Merging an Existing Veterinary Practice
If you already own a veterinary practice, have you ever considered buying an existing veterinary practice located close to your first practice and merging the two together? If you ask most doctors, they will say the best way to build a practice is through taking care of your patients and bringing in new patients via word of mouth and marketing. And, they would be correct. However, acquiring a second practice and merging the two together makes sense in many ways.
First off, have you ever calculated the cost of acquiring a patient via old-fashioned word of mouth? It requires a lot of work if you include everything from building your brand, training your staff, maintaining a spotless, high-tech practice, etc., the cost could easily be hundreds of dollars or more per patient. The cost of acquiring a patient via marketing is even more. Acquiring a veterinary practice with existing patients can typically run from several hundred dollars per active patient to $1,000 per active patient. Slightly less to maybe equal to acquiring a patient through a normal channel. However, you get a high volume of patients very quickly in addition to adding income to your pocket.
Secondly, you acquire a stream of revenue at a near dollar-to-dollar relationship. If the selling practice is producing $500,000 per year, you should be able to repeat the $500,000 in revenue by merging the practices together, or worst case, slightly below the $500,000. The good news is you don’t bring over all of the expenses of the selling practice. You typically can save in a number of ways including reducing the staff of the selling practice, utilities are not double as the practices merge to one location, there is only one rent payment (more on that in a minute), only one set of books, so only one payroll service and one bookkeeper and accountant and several other services can be eliminated. So, while getting most of the revenue to increase your practice collections, you only get a portion of the expenses. This increases the income of the practice owner – you!
Thirdly, by acquiring another veterinarian’s office, you reduce the number of practices in your area by one. Less competition equals more new patients for you. You can hire the selling doctor as an employee to help with the veterinary transition as well as perform some other things that will help with patient retention.
Contact us today for a free consultation!
Buying Another Location
By Megan Urban, Omni Practice Group
It’s very exciting to think about adding a location! Here are some issues to think about before making this big decision.
Why? If it’s to increase collections, maybe you can simply add more days or extended hours at your current location. Verify what your current patient retention is to determine if you need to mine from existing patients. Is there any area nearby that is underserved?
Where? Check your current zip code demographics and determine where most of your patients come from and if it makes sense to market that specific area. Do your due diligence regarding the number of dentists in the areas around you to make a good decision on where you may be more successful.
Will you have current patients going to a new location? You don’t want to add a location only to find that a large number of patients switch to the new location. Some cannibalism is fine, but remember the point is to increase patients/collections, not move them from one location to another.
How will you handle patients going to both offices? Contact your dental software company and have them set up the same system in the new location and set up provider numbers for each location so everyone can see past and diagnosed treatment, as well as health history, AR, etc.
How will you know if both locations are profitable? Work with your CPA to have books that show you numbers for each location as well as together, so that means you will need to post collections, payroll, dental supplies, lab, utilities, etc. per location. Monitor provider production in each location. Are some dentists and hygienists more productive in one location, and if so, why?
Who will work it? If you have a team that wants more hours, that is ideal since they already know the systems and processes you have set up. Be sure to have team members clock in hours to each location as applicable.
Need another dentist? Interviewing is critical to find the right fit. If the associate will be working alone in one of the locations, you will want to do a lot of training, so they understand their role, responsibility with the team, and simply set your expectations, then continue to monitor. Work with your dental attorney to create a job description, employment agreement, compensation, non-compete, etc.
How do I manage multiple locations? Consider hiring a manager that can oversee training, team schedules, and general practice management.
Work with your transition consultant (broker) to assist you! Contact us today.
Read MoreNew Year’s Resolution for Associate Veterinarians in 2022
By Happy New Year! We would like to wish you a new and improved year over 2020 and 2021. If you’re like most people, you have set some New Year’s resolutions. Perhaps one of them is going to the gym. Another may be eating healthier. A third popular one is spending more time with family and friends. Statistics show that on average, it takes 32 days before people give up on their resolutions. My thought is why wait? I’m having a hot fudge sundae for lunch and not going to the gym! But how about a resolution to further your career as a veterinarian?
One way to further your career may be getting out of your current dead-end associate job and finding a new one. As you know, there is a shortage of veterinarians who want to be associates. As such, corporates are offering bonuses to sign on with them. Some are quite generous. There may be some stipulations around how long you need to stay working with them, however. If you don’t want to work for a corporate-owned practice, there are a lot of individual practice owners looking for associates as well. You can check your state associate website for ads or give us a call and we may know of some openings.
Another idea might be expanding your role in your current associate position. Perhaps you want to do surgery or certain procedures that you like to do. You can start by talking with your practice owner and see what kind of opportunities he may be able to provide. You can also work part-time in another office which may be willing to give you the opportunity you’re looking for.
A third way of growing your career in 2022 is by purchasing a practice. Now, don’t stop reading yet. Practice owners make 15% to 20% more than associate veterinarians make. They also build equity in their practice typically paying off their entire loans in 10 years. If you purchased a $500,000 practice and simply sustain its production, you now have earned 15% to 20% more per year PLUS, you’ve earned $500,000 of equity in your practice. If you grew it 10% per year, you now have over $1 million in equity. I know many associate veterinarians are afraid of owning a practice. They think corporates are going to take over the world and corporates get better deals on supplies. First of all, corporates will not be taking over the world. There will always be room for individual practice owners. In fact, if I had a choice, I would take my dog to an individual owner before I would take it to a corporate owner. I think most pet owners would agree. Regarding better deals on supplies, I’ve had several supply reps tell me that they would give the same deal to an individual as they would to a corporate owner. Supplies as a percentage of gross revenues make up a small number. So, even if they did get better deals, it would not make that big of a difference. Don’t be afraid of owning a practice and competing against the corporate big guys. You can provide a much better and more personalized experience than they can.
