The 2019 Well-Managed Practice® Benchmarks Study (WMPB®) is now available for purchase! Are you confident your practice is up to speed and maximizing its results? Throughout this year WTA Veterinary Consultants and VetSupport have been working hard to bring the veterinary community the latest insights, trends and benchmarks of the top practices in the country, so practices can learn from their success.
We are animal lovers and are passionate about publishing this information to help veterinary practices improve and thrive. We truly believe that “Better Management is Better Medicine®”, because if your practice is doing well, it can do so much more for its patients, staff and community.
Patients come first.
WellMP never lose sight of the fact that they went into practice to promote veterinary patients’ health and well-being.
WellMP foster a culture of respect.
Team members are people first and foremost, and WellMP owners know they must appreciate the doctors and staff for who they are and strive to help them achieve their potential.
WellMP owners enjoy practicing veterinary medicine.
A love of the profession comes through in practice owners’ attitudes toward their clients. WellMP attract and retain clients by creating positive first impressions and going the extra mile to deliver a sensational experience from start to finish for patients and clients.
WellMP operate efficiently.
They earn enough profit to have a healthy amount of revenue left after covering their variable and fixed costs, nondoctor staff compensation, and facility expenses. A WellMP averages a profit-to-gross-revenue ratio of 33% to 42%. Example: a practice earning $3 million in revenue would have at least $990,000 left to pay owners and associates and reinvest in the practice.
The WMPB is not a mass collection of data that doesn’t really help. Nobody wants to sort through a large collection of data and try to determine what is best. WTA Veterinary Consultants have been studying the best veterinary practices across the country for 35 years. Over the years we have learned what it takes to be successful and share that information with the veterinary community in the WMPB.
The WMPB is a blueprint on how a practice can be set up and managed to become and remain a top practice in the country. We cut out the guess work of what data to reference by surveying select revenue, expenses and fees that are the proven standard for a Well-Managed Practice®. Also, the WMPB provides more than benchmark targets. The study provides insights from top performing practices, articles from industry leaders and management tools to overcome current veterinary challenges and succeed.
This year’s WMPB has some great articles on telehealth, geriatric pet families, social media, practice management, maternity leave, employee termination, contracts and advice from owners.
Dr. Mike Brown from Care Animal Hospital talks about surviving the perfect storm when challenges with staff arise and states “I never considered that it could become a big enough problem to bring down a large, well established practice. Until 2018.”
Dr. Michael Watts from Clevenger’s Corner Veterinary Care talks about the importance of the practice staff and culture for a successful practice and states “I want each of them to interact with others in a polite, welcoming, and helpful way. I can teach someone with those traits to work in my practice, but I have not found a good way to infuse those traits into someone who lacks them.”
Dr. Charlotte LaCroix, JD from Veterinary Business Advisors provides an associate contract checklist and states “Understanding the basics of the contract and its standard terms will help you avoid potential pitfalls and maximize your benefits.”
This Year’s Benchmarks Study Focus
- Practice profile – Learn more about the average total compensation for owners, total practice revenue, total revenue per doctor, staff to doctor ratios and data about patients and clients. In 2018, the average owner income was $381,771 (includes veterinary salary, management fee, return on investment, and benefits).
- Fee benchmarks for pricing your products and services – The WMPB covers over 200 fees including services, medication, dispensing fees, surgery, laboratory and hospitalization. This year there is also a dentistry case study to better understand how practices bundle their periodontal procedures.
- Expense benchmarks to help manage your variable, fixed, staff, facility and doctor expenses – Ideally variable expenses represent 23% to 25% of total revenue. This section also includes benchmark information on signing bonuses, continuing education, healthcare and retirement as well as top reasons why employees leave and are terminated.
- Revenue benchmarks to identify areas for improvement – WMPB 2019 includes benchmarks for medical services, medical products, diets, boarding, grooming and online pharmacy. The benchmark revenue for a full-time equivalent DVM was about $734,000. Owners tell us their biggest concerns/challenges and the one change that would have the most significant positive impact on their practice.
- Employee satisfaction – The section has the results from surveying over 500 practice team members to learn what is most important to them. One change that would have the most significant positive impact on the practice was to remove toxic employees to have a better culture and morale.
What I’ve mentioned today is just the beginning. The 2019 WMPB has so much more to offer and is a resource to keep your practice on track.
Pre-Order the 2019 Well-Managed Practice® Benchmarks Study (WMPB®)
If you’ve ever considered participating in the WMPB Study, it’s now easier than ever. Start by answering five simple questions in this pre-qualifying survey.
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