Misbilling is costing veterinary groups millions of dollars. Every time a veterinarian fails to bill for a product or service it takes value straight off the bottom line.
But it is a widespread and complex problem that defies simple solutions. Data shows that few veterinarians are consistently good at billing. And with hundreds of different errors occurring every day, management interventions just don’t stick.
The only workable approach is to catch errors in real time, using your practice management system to give staff guidance about missed treatments and ensure nothing is missed from the bill.
Veterinary billing is inherently complex, with many opportunities for error.
Veterinarians are focused on patient care and engaging with the client, which leaves little bandwidth for paperwork. Small wonder they often forget to bill for the many different elements of a treatment: drugs, consumables, lab costs, interpretation fees, and more.
Practice management systems can help by creating bundles for common procedures, but this only addresses a fraction of the billing omissions we regularly see. And whilst sophisticated pricing structures help make care affordable and fair for clients, they also make it harder for veterinarians to select the right option.
See how veterinarians can bill more accurately and confidently >
Deliberate misbilling creates wide-ranging problems.
While most billing errors are simple oversights, sometimes veterinarians omit items deliberately to provide informal discounts that, whilst well-intentioned, create inconsistencies and untracked revenue loss.
Although there is anecdotal evidence to suggest that this practice is widespread, the very nature of missed billing has made it very hard to measure, let alone pin down and prevent.
Good patient care requires not only professional experience and judgement, but also observing established clinical protocols.
As protocols evolve, or are standardized across a veterinary group, it can be challenging for any clinician to remember the latest guidance and specific steps in each and every procedure.
While training and periodic audits are well established, it is far more useful for a veterinarian to be reminded of anything they have missed – quickly and unobtrusively – while the consultation is still ongoing.
Even with the best business intelligence, misbilling is hard to pin down
Misbilling is an issue that veterinary groups can observe at a macro level, for example when sales of specific drugs don’t match the number of procedures carried out. But with current business intelligence tools it is almost impossible to pinpoint where the specific problems are, in terms of procedures, clinics or individuals.
Billing data alone is fundamentally limited, but when you add automated prompts and suggestions into your practice management system, and track the responses and outcomes of those prompts, you have a wealth of insights to add into the mix.
Sweetfish integrates with your practice management system to catch misbilling in real time – guiding veterinarians during consultations while providing rich data for ongoing improvement. It works silently in the background unless it needs to intervene, allowing them to add missing items with just a couple of clicks.
