Mobile compensation

Q: How much should I compensate a mobile veterinarian who wants to perform surgeries and dentals at my clinic? She'd conduct the procedures but use my clinic's equipment, staff, and drugs for her clientele.

"The mobile doctor should charge professional fees, for example, a surgeon's fee, radiology interpretation, daily doctor care, and so on," says Veterinary Economics Hospital Management Editor Mark Opperman, CVPM, owner of VMC Inc., a veterinary consulting firm in Evergreen, Colo. "So the mobile doctor receives that income."

He says that when a mobile veterinarian uses your facility to service her clients, she should charge your normal fees. So she should charge your fees for radiology, the operating room, hospitalization, anesthesia, and so on. And then you receive those fees.

Opperman says that it's up to the mobile doctor whether she wishes to add amounts onto your routine hospital fees, as long as you receive your normal fees. "Keep the communication between the two of you open and your agreement simple and straightforward to help maintain the relationship," he says.

Mark Opperman