I had not seen this old friend and colleague in a couple of years.  Since moving to College Station we had not traveled to Arlington as much as in past years.  I was driving up from College Station to pick up my wife and as I approached his clinic I decided to stop and visit.

I walked in, introduced myself to the receptionist and told her I was an old friend.  Bill happened to be “indisposed” at the time---he was in the porcelain reading room.  I went into his office and sat myself down.

I have known Bill, his wife and some of the staff for about 30 years.  In fact, Shirley has worked with him for about 25 years.  I first got to know Bill and Roma when they had a small shopping center practice over on North Collins @ Randal Mill in Arlington in 1972 or so.  He was there from 1970-75, and then he built a freestanding building over in the southwest part of Arlington.  There he goes, up and went all the way across town and started over, and he built a nice clinic in an area that was not well developed yet.  In the time frame of his move he was taking a chance.  The portion of SW Arlington where he moved was and still is middle class.  There are now many upper middle class neighborhoods in SW Arlington, but there are also many more clinics.  He has served his area for all of these years.

When he came into the room he did a double take and asked me “did you hear what they said?”  I asked, “what who said?”  “Didn’t you go to AAHA?”  “No, I replied.”  Then he began to tell me that he had attended a practice management seminar with a bunch of CPA types, etc., and they all were commenting about how cheaply veterinarians work.  It seems to me that this is similar to what I have been preaching for the past few years.   We discussed the points that they had made and he determined that when he arrived back at the clinic he was going to increase fees across the board.  This floored me, because Bill already had a decent fee schedule and he practices good medicine, and he uses a relief veterinarian 1-2 days/week, and he has some really stable staff members, and he is a very low key guy who you would not expect to make rash and large changes all at one time.  Well, that’s not entirely true is it, he did move?

Anyone who has read any of my articles knows that my “benchmark” office visit has been $30.00 for the past two years.  This is one fee I use to judge how a practice is doing.  I don’t base it on rural vs. urban, but rather on what does it take to run your business, pay the help, have some benefits, take some time off, hire a relief or an associate, and have something to sell when the time comes.  Also, most of you know that I speak from 32 years of experience not from what I have read.  Few have my experience as a practice owner, associate, practice assessor, and relief veterinarian.  Few have all this experience at my age of 62, and are still excited about this profession.  No one that I know, other than me, has proclaimed himself “the advocate for the small animal practitioner in Texas.”  Notice I said “self-appointed.”

Now, back to my friend Bill Van Hoosier, DVM of Arlington, Texas.  When he did what he did it shocked everyone, but I was glad to see it.  It proved my point that F.E.A.R. is nothing more than “False Evidence Appearing Real.”  So, what did he do?  Mind you, his office visit was already above my benchmark.  He was at $36.00, and he did a 25% across the board increase right after we visited.  That put his office visit at $45.00 and other fees raised accordingly.

I called Bill a month or so ago and asked what kind of repercussions had taken place.  In his laid back way he told me that he had been talking with Shirley the day before I called and he asked her if they had any complaints, anyone ask for their records, any other clinics calling for records, etc?  She told him that there was none other than the folks who were moving out of town, which is to be expected.  This was after 6 months or so after the changes had been put in place.

This was done in a middle class, blue-collar area of SW Arlington.  Yes, I am sure he pulls from some of the other areas of Arlington, but there are a number of veterinary clinics between him and the other neighborhoods with more money.

Bill made the decision about what it would take to run his practice, and he did it.  I am sure he took a deep breath when he did it, but nothing jumped up and bit him.  So, all of you $22.00-29.00 office visit clinics out there----and yes, you practices in the rural areas----make the change---it can only help.  Reminds me of a practice in a rural area between Houston and San Antonio.  The town is about 3,000 and there are a number of clinics in the town and county.  This practitioner decided several years ago that $30.00 was where he needed to be and he changed it.  Fifteen miles down the road the veterinarian was charging $17.00.  WHY, WHY, WHY?

I have listened to various ones in our profession give their reasons for $22.00 to $28.00 office visits, but I don’t think I buy the reasons.  In fact, in some cases it may cost the rural practitioner more to practice than the city practice, so what we seem to boil it down to is the average cost of living and average wages of our particular areas.  However, it seems like every time I go through one of these rural towns the gas costs are higher if I have to fill up my truck.  Seems like when I stop at a grocery store in one of these small rural towns and purchase milk or groceries or fruit that the costs are the same or higher than when I am home.  Seems to me that dining in a rural town generally costs me about as much as dining in Arlington, Beaumont, or Irving.

Twenty-five percent is kinda scary isn’t?  It is not so scary if you are sitting at a $20.00 office visit---just goes to $25.00, but how do you get to that “scary”$30.00s?  JUST DO IT.  Do it after you close on Saturday, run home and hide, and pray, and worry, but its all to no avail, ‘cause its F.E.A.R.  Alright everyone, 1…….2……3…..everyone change to $30-40.00 and lock the doors.  OBTW, change all the other fees too.
 

Jim Wilson, DVM
the ole` stirrin’ stick

P.S.  Bill found some old handwritten receipts from the early 70s.  The OV was $5.00, and each injection was $1.00.  At that time I was doing some relief work, and my fee was $75.00/day.