Does your veterinary practice offer wellness programs?

Many clients love their pets and are willing to be proactive and spend money to extend their pets’ lives. When you offer a wellness program in your practice, not only do you encourage preventive care, but you also build long-term value for your clients and your bottom line.

Benefits of wellness programs

In classic economic terms, value can be defined using mathematics: as benefits minus cost. If the value were zero or negative, the rational consumer would never make the purchase. If the value were positive, where the benefits exceed the cost, then the consumer would make the purchase decision. But in addition to the monetary value of a wellness plan, the opportunity to improve a pet’s quality of life, and the possibility of extending their lifetime, makes the decision to buy into a wellness program a no-brainer for many clients.

In addition to the clear-cut benefits associated with more regular, more consistent contact between a vet and a pet, there are business considerations as well, such as improved cash flow, consistent allocation of overhead costs, improved health outcomes for the pet, earlier detection and treatment of diseases and disorders, and efficiencies associated with the bundling of services.

How do they work?

Many veterinary practices now offer wellness programs where a pet owner agrees to pay a monthly fee in exchange for access to a defined set of services. Sometimes, though, wellness programs are confused with pet insurance provisions, in which owners purchase insurance as a hedge against expensive interventions and procedures. While there is some overlap between the two concepts, they generally occupy separate and discrete realms. And while wellness programs and insurance policies are unique unto themselves, knowing and understanding the differences and distinctions between them is a good place to start the discussion. For a detailed analysis of these differences (including some FAQs), a great resource is www.caninejournal.com/pet-wellness-plans.

The principal purpose of a wellness program is to optimize the pet’s health by ensuring that clients are engaged and informed and making decisions in the best interest of their pets. Pet owners can budget for these services on a monthly basis, thus circumventing the fear of avoiding care because it’s deemed too inconvenient and/or expensive at a specific moment in time.

Wellness programs also encourage improved lifecycle management and care management, typically resulting in greater clientele satisfaction, loyalty and communication with the vet. It can also contribute to a veterinarian’s efforts to differentiate and distinguish their practice from the competition, given that not all practices offer wellness programs.

Getting started

Don’t forget to check your practice management software for wellness program options. Products like ImproMed and  offer simple ways to set up and implement wellness plans. According to an article from DVM360, “ImproMed has a wellness plan module that lets you more easily account for free basic exams in a premium preventive-care plan, using the strategy of getting pet owners in the door for free then seeing if they need anything extra. AVImark's wellness option, in particular, helps users point to different options for each part of a wellness plan (multiple options for the right choice for the right pet).”

In an ideal world, wellness programs enable the optimization of both practice productivity and profitability, as the earlier detection of issues translates into greater preventive measures being taken. We’re all familiar with the idiom that says, “An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.” Benjamin Franklin, who clearly understood the intrinsic value of wellness, coined that phrase.

Questions? Contact your Covetrus North America sales representative at 855.724.3461.