Business

Starting this month, 401(k) plans can offer a Roth 401(k) provision—which could be a better option for your retirement savings.

My practice has a steady client base, but we'd like to increase our new clients. What's the most effective way to grow?

Most real issues are unspoken and well recognized at the staff level.

How important is it to buy telephone-directory advertising?

Metabolic profiling and its results have disappointed me several times during my career. Yet I recently had success using an approach promoted by University of Wisconsin (UW) associate professor Dr. Gary Oetzel, who believes two subclinical syndromes account for a large percentage of dairy farms problems.

Practices whose staff are so well treated that they feel like family may be harder to compete with.

In the wake of the 2004 tsunami, Dr. Kerry Levin did the almost unthinkable?she put her solo practice, North State Animal Hospital in Ukiah, Calif., on hold and ventured across the world to volunteer. Armed with a passport, some past veterinary experience in third-world countries, and a desire to help, she traveled alone to Sri Lanka in February.

Starting this month, 401(k) plans can offer a Roth 401(k) provision—which could be a better option for your retirement savings.

Acres Animal Hospital in Dartmouth, Nova Scotia, relies on hot-water bottles to help provide comfort to patients.

Offering to put them in contact with a financial planner may just be the ticket for some new grads.

I'm tired of having a huge pile of accounts receivable. How can I manage this better?

Conversations may stray more when you're not totally focused.

I do primarily small animal ambulatory work in the Midwest. I'm new to equine practice and trying to get a grasp on fees. There seems to be no rhyme or reason to the charges I've seen in our area. Help!

Use these tips to stay sunny even when it seems those rain clouds will never move on.

I'm having trouble with staff turnover. I train and reward employees, but they aren't sticking around. Any ideas?

In the new millennium, everyone can win by joining forces to fight for patients' best interests.

Higher percentages of gross income for any line-item expense should immediately drive management's closer inspection.

Clashing practitioners who stay together too long compromise toward a central level of mediocrity.

Is your practice losing ground compared to its past performance? If so, it's not necessarily cause for panic. Often you can get back on track by making some simple changes. To get started, dot the i's and cross the t's in these five areas:

Use these timesaving tips to stay on schedule and keep your entire team afloat when disruptions threaten to throw your day dangerously off course.

As always, we need to communicate as thoroughly as possible. Tunnel vision is a trap we as practitioners must avoid.

Employee satisfaction is the No. 1 reason people remain loyal to their employers.

Profitability and quality are not mutually exclusive, but they do go together.

A medical record audit is the best way to measure how much money your practice is leaking.

The biggest share of practice advertising dollars is spent on Yellow Pages ads. The following are practical guidelines to help you think through your Yellow Pages strategy, improve your ad's efficacy and reduce costs.

Use high-quality medicine, strong communication skills, and both internal and external marketing to create clients who act as advocates for the practice.

I'm starting a small animal practice, and I'm hoping to add an associate with buy-in potential after two years. Which business entity would be best, a Limited Liability Company (LLC) or Service Corporation?

With a bit of tape and twine, most of you can fix almost anything. Of course, people and finances demand different tools. But they're not that much harder to master.