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So, You Work For a Jerk -
6 Things You Can Do &
1 Thing You Shouldn't
(Part 1 of a 2 part series)
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Sheila Grosdidier, BS, RVT
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What makes your boss a jerk? Is your boss... arrogant, critical,
loud, sarcastic, condescending, conceited, unsympathetic, derogatory,
malicious, callous, insulting or uncaring?
In this first part of a two part article, let's look at three of
the six options that you can consider to make this a manageable
situation.
Read More...
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Upcoming Seminars
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It's What's Up Front That Counts... And More!
1/9 - Oklahoma City, OK
1/13 - Rochester, NY
2/3/ - Madison, WI
2/24 - Los Angeles, CA
3/9 - Atlanta, GA
3/30 - Houston, TX
4/13 - Seattle, WA
4/27 - Salt Lake City, UT
5/4 - Minneapolis, MN
5/18 - Baltimore, MD
6/22 - Denver, CO
Smart Moves For Technicians
1/27 - Dallas, TX
3/9 - Vienna, VA
4/6 - Toronto, Ontario
6/1 - New Orleans, LA
6/29 - Chicago, IL
Principles of Veterinary Practice Management
2/24 - Raleigh, NC
5/14 - San Antonio, TX
6/17 - Detroit Area, MI
HR Boot Camp
Feb 27-28 - Orlando, FL
Mar 12-13 - Bay Area, CA
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The monthly
Financial Tip and
QuickBooks Tip are courtesy of Burzenski &
Company, P.C., Certified Public Accountants and Financial Consultants.
Gary I. Glassman, CPA, is a partner in the firm. Melody Mann Fox is
the Director of Client Services, specializing in Veterinary Medicine.
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Burzenski & Company, P.C.
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To Contact Us:
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VMC, Inc.
30792 Southview Drive
Suite 200
Evergreen, CO 80439
Phone: 303-674-8169
Fax: 303-670-3899
email: vmc@vmc-inc.com
Web: www.vmc-inc.com
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News from VMC, Inc.
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I hope this newsletter finds everyone healthy, happy, and in the
best of holiday cheer. This is a time of year that reminds us of
how thankful we should be to our family and friends and how lucky
we are to be a part of this wonderful profession.
It is also a time to think about the year ahead and set
some goals. Fortune 500 CEO's attribute much of their
success to goal planning. Maybe they know something we
should. Take a piece of paper and write down five
personal goals and five practice goals, hang it on
your bathroom mirror at home and in your office. It
will help you focus and before long you will
have achieved them.
Best wishes to everyone for a healthy, happy and prosperous
New Year. I hope that you will allow VMC to be a part
of your 2008 strategy for success.
Mark Opperman
President, VMC Inc.
Let us hear from you - tell us what you'd like to see
in future issues. You can contact us at
vmc@vmc-inc.com
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Do You Your Team?
by Monica Dixon Perry, CVPM
As we are in this holiday season, think of ways to
acknowledge and appreciate your healthcare team. Often
times we can take things and people for granted not
only in our personal lives, but also in our
professional lives. This industry can sometimes be
demanding and overwhelming, especially during the
holiday season. The increase in volume from boarding
cases, patients partaking of holiday treats that cause
upset stomachs and the influx of new four legged
holiday gifts can turn a routine day into a chaotic
one. As a team, you become busy and stressed and
taking time to say thanks can become a daily
oversight.
As practice managers or a member of your team, it is
important to take time out to say thank you. Showing
that you appreciate members of your healthcare team
should become second nature. Remember that it would be
extremely difficult for you to accomplish what you do
on a daily basis if you did not have others playing an
active role in the day to day operations of your
practice and daily responsibilities. We all rely on
each other in some form or fashion and need each other
to be successful day in and day out. Although times
can be stressful, I believe taking time to thank
someone, sending a card, writing a note or making any
effort (big or small) to let someone know you do not
take them for granted will not only lessen the amount
of stress, but enhance the harmony among you and those
around you.
There are many little things that you can do to ease the
stress of a typical day in a veterinary hospital.
Don't forget those around you and I am certain that
your generosity and thoughtfulness will have a
wonderful, positive affect!
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Oh, You Better Watch Out!
by Mark Opperman, CVPM
There is a video circulating on the internet that was shot
by a consumer reporter in Canada. It was shown on their network television and is
not very pretty. The consumer reporter takes her cat
to several different veterinarians in Canada to find
out how much it costs for a bottle of insulin and
Tapazole tablets. She gets prices on the Tapazole
tablets ranging from $35.00 a bottle to $86.00 a
bottle (Canadian), and prices on the insulin ranging
from $6.00 to $22.00. The report is very slanted and tugs on the
heartstrings of the consumer, "Animals are having
to be put to sleep because owners can't afford their
medication." The video shows a veterinary conference in
Canada where a lecturer is telling veterinarians to
"reach into your clients wallets". It portrays veterinarians as overcharging for
medications, being underhanded because they do not
tell clients they can get medications at a human
pharmacy, and overall just unprofessional and money
grabbing. The
report is not balanced and presents veterinarians in a
very poor light. You
can view this video yourself by clicking on the
following web address:
http://www.cbc.ca/marketplace/cat_got_your_wallet/
This report was done in Canada and shown on a major TV
station in Canada, but how long before it happens here
in the United States? I think we all need to be aware of this and be
prepared for it. I don't think it is a question of if,
but instead when, this is going to happen in the
United States. The
consumer report would not have had the same outcome if
all the practices charged relatively the same for
these medications. I think a lot of the wind would have been taken
out of their sails if the veterinary association
spokesman was more effective.
