Calling all veterinary heroes

The bravest man in history was the guy who first ate an oyster to see if it would kill him. It didn't, and he opened a whole industry for shuckers of every description. Another brave soul spotted an undomesticated bovine and managed to avoid getting kicked or killed for just long enough to slake his thirst with spoiled milk.

Anyone who has defended his or her country in a time of war will tell you that heroes are not without fear. Fear is part of sanity. Fear is good and fear is healthy. Heroes just do their best despite their fear. They overcome that which paralyzes the majority to do what's needed for the greater good.

Speaking of fear, I remember a phone call in the late 1980s from a Tennessee veterinarian who asked me whether I thought it was OK to charge $50 for an injection for a pet. At the time, most veterinary practices were charging $10 to $15 for an injection.

I asked him, "What are you charging now?" and he said $46. I continued with, "How long have you been charging $46?" He responded four to five years. At the time, inflation was about 10 percent to 12 percent, so I told him to avoid the round amount of $50 and charge the uneven amount of $51.40.

He asked me, "What do I tell people when they ask about the 40 cents?" I told him that they won't ask, but if anyone ever does, tell that person you never round up. That would be unfair. You see, no one had ever told this veterinarian that the rest of the community was charging less. He just charged what he felt it was worth, and no one ever complained about the cost of an injection.

Get your fees up to date

Half the veterinarians practicing for 20 years can remember when fecals were free with every exam. They would do it for their own benefit to see if there's anything to treat. Then they'd charge for the deworming.

I vividly remember a time in 1998 when I was speaking in Phoenix. I surveyed the folks in the crowd about what they charged for fecals, and the consensus was about $12—except for one character who was charging $29. The group was aghast. I told them that the demographically correct fee at the time was about $30. Then the $29 guy said he heard me in San Antonio three years before and had made a cool $40,000 on the difference in fees with not one client complaint. Are they just too lazy to shop for fecals in Phoenix, or is it they don't question fees when good service is provided? Today, the correct fee would be $36.70 downtown but up to $42.70 in the suburbs.

Assuming your exam fees are based on the latest 2010 demographic estimates, Table 1 below will show you how you compare two important fees—injections and fecals.

Table 1: Comparing the general exam fee to other fees

Now before you ask, there are plenty of non-specialty practices charging $80 or more for an exam, and nobody should be charging less than $30.50 in 2011.

Overcome your fears

The biggest game that veterinarians play is "Hover." This means that you discover the fee you wouldn't be caught dead charging and hover just below it. For example, $49.70 is one of the most popular positions today. The game of Hover is singlehandedly responsible for the poor showing in most veterinarians' retirement accounts.

However, Hover has a sequel called "Bankruptcy." Not a week goes by without a practitioner calling me to ask if I can find him a more profitable location for his clinic. Almost every week, I have a call from another practitioner who has to declare bankruptcy. These folks are so emotionally invested in the wrong locations that they borrowed against their own 401(k), their spouse's 401(k), and to no avail—the bank is taking their new and beautiful five-year-old facility. They simply waited too long hoping irrationally that the economy would turn around.

Companion medicine economics must change to avoid individual and collective disasters. Every prediction I depend on says we won't regain normal employment until 2023. Food costs are up 35.8 percent in the past 12 months. Non-food agricultural costs are up 76 percent for the same period. You can't fight inflation.

The pet population isn't increasing as fast as the number of veterinarians. Transactions are destined to go down.

What's the solution? Stop playing around. Take a hard look at your numbers, and make hard decisions that will ensure your practice is profitable. Closely examine your fees and your overhead. If you don't have the guts for that, hire someone who can help you. You're probably already paying for an accountant.

Did it ever occur to you that you could increase fees on Monday and change them back on Tuesday if they caused problems? Become a hero to yourself and family. I'm not suggesting that you gouge your clients—but asking them to pay their fair share for the best medicine in town is not unethical. Of course, if you're not practicing great medicine and great service, no one can really help you. So be bold. Overcome your fear. Remember, it could be worse: It's not like you had to eat a raw oyster you dug up at the beach or had to chase down a wild ungulate to quench your thirst.

Dr. Snyder, a well-known consultant, publishes Veterinary Productivity, a newsletter for practice productivity. He can be reached at 112 Harmon Cove Towers Secaucus, NJ 07094; (800) 292-7995; Vethelp@comcast.net; fax: (866) 908-6986.

For a complete list of articles by Dr. Snyder, visit dvm360.com/snyder