6 minute read
Your Veterinarian’s New Best Friend: A Medical Transcriptionist
By Boomer Pearsall, CVPM
Lebron James, Patrick Mahomes, TJ Watt, Dr. Kate Boatright—quiz time: Please pick the one who is not like the rest! This shouldn’t take long to answer, right? We are living in an era where the demand for veterinarians is so EXTREME that they are being coveted like five-star, blue-chip athletes coming out of high school or college. As a private practice owner, you have no choice but to woo them with lavished visits, dinners, and accommodations to even garner a new graduate’s attention.
Obviously, one of the biggest reasons for this extreme demand is simply lack of supply. We are still seeing a staggering number of veterinarians needed nationwide with no ability or pipeline to produce enough of them even with new vet schools opening. Secondly, private practices are finding it extremely challenging to hire and retain veterinarians due to the influx of capital into our industry by corporate entities. This injection of capital has led to the drastic increase of both the average and starting salaries of veterinarians, which has been long overdue. As cited by Malinda Larkin, the 2021 mean starting salary was $106,053 for new graduates going into corporate practice.1 Furthermore, 66% of those corporate offers included a signing bonus that averaged $11,738, whereas only 31% of private practice offers included a signing bonus that averaged $6,596.1 Most private practice owners view the rise of corporate entities as the villains who are driving up prices, reducing the chances of hiring associate veterinarians, and hurting the industry in general. As a private practice owner, I clearly have been frustrated with the new challenges facing us due to the rise of corporate powers, but I also believe the industry was in desperate need of their injection of capital to finally accelerate the rise of veterinarian compensation. Yes, it has obviously created a much more competitive hiring market, but in return, it has also given private practices a little more confidence in charging for our services more appropriately, but I will leave this idea for another article.
So, the ultimate question is what can a private practice owner do to win over a new associate and set themselves apart from corporate clinics? We have already exhausted options like higher salaries, signing bonuses, and moving allowances. Now what? Have you thought about creating a new position at your hospital that will be “your veterinarian’s new best friend”? AKA: their very own medical transcriptionist, or medical assistant as we call it in our office. Yes, I understand there are software programs for this, but can you ever truly replace an actual human working alongside your veterinarian transcribing, invoicing, and updating patient reminders in real time? Imagine your next job advertisement when seeking an associate—under benefits, you can list and highlight that your veterinarian will have their very own assistant! How can that not sound like music to a new associate’s ears?
Evolution of a Medical Transcriptionist
After opening in 2009 as a solo-doctor practice, we started tinkering around with staff members helping our doctor with medical notes during appointments to save time and reduce stress on our solo DVM. I am sure most solo doctors have tried this using a technician in the room transcribing. As time progressed, we felt this was not the right fit for our hospital since our DVM liked to spend a good amount of time post-exam with the owner discussing treatment options and diagnostics. We soon found out that we were completely wasting a technician’s skill and time just standing in the room alongside the doctor.
By 2015, the position evolved into a full-time position. The caveat was the assistant was now completely separated from the exam room, listening to the DVM as she discusses exam findings and treatment plans with the owner. For clarity purposes, there are small microphones and speakers located in the exam rooms while the assistant listens with headphones and transcribes. For legal purposes, we recommend consulting with your attorney and reviewing your state laws on recording consent. Our practice has multiple signs posted to make clients aware of the presence of microphones and the fact that conversations are being recorded. Furthermore, we have client consent forms to establish a letter of mutual consent if a client questions this method.
Utilizing the Full Potential of a Transcriptionist
As of today, this position has become the foundation for workflow efficiency at our hospital. In addition to taking strain off the veterinarians by formatting and transcribing medical records in real time, our medical assistant helps with directing traffic in the treatment area. As our medical assistant hears clients give verbal consent for diagnostic testing to the DVM in the exam room, she can instruct the technicians to start these tests while the DVM continues to discuss the plan with the client. As you can imagine, this drastically decreases the wait time for the pet owner while they sit worrying what the outcome of the diagnostics will hold for the future of their fur-baby. Not only does it help move cases along faster, but it also frees up more time for the veterinarian to have face-to-face interaction with the client, allowing them to address all concerns without them feeling rushed. It is an absolute win-win for everyone!
For 10 years, I managed a solo-doctor practice doing everything in my power to make us the most efficient practice I could, but without a doubt, the medical transcriptionist position drastically increased our ability to see more patients on a daily basis, driving revenues through the roof. In 2019, I was faced with a new challenge when the practice added our first associate. I had to solve the puzzle of two doctors utilizing one transcriptionist. As the practice worked through some trial and error, we finally figured out how to schedule appropriately where both doctors benefited from using the same transcriptionist. My personal recommendation is that for every two doctors, you should hire one full-time medical transcriptionist. If your practice has three doctors, you could possibly stretch the work output of one full-time transcriptionist depending on how many exam room hours each doctor works. But in my opinion, three full-time doctors would probably require 1.5 medical transcriptionists.
Obviously, you can see one downfall of this position is the availability of the employee for a multidoctor practice, making this a much easier model to apply in smaller practices. In addition to this, another challenge is to find the right type of person who is willing to sit and focus on listening to an exam room doctor for hours on end. From all the personnel mistakes I have made in my career, my recommendation is to find candidates who are veterinary technicians who do not want to work on the “floor” anymore but still love veterinary medicine. I know, I know, it is way easier said than done, especially in this market. But I promise you that once you find the right person, you, your staff, and especially your doctors will never regret this hire! Reference:
1 Larkin, M. Increase in veterinarians’ starting salaries long overdue, economist says. JAVMAnews. Accessed May 8, 2022. Available at bit.ly/3vmDTJA.
About the Author: Boomer Pearsall, CVPM, is originally from New Castle, PA, and returned to Western PA to start Penn-Ohio Veterinary Services, LLC, with his wife, Nicole, in 2009. Boomer graduated with Nicole at La Roche College in 2003 with a double major in Biology and Chemistry. After graduation, he furthered his studies in Biological Sciences at Duquesne University, where he graduated in 2005 with his Master’s degree upon completion and successful defense of his thesis.
After opening the clinic, Boomer went forward and completed his certification in Veterinary Practice Management from Purdue University, which aids him in his daily tasks of being a successful Practice Manager of Penn-Ohio Veterinary Services, LLC. Boomer recently passed his board exam through the VHMA in April 2021 to officially become a Certified Veterinary Practice Manager (CVPM).
Outside of work, Boomer likes to live a very active lifestyle by working with his horses and also competing in Olympic weightlifting.
