What are the top veterinary practice management problems
Veterinary practice management problems are a certainty. Maybe at first, you (like most of us) did not think about this kind of issue, and consecutively, you did not put much thought into how to solve it.
Being a business owner can become overwhelming at times. You have a lot of responsibilities, and you have to juggle all different types of tasks all day long, and oftentimes, when you think you’re coming closer to solving them, there appears another and another and another…
Clients are missing their appointments
Maybe one of the most important veterinary practice management problems is people not showing up for their pets’ appointments.
Using a digital platform to manage your veterinary practice should solve this aspect pretty easily. You have to choose a PMS that offers the option to send automatic reminders to pet parents before their appointments.
Here’s what other questions you should get an answer to before choosing a PMS.
Clients Regularly Request Emergency Refills for Routine Medications
Again, if you start using a PMS, you’ll most probably solve this problem too. You can set a reminder to be sent to the owner close to the date (let’s say one week before) when their pets’ medicine runs out. You can customize this kind of reminder – be sure to include your office hours.
Staff Members Forget to Complete All Duties Before Closing
For this one, you can make a checklist for them to run through before they leave the building.
Receptionists Spend Most of Their Day Making Routine Phone Calls
If you’re thinking that a PMS should be able to solve a big part of your receptionist’s work, you’re right. Start offering your clients the possibility to make online appointments, and you will decrease the number of phone calls your receptionists have to take daily.
Your Practice Has Negative Online Reviews
A few negative reviews can affect new client acquisition, so a proactive approach is key. If you find negative reviews, try to reach an agreement with the unhappy client. We’ll talk about this topic in an upcoming article.
Clients Avoid Important Preventative Care for Their Pets
Preventative care can be quite expensive for pet parents – you can help them by offering health plans – here are some articles related to this topic to help you implement such services into your practice. And again, reminders can help, too.
After you sell such health plans, you can then send reminders to pet parents reminding them about their deworming, vaccination, etc. They will be more willing to come if they have already paid for such services.