2024 Practice Manager of the Year award now accepting applications

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The Veterinary Hospital Manager Association (VHMA) announced it is now accepting applications or nominations for the VHMA Practice Manager of the Year Award. Practice owners and colleagues are encouraged to nominate a veterinary management professional that they feel has changed their practice for the better.

This award honors a practice manager who uses their experience, expertise, and overall knowledge to make their practice the best it can be and improve business operations. According to the release,¹ the ideal Practice Manager of the Year uses their position and works to make their clinic a better workplace for staff, improve the care of patients, and create a better return for ownership.

The nomination requires an essay of up to 750 words explaining why the nominee should be the winner and how they transformed the clinic such as financially, through staff and team, practice organization, culture, marketing, and more.¹ For anyone either nominating or self-nominating, the VHMA wants qualitative and/or quantitative terms of how exactly you transformed the practice.

Candidates will be then judged on the impact on staff, pets and ownership, action or impact correlation, the significance of impact, and then ingenuity of innovation. The winner will receive a complimentary registration for the VHMA Annual Meeting and Conference in Charlotte, North Carolina from September 5-7, 2023, as well as $1,250 for travel, lodging, and meals.¹

Last year, the VHMA Practice Manager of the Year Award received over 150 applications before declaring Suzanna Berry, a practice manager at Pets R Us in St Johns, Florida, as the winner. Berry was honored for her work to improve the culture at the clinic such as hosting a monthly “Coffee Talk” where employees could have access to her attention for an hour in an open forum-style meeting as well as helping the clinic become the first veterinary practice to be accepted into the SkillBridge program.²

The deadline for submissions will be March 15, 2024. To learn more about the award and nominate or apply for the award, visit the VHMA website.

Reference

1. VHMA is Accepting Nominations for the 2024 Practice Manager of the Year Award! Deadline to Apply is March 15. News release. The Veterinary Hospital Manager Association. January 2, 2023. Accessed January 8, 2023. https://www.vhma.org/resources/practicemanageroftheyear
2. Yanowicz S. VHMA’s 2023 Practice Manager of the Year. DVM 360. Published June 15, 2023. Accessed January 8, 2024. https://www.dvm360.com/view/vhma-s-2023-practice-manager-of-the-year