INTRODUCTION:

Marketing for veterinary ER practices is a lot different than marketing for general practitioners or even specialty veterinarians.  As a veterinarian with an MBA who has worked in both general and emergency practice, I know that the ways that clients "find you" are very different.  In this post I'm talking specifically about emergency clinics/hospitals:  the "rules" for specialty clinic marketing are different.  Most specialty referrals occur during the day and are not emergent, so a general practitioner has a much bigger impact on where a client goes for care than they do for emergency care.  

As emergency medicine has become it's own specialty and the availability of 24/7 care has exploded, especially in metropolitan areas with high disposable income, it's no longer enough to say "We provide fantastic care for reasonable prices." or "We're open 24/7".  Or even "We have board certified specialists on staff."  Why?  Because virtually everybody can say that about themselves.

As my friend and colleague Linda Curtis of Animal Emergency & Critical Care in Leesburg, VA says, "It's time to get away from thinking that clients should be grateful that we are open and available to them...the privilege is ours to have them come in."

So what CAN emergency clinics do to differentiate themselves in the eyes of their referring veterinarians?  I've written about that here (/blog/3-ways-for-er/specialty-veterinarians-to-increase-referrals) but for today, Let's debunk a few persistent myths!

I recently attended the 2nd annual 2014 AVMA Economic Summit that was held in Chicago.  This is an annual gathering of veterinarians, thought leaders, and academics who are interested in the economic condition of our profession.  It was hosted by the AVMA Veterinary Economic Strategy Committee, on which I am proud to serve.

In my 20-year career as a veterinarian, I've worked in general practice, specialty/referral practice, and emergency practice.  This experience has given me the ability to look at veterinary practice through multiple different lenses.  One of the things that I've noticed is that there is still a big communication gap between ER/Specialty practices and general practices.  What's the most common complaint that GPs have about ER/Specialty practices?  You guessed it....communication.  While both sides can do more to improve communication, I believe the burden lies more with ER/Specialty practices.  In the relationship between general practitioners and specialists (and I'll include emergency hospitals as specialists for the purposes of this post), the general practitioner is the customer.  They are the ones who make or break your practice, and in the increasingly competitive market for referral cases, losing one or two of your referring veterinary practices can have a huge negative impact on your practice.    

So here are three ways specialists can improve communication with their referring veterinarian partners:  3 things NOT to do!

When I was an emergency veterinarian, I would see 2-3 patients every shift who had medical records that I needed but couldn't get.  And I'm not talking about vaccine dates or prescription refills....I mean relevant, potentially life-saving information like X-Rays, labwork results, drug doses, or even something as simple as physical exam findings.  Some of this is due to the nature of emergency medicine: we're here when your veterinarian is closed.  But try telling that to a pet owner who just spent $500 on a workup not 6 hours ago that now has to be repeated, all because those records are not available.      

Photo by Dana L. Jackson