Let's start to make AAHA and AVMA, as well as our State
associations, aware of our concern regarding this
potential problem so that they will be able to respond
in a favorable manner. Be prepared for people asking questions and
educate your team on why we mark products up and add
on a dispensing fee. What would your team member say
if a client asked why the practice was charging X
dollars for a product? Would they know enough to respond to the client
with "Mrs. Smith, the medication you have
purchased today does not only reflect the cost of the
drug, but we also markup the medication, as any
business does, to help cover the costs of running our
hospital and paying our team members. If we did not markup our medications we would
not be able to sustain our business and provide care
and treatment to Fluffy." I don't think we want
to be regulated by the government as is the case in
England, so let's be proactive on this issue before it
becomes an issue.
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U.S. Alters List of Documents for Verifying Work Eligibility
by J. J. Smith
A new document has been added to the list of acceptable
Form I-9 credentials that companies can use to verify
the employment eligibility of new hires, says the U.S.
Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), which
issued the revised document list Nov. 8, 2007.
Employers may now use the new Form I-9-and begin collecting
the documents listed-although use of the new form will
not be required until a notice is published in the Federal
Register, USCIS says. Once the notice has been
published, employers who do not use the new Form I-9
could face fines or other penalties, the agency says.
The Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility
Act of 1996 requires employers to use Form I-9 to
verify the identity and work eligibility of all new
employees, including U.S. citizens, at the time they
are hired. Completed forms are to be maintained by the
employer as a hard copy or in an electronic version
for three years after the employee's date of hire or
for a year after the date the employment is
terminated, whichever is later, USCIS says. In
addition, completed forms are not to be submitted to
the government.
The revised Form I-9 removes five documents from "List
A" of the form that employers may accept from new
hires. The revised "List A"-which is to
"Establish Both Identity and Employment
Eligibility"- has one additional document.
The documents employers can now accept under List A are:
- U.S. passport
- Permanent Resident Card or Alien Registration Receipt Card (Form I-551)
- An unexpired foreign passport with a temporary I-551 stamp
- An unexpired Employment Authorization Document that contains a photograph
(Form I-766, I-688, I-688A or I-688B)
- An
unexpired foreign passport with an unexpired
"Arrival-Departure Record," Form I-94,
bearing the same name as the passport and
containing an endorsement of the alien's
nonimmigrant status, if that status authorizes the
alien to work for the employer.
The
documents removed from "List A" that will no
longer be acceptable are:
- Certificate
of U.S. Citizenship (Form N-560 or N-561).
- Certificate
of Naturalization (Form N-550 or N-570).
- Alien
Registration Receipt Card (I-151).
- Unexpired
Reentry Permit (Form I-327).
- Unexpired
Refugee Travel Document (Form I-571).
The
revised list of acceptable documents applies to
verifying initial hires and to re-verifying existing
employees, USCIS says. However, employers are not
required to complete new Form I-9s for existing
workers, the agency says.
The revisions to Form I-9 are only within List A, and
a new hire may prove his or her identity and
employment eligibility by providing acceptable
credentials from two other Form I-9 rosters, which
have not changed and which list 19 documents. The two
rosters and the acceptable credentials under each are:
List
B, Documents that Establish Identity
- Driver's
license or ID card issued by a state or outlying
possession of the United States, provided it
contains a photograph or information such as name,
date of birth, gender, height, eye color and
address.
- ID
card issued by federal, state or local government
agencies or entities, provided it contains a
photograph or information such as name, date of
birth, gender, height, eye color and address.
- School
ID card with a photograph.
- Voter
registration card.
- U.S.
military card or draft record.
- U.S.
Coast Guard Merchant Mariner card.
- Native
American tribal document.
- Driver's
license issued by a Canadian government authority.
People
younger than 18 who cannot produce any of the
documents under List B can provide other credentials.
The acceptable documents for persons younger than 18
are:
- School
record or report card.
- Clinic,
doctor or hospital record.
- Day
care or nursery school record.
List
C, Documents that Establish Employment Eligibility
- U.S.
Social Security card issued by the Social Security
Administration (other than a card stating it is
not valid for employment).
- Certification
of Birth Abroad issued by the U.S. Department of
State (Form FS-545 or Form DS-1350).
- Original
or certified copy of birth certificate issued by a
state, county or municipal authority, or outlying
possession of the United States, bearing an
official seal.
- Native
American tribal document.
- U.S.
Citizen ID Card (Form I-197).
- ID
Card for use of Resident Citizen in the United
States (Form I-179).
- Unexpired
employment authorization document issued by the
Department of Homeland Security (other than those
listed under List A).
Employers
are to "examine one document from List A" or
"examine one document from List B and one from
List C," and "record the title, number and
expiration date, if any, of the document(s)," the
government says.
Click Here
to download the new Form I-9.
J.J. Smith is manager of SHRM Online's Global HR
Focus Area.
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