Business

If you think it takes $50,000 to update your facility, think again. We've got project ideas for limited budgets, from free to $6,000. Just check out this list:

Peer review system could help stymie legal actions; get involved

Port Richey, Fla.-Dr. Bob Hase trusted he was current with his taxes, certain he paid on time, every time for purchases in his clinic.

Qualified plans simple to administer; offer benefits to employees, owners

The initial two articles in this series on associate employment contracts dealt primarily with legal details of the contract; contract periods, renewal provisions and other esoteric elements that are commonly ignored when a new associate is considering a job offer.

Why is it that a fat chance is a much smaller chance than a slim chance? Huh?

Six animal management systems work together to drive performance

Spreading out single appointment improves diagnostics, revenue

Dr. Steven G. Paul had owned three practices before he built his fourth. And while he had commissioned work on his previous facilities, Wiles Road Animal Hospital in Coral Springs, Fla., is the first practice he has built from the ground up.

Clients seeking 'special privileges' can suck time, money, energy from practice

Successful practices and practitioners are alive; they vibrate with positive energy and enthusiasm.

A Chambord martini is made by combining 2.5 ounces of vodka with a half-ounce of Chambord liqueur, shaken with ice and poured off the ice.

Not many people find the opportunity to purchase an area landmark. But when a restaurant went on the market in Salem, Ore., Dr. Tom Van Meter snatched it up; the 1-acre lot featured a 40-foot fir known locally as the holiday tree. "I fell in love with the site," says Dr. Van Meter. "The location offered lots of parking, space to expand, and 30 mature trees, which give the area a park-like feel." In a little more than a year, Dr. Van Meter turned Chelsea's Restaurant into a high-tech veterinary facility that won a merit award in the 2002 Veterinary Economics Hospital Design Competition.

Remember, clients really want a forever healthy companion

Help producers create profit

Rabies ratio convenient method to determine earnings per patient

It would be wise to seek council and advice from those who have gone before you.

Create 'maximum opportunity' to follow doctor's orders; confused clients can't comply

You can break the isolation barriers our society has built

I always knew I wanted to own a practice, but I never guessed that the perfect location would be a strip mall," says Dr. Jean M. Oberg, owner of My Animal Hospital of North Dover in Toms River, N.J. "In 1984, I started cutting hospital design articles out of Veterinary Economics, and when it came time to build, I had hundreds of designs."

Over the past 10 years, we have become accustomed to some roller coaster milk prices. They actually have been rather favorable for producers for much of that period. At present time, however, they are very low, and it looks as if they will remain low for some time.

Cleveland-Veterinarians say letting technicians take on some routine duties of farm calls can build a practice and improve healthcare delivery efficiency.

Gift lists are the hallmark of the holiday season and the well-organized mind. Shopping duties, generally anticipated as a fun activity, tend to quickly be completed as compared to other lists that occur at year-end. Issues of business management are procrastinated to a much greater extent.

Pushing yourself beyond gravitational forces of the business environment is key to professional growth

Private practitioners contacted by DVM Newsmagazine say that conflict in many cases is about money.

In 1995, Dr. Anne Scholl-Mealey opened Chickasaw Trail Animal Hospital in a mall in Orlando, Fla. Six years later, she chose the 1.4-acre lot across the street to accommodate the practice's growth. "We designed our new facility around the oak trees that tower over the site," says Dr. Scholl. "The oaks form a canopy over the driveway, parking lots, and the building."

Isolated incidents of West Nile Virus in canines pose miniscule threat to dogs at large, practitioners conclude

Dr. McCormick is on the computer filling a prescription for a late client and is hoping to go home to a nice dinner with her husband.

Imagine that you are at the gym bench-pressing more weight than you ever have before.

In the spring of 1997, Dr. William J. Moyle Jr. and his wife, Nancy, decided to build a practice closer to their home south of Denver. And four years later they broke ground on a new facility. During the building process, Veterinary Centers of America offered to buy their existing 14-year-old practice, and Dr. Moyle agreed.