PRACTICE NEWS A DIFFERENT KIND OF S.O.A.P.
by J.A. Keith, DVM, MBA, MEcon, CVJ
so that your success does not depend on irrational clients.
We are all quite familiar with the traditional S.O.A.P. pneumonic taught in school and still used by many of us in daily practice. It is a helpful tool to organize medical records and be complete. However, have you
ever thought of using this to assess the financial health of your practice? It’s unlikely that you have, so lets take a closer look.
S: (subjective) Tis is generally used to gather the presenting complaint(s). For a practice, this may be lack of staff, increasing costs to deliver care, staff disputes, increasing debt load, culture, a low Average Client Transaction (ACT) number or diminishing profits.
O: (objective) A collection of the current standing of your hospital as in Profit and Loss Statements, tax returns, profit margins, expenses, actual costs incurred by the office, staff turnover, client feedback and other tangible/ measureable figures.
A: (assessment) Find those issues in your practice that are creating the headaches. Truly think about the things that keep you up at night tethered to the practice while not enjoying the career you worked so hard to achieve. Do you have a plethora of C, D, and F clients that ruin your day when you see that they are coming in? Are your fees too low for your demographic area? Are you constantly having to recruit new staff members due to turnover? Are you working harder but making less money for the practice and yourself? Are you feeling burned out and dread facing the day? Remember, in order to solve a problem, you first need to identify it. Tis is where honesty and an acute dissection of what needs to be corrected. Sometimes it helps to work with your accountant, staff or practice manager. Don’t be afraid to ask your team members for the things they see that are problematic. Tey see things from a different perspective and can uncover issues for which you are unaware . Involve them in decision making for those things that directly affect them - they’ll feel empowered and part of the process. Some of my practice policies and procedures came from staff suggestions. Lastly, ask your office manager or accountant to give you a financial overview of the practice.
P: (plan) Tis is the part where you begin to make corrections to the problems you have identified. Tey say in sports that winning cures most problems. As such, win at practicing veterinary medicine! Get rid of staff members that create chaos, do not perform at an accept- able level, do not contribute to a positive cul- ture at your hospital or otherwise stay stagnant. I don’t care how long they have been with your practice. If they are a source of stirring
staff
members’ apathy or infighting, you don’t want them and they cost you losses in production and, hence, profitability.
Serve your A and B clients very well. Tis group is responsible for 80% of your practice income.
26 KVMA News
J. A. Keith, D.V.M., M.B.A., M. Econ Versailles, KY
859.753.5000
vetau94@aol.com Continued on pg. 27
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