Conveying the importance of preventive care through client education and staff engagement is the focus of a new resource from the American Animal Hospital Association.
The publication, “Implementing Preventive Care Protocols,” points out how routine diagnostic screenings, as shown in a study conducted by Idexx Laboratories Inc., can reveal underlying conditions in need of follow-up treatments.
“This publication will help more practices learn how they can increase the benefits for clients, patients and themselves by implementing preventive care protocols,” said AAHA’s deputy CEO, Janice Trumpeter, DVM.
The 24-page document, available at http://bit.ly/2krXKGf, was produced using a Idexx educational grant. The report builds upon an earlier AAHA document, “Promoting Preventive Care Protocols: Evidence, Enactment and Economics.”
The new publication outlines a number of strategies. Among them:
- Client education: “Prepare in-hospital materials (age posters, brochures) to reinforce the value of your preventive care diagnostic recommendations to clients.”
- Costs: “[Set] prices that will encourage clients to participate in diagnostic testing for their pets as part of a routine wellness visit. [Consultant Fritz Wood] recommends pricing the diagnostics at a lower price point than you would set for tests on sick animals.”
- Staff engagement: “If a client has been educated and prepared for testing recommendations by the front desk and technicians, the veterinarian’s role should simply be to make the recommendation and get the OK from the client.”