In June 2017, we invited VetSuccess subscribers – specifically practice managers and owners – to complete a brief survey. Our goal was to get a sense of how you as industry professionals feel about your practice data, and learn how you’re using it to build a strong practice. Do you consider practice data worthy of your attention? Do you act upon the findings? Do you love it or hate it? We wanted to find out.
Having reviewed the input from 112 qualifying respondents, we learned that 73.4% value their data and find reviewing and analyzing it to be worthwhile. We also learned that 62.9% consider it insightful. While this makes us very happy, what delights us even more is this:
89.5% have implemented changes based on their practice data.
At VetSuccess, our goal is to help you manage your practice for peak performance. If the data we’re providing empowers you to make changes for the better, we’re achieving our objective.
So, what kind of changes are veterinary professionals making based on their data? Mainly changes to pricing, but many respondents have also made changes to scheduling, appointment setting, staffing, and employee training. Some have used their data to work on decreasing lapsing patients, improving compliance, and increasing their forward-booking rates. Others have implemented or changed their marketing programs based on the story their data has told them, and worked on increasing their client email numbers. And on the revenue side, some have made changes to inventory purchasing, products they carry, and expense control.
While we’re all about the numbers (that’s data, after all), we did throw a few open-ended questions out there. Among the answers that came back was this:
“I think correct and frequent data analysis is critical to understanding and being able to adjust, adapt, and keep up with knowing what is working and what may need changing.”
Do our findings mean that all vet professionals love their practice data?
Surprisingly, for some, not as much as we’d hoped. Despite the data implying that most find practice data to be valuable, insightful, and worth acting upon, we received a number of comments suggesting a less than harmonious relationship with data.
For example, when asked, “do you and your team see eye to eye on the value of analyzing and using data to manage and grow the practice?” 47.6% responded “sometimes.” This tells us that many practice teams aren’t aligned with respect to the value of data and the validity of using it to make practice decisions and changes.
While some respondents expressed that they find data just plain confusing or frustrating, others expressed that although they understand the data; they’re just not sure what to do with it when they have it. As one respondent put it, “I need help with the ‘then what.’”
At VetSuccess, we love practice data and we want you to love it, too!
We also want to help you get the greatest value out of it. With that in mind, we thought we’d draw your attention to a few helpful posts from our blog:
How Not to be Overwhelmed by Your Practice Data
I like to think of the reports like a large cake. Imagine trying to eat the entire cake all at once! You certainly wouldn’t want to eat an entire cake in one sitting. Instead, plan to work through your reports and take “one slice of cake” at a time. Read More
Data Mining Made Easy for the Busy Practice Manager
As practice managers have so many responsibilities, it’s difficult for them to find time to scour reports and pull relevant data. The solution to this for our practices has been VetSuccess reports. Read More
Tips and Tricks for Getting the Most from Your Lapsing Patients Report
When you look at your Lapsing Patient Reports each month do you feel so overwhelmed with all the great information included that you don’t know where to start? If so, you are not alone! Read More
How to Identify and Target Specific Patients for Preventive Care Treatments
We love animals and we want them to live in the best of health, for as long as possible. The key to that is preventive care! Preventive care is undoubtedly one of the biggest areas of opportunity for veterinary practices. Read More
How to Mark-up Your Parasiticide Inventory for Profitability
How to Mark-up Your Parasiticide Inventory for Profitability
As the second highest expense in a veterinary practice, having a solid knowledge of how to manage inventory is critical to a veterinary practice’s success. Read More
Conducting Productive Staff Meetings Using Your Practice Overview Report
Your monthly Practice Overview Report (POR) is the perfect framework for putting together a consistent staff meeting that is focused, leads to good discussion, and in most cases gets the staff pumped up about reaching new heights of success. Read More
Using your Practice Overview Reports to Anticipate Compassion Fatigue
While it’s natural to focus on things like new clients and lapsing patients, I’d like to point out a few early indicators for Compassion Fatigue within your Practice Overview Reports (POR). Read More
As most of us know from personal experience, building any type of healthy relationship takes time. Next week, I’ll share what our respondents had to say about the role time plays in their relationship with data. I’ll also share some valuable resources to help you invest the time needed to ensure a long and rewarding relationship with your practice reports.
Until then, if you have any questions about your practice data, please don’t hesitate to reach out to us for support.