These are just a few ideas for your New Year’s resolutions if you haven’t come up with your own. Now, go to the gym, grab a salad, and then, go improve your career!
Read MoreNew Year’s Resolution for Associate Dentists in 2022
By Happy New Year! We would like to wish you a new and improved year over 2020 and 2021. If you’re like most people, you have set some New Year’s resolutions. Perhaps one of them is going to the gym. Another may be eating healthier. A third popular one is spending more time with family and friends. Statistics show that on average, it takes 32 days before people give up on their resolutions. My thought is, why wait? I’m having a hot fudge sundae for lunch and not going to the gym! But how about a resolution to further your career as a dentist?
One way to further your career may be to learn a new procedure or two. As an associate or existing practice owner, you can improve your skills and your income by learning new procedures. A few suggestions would be to advance your endo skills. Maybe you know enough but just haven’t had any advanced training. There are a lot of courses to further advance your endo skills. You can also learn how to place implants. There are probably a lot of patients in your practice who want an implant, but don’t want to go to another office. If you’re a general dentist, you can also learn how to do some form of orthodontics with either Invisalign, ClearCorrect, or another company’s process. Learning a new procedure can make you more marketable as an associate and as a practice owner.
Another way to further your career may be to find a new associate position. If you’re frustrated in your current role because you’re not allowed to do anything more than hygiene checks and fillings, maybe it’s time to look elsewhere. The state associations list openings in their classified ads. If you’re not happy where you are, staying there will make you disgruntled with dentistry and cause you nothing but grief.
A third way of expanding your career in 2022 is by purchasing a practice. Practice owners make 15% to 20% more than associate dentists. They also build equity in their practice typically paying off their entire loans in 10 years. If you purchased a $500,000 practice and simply sustain its production, you now have earned 15% to 20% more per year PLUS you’ve earned $500,000 of equity in your practice. If you grew it 10% per year, you now have over $1 million in equity. I know many associate dentists are afraid of owning a practice. They think Dental Service Organizations (DSOs) are going to take over the world and they get better deals on supplies. First of all, DSOs will not be taking over the world. There will always be room for individual practice owners. In fact, if I had a choice, I would prefer to go to an individual owner before I would go to a DSO or group-owned practice. I think most people would agree. Regarding better deals on supplies, I’ve had several supply reps tell me that they would give the same deal to an individual as they would to a DSO. Supplies as a percentage of gross revenues make up a small number. So, even if they did get better deals, it would not make that big of a difference. Don’t be afraid of owning a practice and competing against the big guys. You can provide a much better and more personalized experience than they can.
These are just a few ideas for your New Year’s resolutions if you haven’t come up with your own. Now, go to the gym, grab a salad and then, go improve your career!
Read MoreDid You Achieve Your Goal in 2021?
Did you reach your goals this year? Was one of them to buy a practice by the end of 2021? Ahem, it’s December. You know who I’m talking about! Do you remember when the year started back in January, and you said to yourself, and perhaps to some of your family and friends, “This is the year I’m going to buy a practice!” Well? What happened?
Did you know that on average a veterinary practice owner makes 20% to 25% more than an associate veterinarian? Practice owners also build up equity in their practice similar to owning a house. A million-dollar practice with no debt will give you a million dollars in equity. Did you know that most practice owners tend to be happy in their veterinary profession? Practice owners get the privilege of setting their own hours. They get to choose what type of hospital they want to have and even which procedures they want to do. They also hire their own staff and let go of those that they don’t believe are doing a good job. Practice owners even get to pick out the music that gets played at the practice. (Although, staff may overrule you on that last one).
We gave buyers a mulligan in 2020. Covid-19 hit us all pretty hard. I caught it early and it took most of the year for me to get back to normal. The industry reeled for a few months due to the Covid shutdowns and various mandates provided at the federal and state levels. But after the shutdown was over, practices came back. Offices that were collecting $80,000 per month prior to the Covid-19 shutdowns were doing $80,000 per month if not more. We can’t predict when this Covid craziness will go away, especially with a new variant popping up every six months or so. But we can say that veterinary practices are resilient.
Those of you who kept your goals and purchased a practice in 2021 are doing well. The practices they purchased are at least producing what they were producing prior to them acquiring the practice. They took out a 10-year loan and they are now 1/10 of the way to paying off their practice debt. Think about those who purchased a practice five years ago. They’re halfway to paying off their practice debt. If they purchased a million-dollar practice, they now have $500,000 of equity in their practice. A half a million dollars! I tell the story of a veterinarian who would come to our buyer’s seminars year after year. At year 7 this veterinarian came to our buyer’s seminar, and I called her out. I pointed out that if she would have purchased the first practice that I showed her 7 years ago with a 7-year loan, she would have had the practice paid off. The practice was a $950,000 practice. She would have equity of close to and if not more than $1 million if she would have just taken action. That motivated her to purchase a practice a few months after the buyer’s seminar. The practice she purchased was three miles from the first practice I had shown her 7 years earlier!
So, as we end the year and you start to think about your goals for next year, think beyond the goal. What can you do better this year that will help you reach the goal of purchasing a practice in 2022? Make finding a practice to buy a priority. In the not-so-long run, you will be thankful you did. The brokers at Omni are always available for a phone call to discuss what you need to do to purchase a practice. Just pick up the phone and give us a call – 877-866-6053.
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