On the surface, wellness plans sound simple. Create some plans by age group and species, maybe use the practice management system’s wellness module, if available, and start debiting customer accounts each month for the monthly fee. No problem! But, hidden behind the simple idea is the real work and complexity to make it successful.At first, with a few plans it seems easy, but with your success the workload increases All of a sudden, there are various other aspects of running a wellness program that arise and create more work than originally anticipated. And, then you find some of the key things you wanted to do, to differentiate your program or just to have the program work the way you dreamed, are just too hard to track and manage at scale. The day-to-day tasks really add up for your team members and they start spending more time on managing the wellness plans, taking time away from other responsibilities. The idea of helping more pets is why you started your wellness program, now team members are spending more time on administrative issues than time with pets. Some of the things you did not expect to be such an issue include:1. Missed Payment ManagementCredit cards expire, get stolen, have temporary holds, get maxed, along with various other issues. Now, when these things happen, someone will need to manage these issues and try to keep the clients current. To do so, they need to handle notifications, emails and phone calls, and manually calculate account balances when a payment goes wrong. Valuable time is now being spent onManaging the process of outbound calls, month-to-month account balance accruals, partial payments and moreRealizing that if you use a practice management software wellness [...]

In our most recent blogs we discussed the importance of creating a wellness plan program that meets your goals for both short and long-term success, and how this can translate into building a true membership model that incorporates more than just the plans themselves. At VCP we refer to this concept as part of The Business of Wellness, which boiled down means viewing and using your wellness program as a vital business tool and strategy. Your wellness plan program will not only grow compliance, but by taking ownership of your program, you will build your brand, follow your defined preventive care protocols, and will provide a highly effective vehicle to promote other services you offer. Your wellness plan program will help differentiate your practice and enable it to stand out. To start, reflect on what makes your practice special (unique services, or referral partners), and then find ways to add this to your wellness plan program to make it more beneficial for patients, clients and more unique to your practice. This will help grow other areas of the practice, help more pets and build value and client loyalty. The Business of Wellness, proprietary to VCP, provides the strategy, options, analytics and insight to ensure your wellness program thrives, grows your practice and enables the treatment of more pets. The first point of differentiation to focus on are services and treatments. Ask yourself what do you offer over the other general practices? Perhaps you offer full boarding and grooming services, and to grow usage of these services you choose to include a special offer in your plans and/or create grooming and boarding membership plans as part of your program. Maybe you recommend post-op laser therapy for [...]

Imagine that you are at your local dog park and join a conversation where one dog owner is asking another for a veterinary recommendation. Instead of replying with the name of the veterinary practice she brings her dog to, the dog owner being asked says, “I am a member of Best Vet Animal Hospital. I highly recommend them – you should really consider becoming a member too!” This sounds odd to you, so you ask, “What do you mean you are a member?” In response, she explains to both of you that she pays a monthly fee to belong to the practice pet care club and in return she has all of her pet’s preventive care services covered and gets other membership benefits as well, like included additional examinations, and promotional offerings on services not included in her plan. In fact, she tells you, she and her husband just used their “weekend away” benefit and boarded their dog and got one day free as a first-time boarding user of an affiliated kennel. All as part of being a member of the club. Wow, you think, what a great idea – I would love to belong to a program like that for my dog! What is the point of this story? That it is time to consider inviting pet owners to literally ‘join’ your business by creating and offering a membership model. Why? Because a membership model is a business model where individuals pay a recurring fee to access the value an organization or business creates. In return, the practice not only achieves a recurring revenue stream, but the loyalty and additional spending that comes as a result, and they see growth in other areas, [...]

As pet care professionals, it is important to observe the trends and patterns happening in the world around us. We are consumers living in a world of membership clubs and subscription services. Things are evolving fast; new services, changing demographics and online abilities are changing the way consumers behave and purchase services. These changing behaviors carry over to how pet owners utilize and pay for care, treatment, pet services and other necessities for their pets. These new trends are altering the pet owner/veterinarian relationship and creating new challenges for the veterinary practice. As the pet health expert, the veterinarian should be at the heart of pet care, but to keep this relationship, the industry must reinvent and change how it views and utilizes wellness plans. A more creative use of wellness plans, (think membership club, see next month’s post for more info) helps realign the veterinarian/pet owner relationship, driving much deserved revenue back to the practice. No longer just a bundle of preventive care services, wellness programs have come a long way, and contribute to compliance, the client relationship and growth strategies needed for a healthy practice. Today, practices considering this evolution of wellness, need a holistic approach that incorporates the Practice and Business of Wellness. The Practice of Wellness The Practice of Wellness is about developing a program that allows you to define and sell plans and subsequently, manage the day-to-day operations of running a wellness program. The right partner should allow you to utilize your preventive protocols to create your plans and allow you to have options that can be selected to customize the plan on a per pet basis. Your partner should have plan pricing discussions with you, examining local competitors, big [...]

