The VetPartners™ – AAHAMentorship Toolkit

2014 VetPartners Mid-year Hot Rocks MeetingCareer Development Special Interest Group Presenters

Jim Wilson, DVM, JD

Lance Roasa, DVM, MS, JD Candidate

Joel Parker, DVM

August 21, 2014

You Are Facing The Following Situation

As a VP™ Consultant/Advisor

Working With PeopleAt Your Table…

• Generate your cumulative thoughts for the following case example…

Your Client, Dr. Burnedout Is…

1. A solo small/mixed/large/equine practitioner who is working 60-65 hours/week (and can’t remember his/her kids’ names)

2. Practice grosses $400k? - 500k? - $600k/yr (pick your no.)

3. What 5 or more key pieces of information will you ask the practice owner/manager to provide…

a. For you to help determine whether or not the practice can afford to hire another FTE doctor?

Info Needed Before Hiring Another Associate

1. .. 1. ..

Where would you look for benchmarks or resources that

could assist your consultation?

Currently…online athttps://mentorship.aahanet.org

Access will be available to VetPartners™ & AAHA members, veterinary students & ??*

VetPartners™– AAHA Mentorship Toolkit

Why We Need A Mentorship Toolkit Veterinary graduates face the following barriers:1. overwhelming increases in student debt…mean = $162,813

(with 2013 estimates incl. Ross, SGU, St Mathews & other overseas schools = $180,807)

2. remarkable increases in the number of US students being admitted to and graduating from veterinary schools…now > 4,000/year

3. no work force shortage in the profession – in fact 12% excess capacity

4. diminished numbers of job offers per graduate…

5. two years of starting salaries…with latest year finally

Why We Need A Mentorship Toolkit6. decreased opportunities for clinical training while in

veterinary school…lower VTH caseloads & fewer animals to teach clinical skills (costs & animal rights movement)

7. lack of quality assurance programs and/or any economic ROI on the internships they complete

8. evidence that completing internships has no beneficial effect on income, irrespective of the # of years post graduation…

9. ten years of decreasing case loads and transactions per FTE veterinarian in private practice…

10.immense costs for veterinary practices to hire and train new graduates to become productive team members…

Why a Tool for Practice Mangers, Owners & Consultants - Because…

11.Profits are down as caseload for & revenue produced by newly hired doctors falls short

12. Owners/managers conclude they can’t afford to keep new docs – result – chronic & excessive doctor turnover

13.Consultants lack a functional and/or useful tool to assist with this important decision – result –too many “gut-based” opinions on hiring

Mentorship Toolkit

Tool #2: For Mentors: Knowing When to Hire

Thus, the CD SIG Has Created the

Hiring Another Doctor 

Metrics Viability Tool 

(HADMVT) 

Enter - Some Math, Science & A Tool

A Mentorship Toolkit?• Developed via 3 years of work by the VetPartners

Career Development SIG, NVBMA and AAHA’s My Veterinary Career Division as a solution to the problems we have identified

• Contains skill set surveys & development spreadsheets to identify and track progress toward job ready skills – While students are in vet school and– During their mentorship/internship year

• Goal – help them become productive as fast as possible so they are welcomed. productive members of the health care team

Mentorship ToolkitTool #1: Evolution of and support for

mentorship (Executive Summary, White Paper and PowerPoint program explaining the Toolkit)

• Provides background information on the forces driving the economy and support for mentorship guidelines

• Includes:• Results of survey sent to 6,000+ AAHA member mentees and

mentors and

• What is missing from current mentee-mentor relationships to generate practical, accountable, mentorship guidelines

Mentorship ToolkitTool #2: Knowing If & When to Hire• In order for a mentee-mentor relationship to be successful, it

is necessary for the practice to be in good financial health

• Crunching the numbers is essential to determine whether revenues are sufficient to hire an FTE associate

• If not, what kind of $ or cases #s are needed to create a thriving, long-term relationship with a mentee associate?

• The Excel worksheet from the CD SIG is about to become the “go to” resource to do the calculations and make more confident hiring decisions

Hiring Another Doctor Metric Viability Tool

• Goals & Objectives:– Help practices make decisions with good data,

not gut feelings– For use by VP™ consultants & practice

financial & management decision makers alike– Educated hiring decisions lead to better

outcomes, more successful associates and the opportunity for profitable practices

Hiring Another Doctor Metric Viability Tool

• Goals & Objectives cont’d:– Create a “simple” but useful tool that

stimulates & allows…• Associates to use & learn industry standards• Practices managers & consultants to enter

individual data then tweak and focus it• Novice Excel users to produce “scientific,” rather

than “gut-based” - what if - calculations• Profession to use this “get started” tool for free

A Key Tool in the Toolkit?

• Let’s walk through the HADMVT tool & see how it works

Hiring Another Doctor Metric Viability Tool

– Coming soon…• High Quality Videos to introduce users and walk

them through the HADMVT• Publication and marketing efforts pushing the

VetPartners brand and contribution to the profession

– Stay Tuned…

Concluding ThoughtsConsider this a valuable tool

in our toolkit to use while making financially viable

hiring decisions

We Know This Isn’t The Most Important

Cup of Tea for All of Our VP Members, So…

We Hope You Will Send Your Consulting Clients to our

VP CD SIG – AAHAWebsite!

Many thanks toVetPartners™ Career Development SIG

American Animal Hospital Association (AAHA)

My Veterinary Career (MVC)

Veterinary Business Management Association (VBMA)

Others