Overview
Broadford Vets Clinic is based in the northeast of Melbourne with two practices, one in Wallan and one in Broadford. With two primary veterinarians, Carolyn Prentice and Kelly Rogers, it’s a combined duo that offers their customers a strong surgeon presence and excellence in medical knowledge. Their blended 55+ years’ experience as vets and their passionate nursing staff allow for them to be to a mixed practice, where they’ll treat smaller domestic animals, but also farm and livestock from goats to alpacas.
In managing the practice, easy technology and improving connectivity with clients is top of the agenda for Broadford Vets.
Intuitive adoption, implementation and ease-of-use
In choosing VisionVPM back in 2012, Nyree Williams, Broadford’s registered veterinary nurse and practice manager, outlined the need for simplicity. It was important to the clinic that an ‘easy-to-follow and straightforward’ system was put into place for successful operations. Due to its suitability for mixed-animal practices, VisionVPM was the Practice Management System (PMS) of choice for them.
Nyree Williams
Connectivity with clients sees more engagement and better self-service
The industry and client expectations have changed quite a bit, especially with COVID-19, pet parents are a lot more knowledgeable. They used to wholly rely on the vet for information, but now they expect more service, follow-ups and digitised access. They have opinions, more dialogue and capacity and willingness to investigate for themselves – they’re more invested in the wellbeing of their pet.
As a vet nurse and practice manager, Nyree wears a couple of different hats in managing the practice and helping to treat the pets. To meet this extra level of service she leans on VisionVPM.
Nyree Williams
For their clinic, VisionVPM offers:
Another advantage, in the context of connectivity, is linking the software up with the clinic’s blood machines for example. Previously, staff would have to enter every single result manually. Everything from the patient details, to the history, the results and charging it at the same time, means there are huge benefits from this automation.
With Rapport, the client communication tool, online bookings mean that customers can now book appointments online, outside of business hours. In a truly digitised fashion, it means there’s less reliance on physical presence and less strain on reception staff. By syncing up the templates, it means the right consult is booked in with the right person for that specific treatment.
Nyree Williams
Readily-available information at a glance
As clients are booked in or in the patient’s consult, information on the screen with both the client and the pet has been a “gamechanger” for Nyree.
“It all comes up, and it’s really easy to see. You don’t need to open up anything else. Before if an appointment was booked in, just the animal’s details were visible, but we didn’t have the client’s details. So if the contact number changed, you didn’t always remember to check and if you needed to reschedule an appointment, you didn’t have their current number. So having all of that when you’re making a booking means data is up-to-date, accurate and usable.”
Additionally, having client and patient markers up as part of the patient details and history such as “aggressive” or “must be muzzled”, “restrain adequately”, allows practice staff to adequately prepare for such appointments and be warned with pop-ups “in big red writing” from VisionVPM. This is a marked difference in that if they didn’t have the labels and prepared patient knowledge, turning away or rearranging a client they can’t see because they didn’t have this information in advance is lost time and money.
Money is time
With all the automation in place, this has significant time savings for Broadford Vets. It’s been economically very beneficial for the clinic to streamline its operations, automate efforts and reduce missed billing charges. By identifying and syncing up treatments, with histories, products and charges, this has been a step-change in managing costs and revenue going into the clinic.
In the context of training, because of VisionVPM’s strong functionality and straightforward ways, Nyree’s team appreciate its usability amongst their staff. One of the nurses is in charge of reminders, and by automating that, it provides the efficiency and time-savings they need, which is done at the click of a button, instead of the hours it used to take.
Reduction in no-shows
As a result of the automation and client communication through Rapport using SMS reminders and email communications, Broadford Vets have noticed higher amounts of customer contact and engagement.
For example, the customer will often touch base, following a worming reminder they received which validates how invested pet parents are in this modern age of pet-ownership and has increased the sought-after connectivity the clinic wanted with their clients.
Using reporting to determine customer preferences
Like many practices, Broadford Vets recognise a gap in their reporting capabilities but are excited at utilising the overall functionality in VisionVPM’s software. Already, they find it easy-to-use to compare previous financial years and see at a glance if there’s growth or not.
In addition, they use the reporting functionality to determine and compare clients’ preferences on anti-parasitic treatments. The insights provided proved that assumptions were never a safe option.
Nyree Williams
Support that isn’t like a call centre
Unlike large call centres where you may phone up for help and speak to a stranger unfamiliar with you, the product and the problem you’re facing, Covetrus’ support team provide relief and offer the feel of a nimble, small-company support, despite its large scale and global presence. Nyree points out the benefits of touching base with the same people every time or a point-person that can help the team out.
Nyree Williams
Key Findings