Practice Management

The reason business owners create a business plan is the same reason why horse owners keep up with annual exams. Giving a horse vaccinations ma reduce the risk of disease and death. As an equine entrepreneur, consider these five core areas when creating a business plan: teamwork, concept, customers, cash, and purchasing.

Our 24-hour clinic has a main office, three satellite facilities, 14 veterinarians, and 80-plus team members, so staff communication is always a challenge. In addition to a weekly newsletter, we have monthly meetings for each department and a monthly staff meeting for everyone.

Know how your expenses are reimbursed to be sure you get the right deductions.

If employees can handle various tasks, then you can shift people in and out of jobs as needed-without calling in temporary workers, running up overtime costs, or stinting on client services.

I'm a house call veterinarian who'd like to continue to perform surgeries and take radiographs in order to maintain my skills. What's the appropriate amount of compensation for a veterinarian who allows me to use his or her hospital for these purposes?

If you feel cartoon daggers hitting you in the back of your head at work when you walk by your grumpiest employees, you may not be hallucinating.

Our practice is interested in offering pet first aid and CPR classes to our clients. How do we get started?

A team member quit recently. She gave two weeks' notice but didn't fully complete it and was supposed to train someone to take over her job duties but didn't. After being a valued team member for so long, why did she choose to leave on a sour note?

Should we require our associate veterinarians to own their own vehicles? We're finding that they don't take care of the practice-owned trucks. What are the ramifications of making this change, and what are other practices doing?

You still may be able to lower your tax bill.

The only thing that anyone can count on for sure in the arena of paperless veterinary practice is that the experience is different for everyone.

Dr. Charles Pullen was ectstatic when he learned his Animal Medical & Surgical Center in Scottsdale, Ariz., was the 2008 Hospital of the Year.

The top 10 things

And younger women pass their male counterparts in 2007.

Departed soldier's best friend adopted by family.

It starts with the head. The simulated head of a Labrador, that is.

Veterinary-only flea and tick formula found selling on consumer Web site--and stopped in hours.

Diamond Pet Foods will offer refunds and pay veterinary bills for dogs affected by contaminated food recall in 2005.

Petshealth, the ASPCA, PetsBest, Trupanion, and SecuriCan meet as National American Pet Health Insurance Association.

PurinaCare insurance is in the final stages of development.

Products include liquid sutures and bandages, flea control, and more.

A man flying in a hot-air balloon realized he was lost. Reducing altitude, he spotted a fellow on the ground and descended to shouting range.

Atlanta - If this southern metropolis keeps growing the way it has the last few years, "we'll soon be calling Chattanooga a suburb," says veterinarian Nicholas W. Petty, who has practiced in the Buckhead area near downtown Atlanta since 1976.

Q. I'm opening a veterinary practice with grooming services. The groomer wants to lease a room monthly, but I'm not sure how much to charge for rent. Do I charge base rent plus a percentage of her production?

Click here for the Department of Labor Fair Standards Act fact sheet on exempt positions.

Q. We employ a bookkeeper, a head technician, and an inventory manager who all share some of the management duties at my practice. I perform about four days' worth of management tasks a month. My partner and I are looking at a tiered approach to compensation-management will be compensated at 3 percent to 4 percent of gross. What goes into this figure?

Here are three ways we recognize our team members' efforts at Michigan Veterinary Specialists

If you practice with partners, your buy-sell agreement is an important way to develop a plan to purchase an owner's interest under a variety of circumstances and to protect your own interest in those same circumstances-one of which is the death of a partner.

Finally, during the second round, the leg popped out. I started celebrating like I'd just won a gold medal.

Hurricanes. Embezzlers. Lawsuits. If you put the proper safeguards in place, you can stay out of trouble.