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This month’s Insiders’ Insight Report asked managers about their practice information management software (PIMS), specifically about their reporting habits and needs.

Eight reports were selected as “most helpful” by over 50% of the respondents.

• End of Day/Daily Transactions
• New Client
• Production by Veterinarian or Other Provider
• Revenue/Transaction/Visit/ATC Reports for a particular period
• Inventory On-Hand
• Total Accounts Receivable
• Revenue by Profit Center/Income Category
• Open Invoice

It is important to note, however, that there is little consistency among PIMS in the names used for their reports or data points or the combination of information included in a particular report; so practices may be pulling some of this info but it is called something different in their system.

Managers were also asked “What reports or information do you wish you had that don’t exist on your current PIMS?” Answers fell into three categories. The first category included comments about accuracy or formatting improvements needed on reports already included in the PIMS and about difficulty in accessing this information. Another very small group of respondents noted that their PIMS allows them to search for any info needed and customize their reports; therefore, they can get all the data desired. The third group of respondents listed specific information or reports they would like to be able to generate from their PIMS including the following:

• Client retention
• Client compliance
• Refill notices
• Which employee entered charges into an invoice
• Number of visits by visit reason
• Dashboard style reporting
• ATC—this was a surprising comment because this is such a common metric but this respondent said they have to calculate it by hand
• Better and more inventory tracking and reports
• Reports showing # of clients/appointments by hour to see the busy times of the day
• Appointment fill rates, lists of no-show, cancelled and rescheduled appointments
• List of inactive clients
• Invoice items that are taxable vs. non-taxable
• Open invoice report
• More specific referral information such as which RDVMs refer to which specialists

 When asked “What problems or frustrations do you have with the reports generated by your PIMS? almost 40% of the respondents express concerns about the actual accuracy of the reports and that 80% find the lack of customization and poor formatting to be frustrating. A number of the “other” responses indicated no frustrations with their system while others mentioned the following kinds of problems:

• Default dates change when entering data
• Inventory issues
• Can’t drill down on a number to see how/where it came from
• Difficult to even find the desired report or set up the initial search
• Takes too much time to generate a report
• Data is calculated differently across reports in the same software

Managers were also asked about how frequently they run reports, who reviews the reports, and cloud-based programs. Review the full article for more details.