Why compliance is a 5-letter word—and how it tells the story of how well your practice is doing at protecting patients

We hear the word ‘compliance’ all the time; we’ve been hearing it for thirty years. In fact, we hear it so much it often becomes just a bit of white noise.

I mean, really, we talk to every single pet parent about heartworm prevention and flea control. We sell TONS of product and our drug reps love us. We educate our staff. We know the heartworm lifecycle. We do all we can, right?

Well, maybe…. maybe not. Let’s take a quick look.

What exactly IS compliance anyway?

CAPC (Companion Animal Parasite Council) says that surveys indicate that heartworm infections continue to increase in number and geographic distribution and that we need to protect all dogs from heartworm infection by using preventives year round.

And for fleas? CAPC says all dogs and cats should be treated year-round and throughout their lives with flea control products to limit infestations on pets and prevent establishment of flea populations in the home.

So, we have very straightforward recommendations: All dogs should be on 12 months of heartworm prevention and 12 months of flea control.

Now that you know exactly what 100% heartworm/flea compliance looks like, how are you doing? Hmmm. Here is where it can get a bit tricky to quantify since compliance has several different components. Compliance is actually a 5-letter word: PRPAP.

What is PRPAP and why is measuring it so important?

PRPAP stands for “Parasiticide Revenue Per Active Patient”. PRPAP is the financial metric you get when you divide your total parasiticide revenue for the past 12 months by the number of active dogs (meaning that they had a transaction of some sort) in the practice in the past 12 months.

This very important metric considers 3 things in its calculation:

1. Number of dogs on at least one dose of a parasiticide
2. Number of months of prevention dispensed per dog
3. Product choice and total protection—Internal and external protection is optimal and will increase the dollar value of this metric

PRPAP shows you how your practice is really doing at telling the heartworm/flea/tick story (dogs on prevention), recommending 12 months of prevention, and recommending total protection. PRPAP also allows you to compare your practice with others in the area regardless of size.

Why should you care about PRPAP?

Guess what? [bctt tweet=”Protecting pets is the best medicine, and parasiticides can represent 20% (or more) of your gross revenue! Think about it, this is low hanging fruit that is critical to supporting the health of pets and the health of your practice.”] That is a great reason to pay attention and take action.

The best part is, you are not working alone. You have allies with excellent expertise, ideas and resources ready to help you. Partner with your parasiticide manufacturers to dig in and help you maximize your efforts. They can help you:

• Assess your strengths and opportunities (Parasiticide Compliance Report that will tell you the whole story about your PRPAP)
• Provide parasiticide reminder programs with great incentives for your clients to keep pets on protection year-round (instant rebates and mail-in rebates)
• Educate your team so that they can deliver powerful recommendations to pet owners (lunch and learns)
• Set goals, monitor and celebrate success (dispensing programs)
• Manage your inventory more efficiently and cost effectively (product consolidation, buying incentives and rebates)

Measure PRPAP to maximize compliance!

Join forces and make sure your PRPAP is a good 5-letter word! Look at all aspects of your compliance today and take action to increase your PRPAP.

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Sally Jackson is National Accounts Manager at VetSuccess.

This blog has been updated and was originally published July 27, 2016.