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Forward booking simply means booking the pet’s next appointment before he/she leaves the practice after the current visit. At the dentist’s office, you can’t get out of the exam room, much less the practice without booking your next appointment. The same goes for your physician’s office, you always book your next annual exam before you leave. Unfortunately, we’ve been slower to adopt this concept in veterinary medicine.

VHMA first asked veterinary practice managers about this in 2014 and decided to see what has changed in the four years since then.

When respondents were asked “Is your practice “forward booking” (i.e. making an appointment for the next visit before the client leaves the practice) for RECHECKS/MEDICAL PROGRESS EXAMS?” Responses were consistent with the 2014 survey results - 75% of the respondents answered “always” or “most of the time.” No change from 2014 to 2018. No surprises here.

When respondents were asked “Is your practice “forward booking” (i.e. making an appointment for the next visit before the client leaves the practice) for ANNUAL/SEMI-ANNUAL WELLNESS OR PREVENTIVE HEALTHCARE EXAMS?” Responses increased a very disappointingly small amount to 15% in 2018 compared to 11% of the respondents who answered “always” or “most of the time” in 2014.

Managers shared some of the reasons they said they didn’t forward book preventive care appointments:

• Forward booking doesn’t fit (ER or walk-in only practice)
• Clients are reluctant to do so
• Appointment calendar won’t book that far out
• DVMs disapproved of the idea
• Staff reluctant to try forward booking
• Not a priority with the owner
• DVM schedules aren’t set that far out
• Practice tried forward booking previously and it wasn’t successful

Managers who are already forward booking in their practice shared some sage pieces of advice for those practices that need encouragement. See the full report for those insights.

Like any cultural change in a practice, it will take time until forward booking becomes “the way we do things here.” There are specific things you can do, however, to make implementation of this change easier and faster; some of these are discussed below:

Discuss the Benefits With Everyone in the Practice
Don’t assume everyone in the practice already understands this. It’s important to talk through the advantages of forward booking as a part of your team training.

Shift Your Thinking About What Clients Will or Won’t Do
A few pet owners won’t like the change and won’t make their appointments early but this isn’t a reason not to implement forward booking. There isn’t a single thing you recommend in your practice that EVERY client accepts.

Words Matter
Forward booking preventive care exams works best when the exam room team and the front desk team work in tandem with each other, consistently conveying the same message with their language. Most practices have found that including the doctor in these conversations makes a difference in client willingness to forward book the first time.

Reminders Are Critical!
Set up reminders several weeks and then several days in advance of the next year’s appointment so the client can change or cancel if needed. Don’t forget to consider generational differences and use the type of reminder the client prefers; some clients may want a text, email or phone reminder while others prefer a traditional reminder card.

Resources
VHMA's Preventive Pet Healthcare: Your Guide to Becoming a Practice Champion is a solid, practical, easy to use resource for practice leaders who are seeking to implement forward booking. Check out the Partners for Healthy Pets website for a roadmap, tools, and success stories.