The Veterinary Preventive Care Model That Drives More Revenue
Veterinary professionals may not enter the field for the money, but practice finances are still important. Profitability and a healthy bottom line mean you can spend more on your team, provide better patient care, and ensure the hospital’s long-term success.
One way to increase revenue and drive practice profitability is to focus on services pets need year-round: preventive care. Pet owners are increasingly exposed to subscription models in their daily lives, and a structured care plan with monthly payments can also be effective for veterinary care.
Here’s how wellness plans can drive revenue growth in your veterinary practice, plus a few additional strategies to maximize the financial impact of pet preventive care.
Wellness plans: Steady income, happy clients
Wellness plans are service bundles offered at various levels. They allow pet owners to purchase all recommended veterinary services and products needed for a year and pay for them in monthly installments. Predictable payments make this type of care more affordable for the average pet owner, and a wellness plan takes the guesswork out of knowing what services are needed.
Monthly payments make wellness plans similar to other subscription services clients already use. Care models are highly customizable to veterinarian preferences and pet life stage and lifestyle needs. Wellness plans may include:
- Annual check-ups
- Vaccinations
- Wellness blood work
- Senior screening tests
- Fecal analysis
- Parasite prevention
- Heartworm testing
- Dental care
- Spay or neuter
- Microchipping
- Discounts on additional services
Wellness plan benefits for veterinary clinics
Wellness plans don’t only benefit clients and pets; they can also help your practice. Here’s how your clinic can benefit:
- Cash flow — Monthly billing smooths out seasonal ups and downs, and bundles that include parasite preventives keep pharmacy sales in-house for better financial health.
- Compliance — Client compliance improves when pet owners pre-pay for services and want to get their money’s worth.
- Patient care — Seeing pets more often translates to earlier interventions and fewer sick pets.
- Client retention — Clients come in more frequently and feel they’re getting a good deal, so they are more likely to stay with your veterinary practice.
Talking to clients about preventive care and wellness plans
Preventive care promotions and models don’t work if your clients don’t understand them. Client communication is the cornerstone of any new hospital initiative, and what you say to your client base matters. Try these strategies to convey the value and importance of preventive and wellness services to pet owners:
- Ditch jargon and use simple language to explain the “why,” “how,” and “how much” behind your recommendations.
- Tailor your message to specific pet-owning demographics (e.g., Gen X vs. Gen Z, dog owners vs. cat owners).
- Provide your veterinary team with talking points so everyone feels confident discussing how care plans work.
The role of diagnostics in wellness plans and preventive care
Clients often overlook the value of diagnostic tests in young, seemingly healthy pets. However, large-scale studies show that one in seven young adult pets have significant abnormalities on lab work despite a lack of outward symptoms. For clients whose pets have always been “healthy,” showing them hard data surrounding the frequency of significant findings can change their mindset about wellness diagnostics.
Increasing the proportion of clients opting for diagnostic screening tests can generate significant revenue when implemented effectively. However, you should carefully consider pricing for basic blood, urine, and parasite screening tests. Clients may balk at the cost if you use a generic lab markup formula. However, pricing preventive care services more reasonably or rolling these costs into a discounted wellness plan can entice more pet owners to agree.
The Veterinary Hospital Managers Association (VHMA) found that 75% of veterinary hospitals using a “compliance-based” pricing strategy doubled diagnostic income during a period of deliberate promotion, while only 15% of practices using traditional markups had similar results.
Choosing a wellness plan administrator
Wellness plans should be easy for teams to implement and clients to understand. If you have a modern, cloud-based veterinary practice management system, you can choose from an array of wellness plan providers that integrate directly with your PIMS. Since the client’s payment information lives in a single, organized place, team members can assist clients with sign-up without opening a separate window or transcribing account data.
Veterinary professionals want to help animals live longer, healthier lives. To do that, practices must remain financially healthy and have a steady flow of patients. Promoting preventive pet care and affordable wellness plans increases access to veterinary care, promotes animal health, and creates long-lasting client relationships.
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