The New Year is almost here, and this is one of my favorite times of the year. I look forward to taking down the holiday decorations almost as much as I do putting them up, and most of the time, I enjoy reflecting on another year past and the one to come. I look forward to nerding out with some data and numbers at the practice, KPI benchmarking.
In 2020 came "The Thing" (the pandemic which shall not be named). It ate holes in two years of budgets and plans, and it sure made practice management feel more like practice coping. In 2022, I resolve to break through reactionary mode and refocus on planning and goal setting. My New Year's professional resolution is to get back to business.
I've missed planning and budgeting...and marketing plans!
In my practice, I am returning to an efficiency monitoring project. Efficiency seems to be the buzzword lately. To start, we plan to track revenue per staff hour and compare the number of hours worked by hourly support staff per pay period to revenues earned over the same time. Another new metric I will track for my practice is staff minutes per invoice. Analyzing this data will create a baseline to monitor and improve performance. The next step will be to determine goals for where we want these numbers to fall. I struggle with efficiency metrics related to patient and client care, as we all have to find the right balance to provide a high level of patient care.
I think it's worth saying that if we're not taking steps to get back to managing the business, it's going to get away from us. After all, veterinary practices don't run on autopilot – that is why managers are critical! So please share: What management projects were on hold in your practice during 2020-2021? What are you looking forward to getting back to, or what new project will you take in 2022?
New Year's business resolutions are things practice managers WANT to do and make happen in our practices. Personal resolutions are, in my experience, much harder to keep. If I might suggest, let's leave the hard work at the practice and give ourselves permission to be more relaxed with our personal resolutions - after all, we just survived 2020 and 2021.
I'll go first: I, Jessica Speas, hereby resolve to spend 2022 eating more tacos!
Sincerely,
Jessica Speas, CVPM, SPHR, PHR-ca, SHRM-SCP, CCFP
VHMA President
#PracticePulse