As a former Practice Manager at a busy ambulatory equine practice, Jess Marshall knows first-hand the daily challenges that come with managing a large practice team. Now working as an Implementation Specialist at VetIT, Jess brings a rare combination of practical, real-world experience and technical knowledge to help practices get the most out of their veterinary practice management software (PMS).
In this article, Jess shares her unique perspective on what Practice Managers truly need from a veterinary PMS and divulges some of the core problems and solutions from her life as a Practice Manager. From simplifying communication and task management to handling billing complexities and regulatory compliance, Jess explains how a good system can transform daily workflows and reduce stress. Read on for Jess’ insights into how a well-utilised veterinary PMS system can set practices up for long-term success.
“My journey into practice management started like it does for many… Somewhat unexpectedly! I studied Equine Science at Hartpury University and wasn’t entirely sure where it would take me. Then I spotted a part-time job as an assistant at an equine vet practice and went for an interview. I ended up staying there for ten years.
I started out by helping the vets on the road in assisting with exams, including x-rays, and covering the vet tech side of things. Eventually I stepped into the role of full-time Practice Manager, where I stayed for another four years. It was an ambulatory-only practice with nine vets on the road and five office staff. We covered a huge patch from Gloucestershire to Avon, across Somerset, and down into Berkshire. Our client base was wonderfully varied. We worked everywhere from elite racing yards and large stud operations to pet ponies or donkeys in a field. No two days were the same, and you never knew what kind of call you’d get next.
A big part of my job was making sure those nine vets were used efficiently. I’d spend hours making sure the diary was organised and mapping routes for our vets that avoided wasted travel time or double bookings. I also handled debt management, ordering and managing stock, customer service, equipment issues, and whatever else needed doing. If an X-ray kit broke, or one was left in the office when it should be two hours away with a vet on their way to Bristol, I’d need to find a solution.
Those years taught me a huge amount about what really matters in a veterinary team. When I left practice, I wanted a new challenge, however, I knew I didn’t want to leave the veterinary world behind. So, I joined VetIT as an Implementation Specialist, helping practices get set up with our veterinary PMS and making sure it’s tailored to the way they work. My experience on the ground means I can genuinely relate to the frustrations Practice Managers face, and it also means I can spot opportunities to make things better. I work closely with our development team to feed in real-life feedback and common problems Practice Managers come across, many of which I used to wrestle with myself.
Using the right veterinary PMS features
The veterinary practice management system is always at the core of practice operations. In our practice, we used the PMS to store client communications, assign tasks, manage appointments and track payments. But even then, we still found we needed other manual tools, such as using Google Maps to plot routes or spreadsheets to manage insurance claims. Many practices use messaging apps to share updates, confirm if a vet has followed up with a client or check if tasks like sending referral letters have been completed, but things can so easily be missed or forgotten when conversations are happening across so many different platforms. It can be hard work to make sure everyone is where they are meant to be at a given time. You’d have to make sure the horses were actually at the client’s address and not in a different location, that the vets had the right kit, and they weren’t criss-crossing counties all day.
Now that I work at VetIT and deal with the setup of these systems, I realise how many of those workarounds we could have avoided if we’d had a veterinary PMS system with the right features built in.
For example, syndicate billing. At our practice, we had many shared-ownership horses. Splitting those bills manually was a laborious task that was prone to mistakes in calculation and required a lot of unnecessary time. In our VetIT system, syndicate billing is automatic. The system knows who owns what percentage and divides invoices fairly and accurately at the click of a button.
Along similar lines are multi-bookings. If a yard had 12 horses needing the same worming treatment, we previously had to enter those manually one at a time. VetIT veterinary practice management software allows users to do this task just once and apply it to all patients in that group or yard, complete with correct charges and clinical notes.
These features also feed directly into VetIT’s On the Road app, which allows vets to view their diary, look up patient history, dictate clinical notes, add images from the field, download appointments, and more. It offers offline functionality, which is vital in rural or patchy signal areas and then syncs with the main system as soon as connectivity is regained. It keeps ambulatory teams productive and helps the office team remain in touch with what’s happening throughout the day.
Effective compliance through veterinary PMS
Compliance is one of those things that lives permanently on a Practice Manager’s to-do list. Making sure consent forms reflect the latest RCVS guidance, keeping an eye on controlled drug regulations and updating prescription protocols are just a few of the ongoing tasks in practice. On top of this, there’s always something changing!
In practice, you’ve got to ensure that prescriptions are maintained within the regulations. You must make sure that copies of prescriptions are not recreated, that the right number of items are dispensed and that the number of repeats and the dates of the prescriptions are correct. This is especially important for controlled drugs, which are subject to stricter controls.
VetIT’s cloud-based practice management software gives Practice Managers control without adding admin. You can build editable templates for letters, consent forms, and prescription documents directly into the system, which means you’re not worrying whether the team is working from the right version at any given time.
There’s also a new prescription feature that will be really helpful to Practice Managers. It’s designed to reduce fraud by creating a digital one-time use rule. Once a prescription is printed, it can’t be used to dispense medication in the system. This stops the same prescription being reused or misapplied, and it’s useful to ensure regulations are being met. This feature is also permission-based, meaning only those who are authorised can produce prescriptions.
Having the ability to set permissions so that a Practice Manager can select which users can access which areas of the veterinary PMS gives peace of mind that team members can only access what they really need. This protects sensitive information and helps reduce the risks of accidental deletions of information or breaches of regulations. I think it’s a really good feature that a practice can make their own, depending on how open they want to be with their team.
AI and the future of veterinary PMS
Artificial Intelligence (AI) is the topic on everyone’s lips right now, and I think that it’s potentially one of the most exciting developments on the horizon when it comes to veterinary practice management software. AI has the potential to be a real asset for Practice Managers in some of the more monotonous and time-consuming tasks. The more we can use appropriate AI in veterinary to do the mundane analysis tasks, the more practice teams can focus on patient care.
I can also see huge potential in areas like predictive scheduling, stock forecasting, or even automated reporting, along with dictation techniques. If AI can spot trends in cancellations or late payments without Practice Managers having to run, cross reference and analyse lots of manual reports, it could be a very valuable tool. That said, AI can never replace the human side of practice. What matters is making life easier, not removing the relationships that matter most.
We’ve been there…
VetIT has always been forward thinking, with a passion for using the latest technology to support a modern, dynamic veterinary practice. Our team includes former vets, vet nurses and practice managers, so we understand the pressures, priorities and the workarounds you wish you didn’t need.
We’ve been there, so our goal is to make daily life in practice easier by developing software designed by the vet team, for the vet team.
If you’d like to talk to one of our Technology Consultants about how our tech can help your practice, please click here, simply fill out the form and one of our colleagues will be in touch.
