Ask anyone who has worked for someone for awhile and they will quickly agree that nothing compares to having a wonderful boss at work. Several studies recently completed by the American Management Association demonstrate that having a good relationship with a manager was a key element in the retention of employees. The staff member who feels ignored, unchallenged, unacknowledged and taken for granted will typically do just enough to get by— creating a cycle that further distances the employee from their employer...

Should You Have A Charity Account?
One of the many battles we all fight every day in our practice is how to balance providing charity services to those that might need it with running a successful and profitable business. We all want to help patients and we feel sorry for those patients whose owners can’t afford services. But, if we were to constantly render services to these patients, we would soon be out of business. So what is the answer? I think one of the answers is to establish a charity account. This can be done for the practice or for each doctor in the practice. Here’s the way it works: You should set up an account for each doctor in your practice’s computer system. It might say, ”Mark Opperman – Charity Account”. Once this is accomplished you need to “fund” each account. You might choose to put an annual credit of $1,000.00 in each doctor’s account.

Next, you need to have a meeting with your doctors. Explain to them that you understand that the practice needs to be charitable on occasion and that you want them to participate in this process. As a result, each doctor now has a charity account. The doctors, at their own discretion, may use their account whenever they wish. If a client cannot afford a treatment or surgery, the doctor, if they wish, can offer the assistance of their charity account. Let’s say a dog was hit by a car and is brought into the practice. The dog’s leg is broken and will require surgery but the client cannot afford to pay for it. The estimate was $800.00 and the client can only afford $400.00 The doctor may offer to use their charity account. So, the doctor would say, “Mrs. Smith, I understand that you are unable to pay the $800.00 for Fluffy’s surgery and I realize you have been an excellent client of our hospital. We are very fortunate here at All Pet Animal Hospital to have a charity account we can use to help out clients who need financial assistance. If you can pay $400.00 toward Fluffy’s surgery, I will take the other $400.00 out of my charity account and we will be able to do the surgery. Your bill will be paid in full. If, at some time in the future you are able, you can pay the other $400.00 and make that money available again for other clients who might need assistance.

This is an awesome concept, because it allows each doctor to “control” their own charity account but also says that once the account is empty, no more charity services can be rendered. Therefore we are charitable, which we should be, but we are also able to control this expense. I have been amazed at how well this concept works. In some cases doctors have “blown” through their accounts in a matter of a few months. It really helps to open everyone’s eyes as to how much income we give away every single day in the practice and, hopefully, provide a way to control this problem.

Let's Talk About Advertising
Veterinarians are uncomfortable with the word “advertising”. Many medical professionals are concerned they’ll be considered too aggressive. Actually, advertising is how you communicate to your client, and to your potential client, how you can help them have happier, healthier pets.

Advertising is not just your Yellow Pages ad, but it’s the quality of the health care team interaction with clients and the sticker you paste on the ear cleaner that reminds clients where they made that purchase. It’s the letterhead on your receipts and the sign out front identifying your hospital.

Remember our talk about “branding” in a previous issue? Now use those 3-4 words on everything you hand out, every bottle of flea shampoo and every prescription dispensed, every flyer on heart worms and every appointment reminder. Of course, make sure every item also carries your name, address, telephone number, and logo.

And most importantly, don’t forget that you are a form of advertising, too. Wearing your name tag and uniform in each exam room visit is the way you advertise the quality of your hospital. Wear those tools proudly.

Options for the New Year -
Will you and Your Practice be Financially Successful?
Part 1:

As the New Year approaches, now is a good time to reflect upon the year just ending and to ask yourselves if you have been satisfied with the practice financial performance and structure and what improvements you can make for 2006. Here are a few items you may want to ask yourselves that are on my list:

Retirement Planning-
Do you have the right plan in place that meets your retirement objective based upon the money you have and what you can afford to put away? Will the amount you are currently saving allow you to retire within the standard of living to which you have become accustomed? Today, there are many choices for plans and not all plans are the same. The variables to choose from when deciding on the right plan involve: contribution limits and allocation of contributions, who participates, when do they participate and who controls investment options?

Plan choices are Pension Plans (Defined Benefit Plans), Profit Sharing Plans and 401(k) plans (Defined Contribution Plans), Simplified Employee Retirement Accounts (SEP’s) and SIMPLE’s.

A valid plan needs to provide the practice owner at least 70% of the overall contribution. If you have a 401(k) plan, has it been drafted in a way to maximize the owner contribution? Not all 401(k) plans are the same. A pension specialist can help you draft the right plan. If you have any doubts, draft an employee census that includes the employees’ name, date of hire, date of birth, number of hours worked per year and yearly compensation as well as yearly employee deferral of wages for savings and let the employee plan specialist tell you what plan is right for you. But also always make sure you get options from which to choose.

Buy-Sell agreement-
For those that operate in partnerships, when was the last time you looked at it? Are all of the provisions the way they should be? If it has been more than two years since you have last looked at it, it has been too long. When you review it, make sure the practice certificate of value is up to date and includes the value of the real estate, even if held in a separate entity. Is there adequate life insurance in place to control a buy out in the worst of circumstances?

In the next issue, Part 2:

• Corporate Minutes
• Practice Transition Plan

What’s New in QuickBooks 2006?
Intuit has just released QuickBooks 2006 with a suggested retail price of $199.95 The software is more streamlined and easier to use. Some of the enhancements are: