IN-DEPTH: IMMUNOLOGY/VACCINATION/PARASITE CONTROL 2. When to Invest in a Wellness Plan


A wellness plan may not be appropriate for every practice. If the doctors are booked out 2 weeks, implementing a wellness plan does not make sense, as they will not be able to provide additional ser- vices. If there are consistently 1 to 2 appointments not filled on the schedule or a seasonally slow period, investing in a wellness plan is worth considering. In a general practice where vaccine sales or den- tistry are small parts of the total visits or income, a preventative wellness plan may be worth imple- menting. The more involved you are in the “little things” (dentals, vaccination, and deworming), the more vertically integrated you will be in the total healthcare of that individual horse making yourself more essential to that individual client. One other scenario to consider for implementing a wellness plan is when there are similar style prac- tices competing for the same clients. Offering a wellness plan is one way to build client loyalty and to elevate your practice above the competition. The decision to implement a wellness plan should involve the professional staff, the lay staff, and office staff. Encouraging their input will help to build ownership in the plan and improve staff buy-in. If the office staff feels the plan is too complicated or the professional and lay staff do not understand the plan or make recommendations counter to the plan, it will not be successful.


3. Designing the Plan


Once the decision has been made to design a well- ness plan, several questions should be addressed.


● Who is the target client? ● What is included in the plan? ● Is a farm call included? ● What is not included in the plan? ● Are there multiple levels or customization of the plan?


● Why is that beneficial to the horse? ● How will this be beneficial to the horse owner? ● Why is that beneficial to us?


There is a tendency to add up all the services you want to offer and mark them down 10 to 20% and sell the plan as a great deal. While this is a great deal, it is the author’s impression that the horse owners in search of a great deal buy their vaccines and wormers at the feed store. Building a plan for clients who don’t seek routine veterinary services is not logical. Including some free services can be helpful as long as those services are likely to lead to other diagnostics. A detailed oral exam may lead to more dentistry. A semi-annual lameness exam may lead to more joint therapy and orthopedic diag- nostics. Including customization will increase the attractiveness to clients but also increases the work load on the office staff. If the plan is too compli- cated for the staff to keep straight, clients will not understand it and will not buy into the plan.


408 2014  Vol. 60  AAEP PROCEEDINGS After deciding what is in the plan, you must put


a price on it. Will you charge clients monthly? Charge them once a year? When billed out monthly, client retention is highest. When billed out once a year, the chances of losing money on the plan are reduced as the client has prepaid for all the services. When pricing the plan, add up every- thing included in the plan at full value. Divide this number by 12. That is the monthly cost to the client for you to administer the plan and treat the horse. There are multiple companies that you can outsource the monthly debit or bank withdraw re- ducing the workload on your office staff. Autopay from a bank account is preferred to a credit card, as bank accounts do not expire and are less frequently canceled. Consider asking for a bank account as a backup for clients who want to set up the plan on a credit card. Consider your clientele: Will they pay this monthly fee? If not, consider removing some things from the plan. Will there be a onetime setup fee? You need to decide what to do with clients who want to cancel the plan and to be very clear on how to handle scenarios involving sale or death of the horse. We will allow clients to cancel a plan, but they must pay the full retail price for everything they have used and not yet paid for.


4. Internal Marketing and Training


Once you have decided what is in your plan and the cost, you still have to “sell” it to clients. Just like any new service, some marketing and client educa- tion is a must. Having the staff buy-in is critical in recommending or offering the plan to clients when they call to make an appointment, when they arrive and check in, during the examination, and on any follow-up contacts. It is most useful to “sell” the plan to clients during well horse visits that are re- lated to components of your plan. It is not helpful to try and “sell” clients a preventative wellness plan when the horse presents for an illness. The staff needs to understand all aspects of the wellness plan and be able to articulate this to the clients. The staff should be able to answer most questions the client asks. Most importantly, the staff must be- lieve that the wellness plan is in the best interest of the horse, client, and practice. Having some writ- ten material on the website and as handouts is im- portant to allowing clients to review the details. Where we have failed in “selling” our wellness plan has been poorly training our staff and having doc- tors make recommendations counter to the plan. The AAEP has multiple resources available to cli- ents and staff in relation to core vaccines and de- worming strategies. Utilizing these tools is one method to get all the veterinarians and staff on the same page when discussing the wellness plan with clients. No client is going to invest in a wellness plan that recommends twice a year influenza if the veterinarian advises them that once a year is all they need.


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