 2012 Today's Veterinary Practice 61 Keeping Up with Today's Technology & Social Media