Veterinary Industry Summary: August 11–17, 2024
Stats from the Veterinary Industry Tracker powered by Vetsource and AVMA
August 11–17, 2024
How can forward booking reverse the year-over-year decline in veterinary visits, and how can veterinary practices more effectively forward book appointments? Guest authors Jason Maag, chief growth officer, and Dr. Missy Tasky, lead medical coach, of Blue Heron Consulting, explain:
It should come as no surprise to anyone connected to the veterinary industry that hospital visits are down. Over the past year or more, Vetsource has reported consistent year-over-year declines in hospital visits. Knowing that now, more than ever, we need to shore up business and ensure profitability within our clinics, how do we reverse this trend? At Blue Heron Consulting, we believe that forward booking appointments is one of the most effective ways for veterinary hospitals to overcome the decline in visits.
Forward booking allows the hospital to control the appointments, which results in more efficient scheduling, more patient visits, and improved compliance. Ultimately, forward booking allows everyone to practice best medicine.
Through our coaching, we have found that a key to a successful forward booking program is intentionality. Steps needed to ensure success include:
- Team training (including doctors)
- Client communication
- Follow through
Team training
It is imperative that the entire team understands the importance of forward booking. Everyone in the hospital plays a vital role in the success of the program. Doctors must “set the table” with clients. For example, a conversation with the client might go something like this:
“Mrs. Smith, I need to see Fluffy in one month to recheck her lab tests. Sally will make sure to schedule that appointment for you before you leave today.”
Upon completion of the visit, Sally (the assistant or technician) can schedule the appointment in the exam room or escort the client to the front desk. If the appointment is scheduled at the front desk, Sally must intentionally hand off the client to the client service representative (CSR):
“Mary, Dr. Jill needs to see Fluffy in one month to recheck her lab results. Mrs. Smith, Mary will schedule that appointment for you.”
Start by forward booking vaccine boosters, recheck visits, and all technician appointments. From there, you can forward book biannual and annual exams.
Client communication
Some clients might decline to forward book the next appointment. The veterinary team must let the client know that forward booking ensures their pet has an appointment when needed. Reassure clients that the hospital will communicate with them on a regular basis and remind them of the upcoming appointment, and should a conflict arise, the appointment can be rescheduled.
Follow through
As with any initiative, goals must be established and outcomes must be measured. The team must be reminded to forward book appointments. This can be done at morning huddles, during staff meetings, and with notes on exam room doors and computers. Success of the program requires buy-in from the entire team.
Here’s an example of how following through and getting the entire team on board can boost the success of a forward-booking program (and yes, it can be this simple):
In one of the hospitals we recently coached, we recognized the opportunity to improve this metric and ultimately boost appropriate annual visits. To accomplish this, we recommended that they use a physical card. The appropriate team member would write the approximate appointment date on the laminated card and instruct the client to hand it to the front desk. By leveraging this simple communication tool, we were able to quickly double the industry average for forward booking in that clinic.
Finally, Vetsource offers a data analytic tool called the Practice Overview Report that taps into the hospital practice management software and reports a variety of production data, including forward-booking compliance. The Report makes it easy to track the success of a forward-booking program so that efforts can be focused on improving forward-booking compliance. It’s a tool that can benefit all hospitals looking to enhance their forward-booking efforts.
Check out the Veterinary Industry Tracker for daily stats.
| +1.7% Revenue YoY (Last Week) |
-2.6% Visits YoY (Last Week) |
Last week, veterinary industry year-over-year revenue was 1.7%, an improvement from the previous week’s 0.3%. And while still down, year-over-year visits improved to -2.6% from -4.0% the week prior.
 -5.8%Heartworm YoY |
-5.1% Flea/Tick YoY |
 +2.9%Services YoY |
-1.6% Products YoY |
Year-over-year parasiticide protection remained in negative territory last week, with heartworm at -5.8% and flea/tick at -5.1% (improvements from -6.4% and -5.9% respectively the week prior). Year-over-year service revenue jumped from 1.3% to 2.9%, and product revenue improved slightly from -2.7% the previous week to -1.6% last week.
| +3.6% Revenue YoY (Last 12 Months) |
-2.5% Visits YoY (Last 12 Months) |
The rolling 14-day trendline showed revenue and visits holding fairly steady since mid-July.
| 5,503 Practices |
2.1M Revenue per Practice (Last 12 Months) |
10.5K Visits per Practice (Last 12 Months) |
Connecticut enjoyed the highest year-over-year revenue growth last week at 7.1%, with New Hampshire trailing closely behind at 7.0%. Year-over-year visits for Minnesota and Connecticut were 0.1% and -0.0% respectively, with West Virginia coming in third at -0.4%.
*Numbers are subject to change based on data availability and PIMS adjustments.
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