The news has recently been dominated by the failure of Silicon Valley Bank, a financial institution whose clients disproportionately included venture capital-backed startup companies and founders. The bank’s management made irresponsible decisions regarding the investment of the bank’s deposits that limited the bank’s liquidity. When rumors of the state of the bank’s liquidity circulated within … Read moreWhat Lessons Can Veterinary Medicine Take Away from the Silicon Valley Bank Failure?

As each year passes to the next, we often set resolutions to accomplish in the new year. Whether small or large, there’s a common theme of trying to get something done this year that we wish we’d done last year:  “I’m going to go to the gym more often.”  “I’m going to read more.”  “I’m … Read moreYou Forgot to Make an Important Resolution this New Year!

As your veterinary partner, I’m always keeping an eye and an ear out for trends around the veterinary medical profession to keep you informed. Here’s some of the latest news:  It is unclear if a recession will happen in the US, but it is an important possibility to think about. Are you and your practice … Read moreThe State of Veterinary Medicine, December 2022

The Profit & Loss statement of a veterinary practice is intimidating at first glance. There’s a lot of information on that one document, but it can generally be simplified into three main components:  Top, Middle, And Bottom. The “top line” of the clinic is the total revenues collected over the period of the P&L. Drawing … Read moreExpense Management: Conquer the Middle of Your P&L

Over the last decade, the number of veterinary corporations has absolutely skyrocketed. Depending on where we cut off the definition of “corporate”, by our count there are at least 60+ veterinary corporations operating in the US, and more are cropping up. Just this week while scrolling through LinkedIn, I came across two new veterinary groups … Read moreWhy Are There So Many Veterinary Corporations?

As your vet partner, in my opinion the profession’s response so far to this crisis has been “too little, too late”. Given the significant lead time that it takes to expand the veterinarian workforce, the recent efforts to increase the number of accredited veterinary medical schools and increase class sizes at existing schools will not … Read moreWhere Have All the Veterinarians Gone? Part 2 of 2: Finding Answers

There is an acute and growing crisis of access to veterinary care in the United States. This access crisis is being driven in large part due to a shortage of providers (veterinarians), although we will also discuss in this article how a parallel shortage of nursing care (credentialed veterinary technicians) is compounding this issue. The … Read moreWhere Have All the Veterinarians Gone? Part 1 of 2: The Problems

In my last two posts in our series on veterinary practice financial performance, we discussed the financial metric EBITDA and a broad overview of strategies to improve EBITDA at your practice.  Previously I mentioned a concept called “Quality of Revenue” which will be the focus of this article.  The final calculation of EBITDA treats revenue … Read moreQuality of Revenue

Last month I took a vacation. In many professions that wouldn’t be noteworthy, but for most veterinarians (especially those in ownership or leadership) it unfortunately is. Veterinary medicine is a passion profession, which makes it a double-edged sword. On the one hand, the passion and commitment of veterinarians is an asset to their patients and … Read moreLearning to Unplug

In my last blog post we discussed the financial metric EBITDA and how it has become the core metric in contemporary veterinary practice sales. The rise of this metric as the barometer for the equity value of veterinary ownership raises a logical question:  How does one improve EBITDA at their veterinary practice?  As Earnings Before … Read moreImproving EBITDA at Your Veterinary Practice