National Commission on Veterinary Economic Issues - News Feeds

Forms to keep your practice running smoothly

• Q&A: A guide to negotiating your second contract
  I'm a second-year veterinarian currently negotiating my second professional contract. How much should I expect in terms of salary, benefits, and time off? I'm currently on ProSal, and I'm happy with that structure.
  
• The veterinary compensation conundrum
  How pay affects the job satisfaction of associates and others. Flexibility is a factor, too.
  
• BizQuiz: Are you being paid fairly?
  Take this quiz to find out how your pay and practice stack up against Well-Managed Practices.
  
• Making ownership pay
  The Four Tier compensation formula accounts for partners' unique contributions to the practice.
  
• Sour on veterinary associate pay?
  If compensation has put the squeeze on your practice, take a look at your doctors' slice.
  
• ProSal works great for my practice
  Production-based pay works well at this New York practice.
  
• Independent contractor or employee: Do you know?
  You had better. The federal government is auditing 6,000 businesses for independent contractor compliance.
  
• Q&A: When to add an associate to your team
  Are there quantifiable measures I can use to determine whether I'm able to add an associate to my practice?
  
• Squashing ProSal myths
  Learn how ProSal's mix of base salary and production percentage works for associates.
  
• ProSal: Total compensation statement
  Use this Excel spreadsheet to figure out your associate's current total compensation.
  
• ProSal: Crediting doctor production
  Use this PDF worksheet to see the most common sources of production income and states whether credit goes to the doctor or the hospital.
  
• The new-graduate conundrum
  The cost of an advanced degree is becoming nearly impossible for graduates to pay in a reasonable time.
  
• Compensation: Strike the right balance when paying your veterinarians
  Happy associates deliver great customer service. Pay them right.
  
• BizQuiz: Do you have a clue about doctor pay?
  Here are the top five mysteries about compensation exposed and solved.
  
• CVC Live: Student debt and the economies of practice
  Dr. Michael Andrews participated in the DVM Newsmakers Summit at CVC in San Diego, and afterward shared these insights into the financial realities veterinarians face.
  
• Despite higher starting salaries and student debt, more DVMs are shunning the working world for the classroom
  Student debt and starting salaries are up, but new DVMs are still opting to stay in the classroom longer.
  
• Blog: Doctor production gone wrong
  While the production model is supposed to encourage doctors to take on challenges and go beyond the call of duty, Dr. Andrew Rollo worries that greed and pettiness can ruin the working environment and harbor ill will.
  
• Five myths about associate compensation (Proceedings)
  What's fair when it comes to associate compensation?
  
• The amorphous buy-in offer
  One of the more stressful times in a veterinarian's employment relationship is contract-signing or contract-renewal time.
  
• Q&A: Get the raise you deserve
  My production as an associate warrants a raise. How do I ask the practice owner?
  
• Production pay: How to determine the right percentage
  How do you determine the percentage that goes into a production-based pay contract for an associate?
  
• Production-based pay: An economic necessity
  Our immediate future is about 80 watts short of bright.
  
• Stimulus plan brings COBRA changes
  Government is subsidizing premiums, but employers pay up front
  
• Law cuts into salary discrimination
  National Report - A new federal law will make it easier for workers to file wage-discrimination lawsuits. Lawyers are cautioning veterinary experts.
  
• Student debt: Why it's your problem too
  Face facts: Student debt affects nearly everyone in the veterinary industry.
  
• Q&A: Figuring on-call compensation
  Doctors should charge appropriately for their time overnight.
  
• DVM salaries up since 2005, but trend could be slowing
  Veterinary salaries are growing at a higher rate than inflation, according to a new AVMA report.
  
• Monitoring your practice in today's economy
  Paying attention to demographics, finances, diagnostics yields benefits.
  
• Associate pay outpaces inflation
  The average associate salary was $84,331 in 2007, exceeding the 2005 average by 17 percent, the Veterinary Hospital Managers Association reports.
  
• Five myths about associate compensation (Proceedings)
  What's fair when it comes to associate compensation? Owners and associates want to know, and too often each party's understanding of what's fair lies at opposite ends of the spectrum.
  
• Q&A: Questions on compensation
  How to deal with difficult salary issues.
  
• Tackling turnover
  Lakewood, Colo. — Associate veterinarians are jumping jobs faster than the average American worker, according to a new study, and salaries that don't keep pace with inflation could be partly to blame.
  
• How veterinarians are saving for retirement
  Even if you haven't started yet, you can still set your eyes on the prize.
  
• Nailing down a noncompete
  What time frame is valid for a noncompete clause in an associate's contract? What distance from my practice do I use as a boundary?
  
• Calculate associate pay with this formula
  Compensation: Case closed. Solve the mystery with this sample calculation.
  
• Are you an underearner?
  Wouldn't it be nice to put more away for retirement? Don't you wish you had more to show for your prime working years?
  
• See associate veterinarian compensation ranges by practice type
  Clueless about compensation ranges? Check out this chart.
  
• Get a clue: Associate compensation
  Owners and associates want to know the truth, but often each side is mired in mystery.
  
• Figuring out fair ProSal compensation
  Q. I've been at my first job for just over a year. I earn a base salary plus production and benefits. What percentage of my revenue is fair compensation?
  
• Starting an associate on ProSal
  Q. My associate earns 22.5 percent of her total production. Of that, about 17 percent is wages and the remainder is fringe benefits. She also receives a bonus. How can I switch her to ProSal without giving away the farm?
  
• Rewarding longevity
  My associate is receiving about $90,000 a year in compensation. She has requested a salary of $100,000 because she's been with me for eight years and she says her longevity is worth something. Is there a formula for a longevity bonus?
  
