I’ve been re-reading an incredible book called “If Disney ran your hospital:  9 ½ things you’d do differently” by Fred Lee.  Although it was published 10 years ago and is about human medicine, the messages contained in the book are highly relevant to modern veterinary practice as well.  

The not-so-subtle Christmas music and advertising is a clear reminder that we are drawing nearer to the holiday season.  It used to be that you wouldn’t see this kind of advertising until after Thanksgiving, but nowadays as soon as Halloween is over there is a palpable change in the background of our daily lives.  How many more years before it’s Labor Day?  

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!