When I first became a pet owner I wondered about the difference between wellness plans and insurance. Did I need both? And, if so, why? Recently I was reminded of this question when I saw a Facebook post asking about the difference between wellness plans and insurance. My friends had their pet on a preventive care plan offered by their veterinarian but were wondering if they should stop that and go with pet insurance instead. I responded to the post in attempt to share what I had learned about wellness plans and pet insurance so that my friends could make the best decision for their pet. First, I explained exactly what the purpose of a preventive care plan is (also called a wellness plan). The goal is to prevent health problems in your pet through regular scheduled checkups, and for a pet to proactively receive annual services and screening diagnostics to help ensure a long and healthy life. Most wellness plans are set up with a monthly payment, allowing pet owners to budget for their pet’s preventive care. Some wellness plans also offer optional services, that allow the plan to meet specific needs of each pet or different geographical recommendations. Because a wellness plan is “proactive” it helps ensure that if an issue does arise it is caught early, resulting in a better outcome and often saving the pet owner from more expensive treatments. Pet insurance, on the other hand, is designed to help cover the costs of illness or injury. Insurance is a good way to make sure your pet is covered in case he/she needs immediate or emergency healthcare. In short, the goal of pet insurance is to remove personal finances from [...]

When it came to getting a dog, I was the last person in my family to ‘hop on the bandwagon’. I had never been a dog person, but one day I had a moment of weakness, and my family took advantage of it, so we came home with a brand new puppy named Levi. At first, I was the person who took the least responsibility when it came to him. However, once school started back up again, and the kids were out of the house, I started spending a lot of quality time with our little Levi. I was the one that took him on walks, fed him and cuddled with him all day when the kids were at school. It didn’t take long for him to grow on me. Pretty soon, no matter what he did, even if it was bad, I couldn’t stay mad at Levi for more than a few minutes. Even when he slipped and fell into the pool right after a bath to chase a duck! His playful nature also translated into a little bit of clumsiness, so I worried about him staying healthy and playing safe. My vet recommended signing him up for a preventive care plan, and at first, I was a little bit skeptical, but after reading through the benefits I decided it was a good idea. Levi had basically become another one of my kids and deserved the same medical attention to keep him healthy. ​When Levi was about a year and a half old, the urinalysis that was done as part of his plan’s annual diagnostic screening uncovered urinary crystals. Our veterinarian told us that Levi needed to change his kibble to a prescription [...]

Like many, our dog is more than a pet, he is a furry member of the family. My dog means the world to me, and I would do anything to make sure he stays healthy, but the potential costs worried me. During a visit my veterinarian told be about wellness plans, and it seemed to make a lot of sense to me. I could proactively ensure my little one gets the preventive care he needs to stay healthy, and it fits in my budget, a little each month instead of a larger amount all at once, for things he needs. Signing up for a wellness plan gave me great peace of mind knowing that my pup will get the care he needs on a consistent basis, and the bonus, my vet has a better chance of finding anything that might be going on and treat it before it becomes a bigger issue. And, my plan includes extra visits. Because of how young I am, any aid in fitting things into my budget helps. With preventative care came the promise of keeping my pup on track, and also keeping my budget in line. So, I did it! I decided to sign up for a preventive care plan with my vet, which covered things like: vaccinations, examinations, and protection for fleas and ticks. My veterinarian told me how important dental health and care is in adult dogs, so I even opted for the dental cleaning package. Paying monthly made me feel more comfortable and I visit my veterinarian more often. Around a year ago, a friend’s dog started acting a little funny, turned out he had worms, and because of how long she waited to take him [...]

Cats are amazing creatures, and we are fortunate to live in a society that celebrates their poise, beauty, grace and quirky personalities. And while it is truly awesome that many veterinarians are now committed to becoming more feline friendly, the fact remains that most cats still do not receive the same amount of veterinary care as their dog counterparts. While the oft sited reason for this is cats’ independent and stoic nature, as well as their tendency to mask pain and illness, this explanation fails to get to the root of the problem – a tremendous lack of education of cat owners on the importance of ongoing preventive care. So what is one of the best ways to surpass this hurdle and begin to develop lifelong partnerships with cat owners? The most logical and effectual opportunity is to implement a feline educational program centered on wellness plans that include a practice’s optimal preventive care services and diagnostics for each feline life stage. Why wellness plans? Because they are an educational tool in and of themselves, and present in writing a practice’s optimal preventive care recommendations. In most cases clients want to do what is best for their cat, but often they just don’t know what that is. Wellness plans make that indelibly clear. Adding the ability to spread the cost of care over 12 monthly payments makes it that much easier for cat owners to follow your recommendations. It’s common for cat owners to think that unless their cat is due for vaccinations, or showing signs of illness, there is no reason to bring them to the veterinarian. The beauty of wellness plans is that they take the focus off of vaccinations (explain that [...]