• By the numbers: Getting to know the next generation of leaders
  A look at associates' debt, purchasing power, interest in ownership, and more.
  
• Colorado surveys employee compensation
  Denver — The Colorado Veterinary Medical Association (CVMA) wants to know what practice-owning members are paying their employees.
  
• Paying for associate CE
  Q. I know we need to pay team members when they attend required training meetings. But what's the legal standard for paying associate veterinarians their salary to attend CE meetings? Where does the practice's responsibility end and the doctor's responsibility to maintain her license begin?
  
• Weekend work
  I already work a few Saturdays a month and now my boss wants more!
  
• Mobile compensation
  How much should I compensate a mobile veterinarian who wants to perform surgeries and dentals at my clinic? She'd conduct the procedures but use my clinic's equipment, staff, and drugs for her clientele.
  
• Associate pay: adjusting for experience
  Reward associates for their knowledge, education, time, and experience level.
  
• Sticky salary situation
  I've been with the same clinic for seven years. There's a lot of turnover, and my boss hires new graduates. Depending on my day, I'm stuck playing teacher with up to three new veterinarians. My boss isn't around much and says I'm not pulling my weight given what I'm being paid. How can I explain the situation to him?
  
• Part-time possibilities
  Q. How many hours can an associate work and still be considered part-time? Do on-call hours count?
  
• Credit for dental prophys
  When our owner's out of the building and the technicians perform dentals, does our part-time associate receive credit even if the owner scheduled it and already performed a physical exam?
  
• The cost of expanding
  My group practice is thinking of adding a doctor, but we're worried that it could cost more in additional overhead than he or she will produce. What should we do?
  
• Pay partners fairly
  Paying equally doesn't always make sense in a partnership, especially when doctors aren't contributing in the same ways. A tiered-compensation system can account for these variances.
  
• Compensation Statement
  A form to help you determine the costs of employment, such as health insurance, continuing education, dues, license, retirement programs, and payroll taxes.
  
• Salary vs. production
  The best of both worlds, the ProSal compensation formula pays associates on a percentage of production and guarantees a base salary. Find out why this method's a top choice for associates, and why you'll like it, too.
  
• ProSal percentages
  I'm a bovine practitioner looking into ProSal compensation for my associates. I'm concerned with the percentage used to calculate the portion of the salary above the base. What percentage profit should a practice owner expect to make off of his associates?
  
• Some models of pay don't pay
  As graduation approaches, my mind is a whirlwind of questions, concerns, and hopes. I'm ready to practice?mostly. Yet there's one topic that leaves me wary: salary. While production-based compensation and traditional salary historically have been the only two options, they each have room for improvement. But there's a third choice: the ProSal formula, developed by Hospital Management Editor Mark Opperman, CVPM. To understand why I think ProSal is right for me and other new associates, consider these pros and cons.
  
• Associate contracts: Walk a mile in the practice owner's shoes
  There is a fundamental concept about contract law that students learn in their very first weeks of law school. It's a concept referred to as "meeting of the minds."
  
• Shifting money between benefits
  I'm a full-time veterinarian, and my employer pays for my health insurance, which costs about $4,000 a year. I recently got married, and my husband's insurance is better. If I join my husband's policy, should I get that $4,000 benefit somewhere else in my package? Is it fair to ask my boss to add it to my salary or to add more paid vacation days in equivalent to the benefit money?
  
• Bringing down inflated salaries
  My partner and I recently learned that we're paying associates more than other practitioners in our area do. How should we get our compensation more in line with prevailing wages—with a salary freeze or a pay cut?
  
• Charging witness fees
  I've been asked to be a witness in an animal cruelty case. How should I be paid?
  
• Compensating a board-certified veterinarian
  I want to hire a veterinarian who's board-certified in internal medicine. How should I compensate this person? Should I pay based on production or a split rate, or should I rent space to the practitioner? If I pay based on production, would the percent be different than with a non-board-certified veterinarian?
  
• Before you accept that job...
  If you're thinking of pulling up the stakes and moving to another practice in another state, do some number crunching first. Yes, the salary offered looks great, but have you considered how much more you'll have to earn to live the life you want in that city?
  
• Vacation benefits with production-based pay
  I'm thinking of paying my associate based on her production. If I do, how would I handle vacation days and holidays? She wouldn't automatically receive compensation for those days off, would she?
  
• Making appropriate retirement contributions
  How much am I expected to contribute to my associates' retirement plans? Does this count as part of the compensation my associate earned based on production?
  
• What am I worth?
  What's fair compensation one year out of veterinary school? I'm currently working at a two-doctor practice. What do I need to know to make an educated decision about whether to renew my contract?
  
• Associate employment contracts:Scrutinize them prior to signing
  He or she might be in the unenviable position of asking an employer to pony up thousands of dollars for disputed, unpaid productivity revenue.
  
• Create a strategy for effective employee compensation
  Practice owners need to strategize on employee compensation.
  
• Painless contract negotiation possible, experts say
  Negotiating for the right deal means understanding the compensation process, seeking out appropriate counsel
  
• Last in a four-part-series: Associate contracts
  Don't overlook disability and pension benefits; make sure you understand documents; legalese can short-circuit best intentions
  
• Third in a four-part series- Associate contracts: salary vs. production-based compensation
  The initial two articles in this series on associate employment contracts dealt primarily with legal details of the contract; contract periods, renewal provisions and other esoteric elements that are commonly ignored when a new associate is considering a job offer.
  
• First in a four-part series: Associate contracts: When are they necessary?
  There are a host of decisions and options facing newly graduating veterinary students as they work through their final year.
  
• Concerned about 'excessive' compensation?
  Everything you read today indicates an overwhelming opinion consensus that veterinarians are paid abysmally as compared to other professions and even occupations.