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Hi Laurie,

Hope your new year started well. I need direction and guidance. 

I sold my practice up north and moved down south. I would like to focus on rehab and acupuncture. I thought of starting a house call business but I have two specialty practices looking for a full time rehab therapist.  Neither place had a full time rehab therapist. They've both just managed with part time rehab. They both think they will or have clients to support a full time therapist. 

So I have options but I want to figure out which is best for me. It is a little different talking to surgeons... 

In general, there is a lot to consider.

Any questions you would recommend for me to ask them? Both practices have pluses and minuses. They are so different. 

Any idea on how compensations on salary are generally done?  I do not know how to negotiate and what to expect.

I do not know how to formulate appointments and treatments throughout the week.

This is whole new adventure for me. I'm a little overwhelmed. 

Any encouragement is appreciated :)

See you at STAAR in April!

Take care,

Excitedly Overwhemed

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Hi Excitedly Overwhelmed

You have exciting opportunities indeed!

Okay... so, as far as which clinic to choose, it could come down to personalities of the vets involved.  The head surgeon may be bought in, but the others might not be... which could be tricky!

Questions:

1.  Willingness to add a $ amount to their Ortho & Neuro surgical fees that includes a certain amount of rehab sessions

2.  Willingness to give you your own monthly marketing budget for the rehab-side of the practice

3.  What kind of space is available / size of the space / flooring / etc

4.  Will they provide the equipment (laser, e-stim, exercise equipment, etc) or do you need to supply it

5.  Willingness to revamp their post-op instructions to include rehab

6.  Willingness to let you look at, update & approve these post-op instructions

7.  Ask to meet all of their surgeons, and get an idea of their interest in rehab

8.  Ability to hire an assistant if the caseload gets busy or if UWT is being utilized

9.  Ability to set your own prices for services

10. Would you be responsible for doing your own booking, or would the front desk take care of that

11. Would you be limited to internal referrals (i.e. post-ops), or could outside vet clinics refer directly for rehab &/or acupuncture

12. Do they have any issues with you doing acupuncture (some vets / surgeons think it's voodoo)

Compensation

They may be wanting to put you onto a commission (vs a salary).  Since rehab is very labour intensive and lower in pricing (as compared to surgery), you will want to ask for at least 45 - 50% commission.  But I'd ask for even higher and then negotiate down to that level.  IF you were required to bring all of the stuff yourself, then your commission should be higher anyways!

Alternately, you may want to think about asking for a base salary plus a lower commission rate... that way you are guaranteed a salary even if they are slow to start to refer.

Formulating appointments

I do 30 minute rehab appointments... but book off 40 minutes of time so that I can transition between the two and do my charts, and talk to owners more if I like them!  We do the same for the UWT.  UWT appts usually start with the dog being in the water for 15 minutes and can go up to 30 minutes in a session, but we always book 40 minute slots.  There is more clean up, filling, draining, drying, etc between the dogs.

Hopefully this gets you started!

Good luck!

Laurie