Setting fees for optimal practice growth

In today’s digital age, the rising popularity of telehealth opens new avenues for veterinarians to provide their expertise remotely. Vetster is a feature-rich platform designed for veterinary professionals to connect pet owners and their pets.  Whether you’re using Vetster as a turnkey solution for integrating telehealth into your brick-and-mortar practice or as a remote-exclusive veterinarian, strategic fee setting is critical for success. In this blog post, we’ll explore effective strategies for fee setting that help you optimize your time management and opportunities for growing your virtual practice.

Determining appropriate fees for your virtual practice is easy with Vetster and you always have full control over the rates you set.  Selecting your available hours on the platform and pricing them accordingly is key for optimal time management and ensuring that you are adequately compensated for the top-tier services you provide. Read on to learn more about:

• How to select your appointment fees
• Vetster’s versatile fee-setting tools
• How veterinarians are compensated for virtual care appointments on the Vetster platform

Remember that your services and expertise are valuable.  Clients choosing virtual care want timely access to a veterinarian from the comfort of home whether you’re providing teleadvice, teletriage, or telemedicine.  And they are willing to pay for it - even when a referral to a hospital or clinic is needed. We recommend you base your fees on the value you provide and highlight the convenience, expertise, and personalized care clients receive through virtual consultations.

“You’ll have my undivided attention for the next 30 minutes,” is a great way to introduce clients to how the virtual care appointment will work. Educate your clients about the value they receive through virtual consultations, and a well-informed client is more likely to understand and appreciate your fees.

Start by considering local rates in brick-and-mortar clinics for both regular and emergency office calls in the jurisdiction(s) where you are licensed.  Appropriate rates for virtual care appointments exist along that same spectrum,  While you may not be able to offer the same scope of services a brick-and-mortar clinic can, you can excel in other areas:

• Short lead-time to appointments
• The convenience of seeing the vet from home
• Dedicated appointment times that allow for ample discussion
• Ease of scheduling, especially when booking follow up appointments

Just like in brick-and-mortar practice, your rate may vary depending on your level of experience, species treated, market location, and personal preference. We suggest checking on Vetster to see what other comparable vets in your area charge as well. If you have special knowledge and experience in a hard-to-find type of veterinary care, like avian or exotics, your pricing should reflect this.

Telehealth is a great medium for providing specialty services like nutrition and behavior counseling, and board-certified veterinary specialists are able to adjust their rates as they see fit. If your passion is building client relationships and providing ongoing support for services like hospice care or weight loss, you may wish to set pricing that makes it easy for clients to book frequent follow ups.

In general, setting a more competitive rate may help you get more appointments, however, as you build your practice on Vetster, you’ll find like many or our veterinarians, repeat clients are willing to pay for the value they receive. Monitor the response and feedback from clients, and make adjustments as needed.

If you’re using Vetster as a turnkey solution for integrating telehealth into your brick-and-mortar practice, veterinary industry media companies have published articles on the topic. DVM360 and Today’s Veterinary Practice have helpful information to get you started, and the versatility of Vetster’s fee-setting tools allows you to make adjustments as needed.

Vetster’s fee-setting tools are very flexible. A wide variety of veterinarians utilize the platform to offer a broad range of services, so the rates you may select from range from $50 - $320 USD per appointment.  Our fee-setting tools are also flexible, and you may vary your rates depending on time of day or day of the week, and edit these rates as you see fit.

Find Vetster’s fee-setting tools by selecting “Rates and Availability” from the main menu. The “Rates and Availability” page allows you to access your rates two different ways. Select the “$ Appointment Settings” tile to go to a page where you select your default appointment duration, interval, minimum advance notice, and rate. Your options for your default appointment fee range from $50 - $320 USD. Your selection here will apply to all your appointments unless otherwise specified.

Access our custom fee-setting feature by selecting the “Availability & Rates” tile on the main “Rates and Availability” menu page. The template on this page allows you to quickly select multiple available time slots on any given day and select the rate for each. Simply click on the "+" icon to add different time slots you're available and to set rates for each. The overlapping squares icon allows you to easily copy times to another day. All rates selected indicate the fee your clients will be charged.

The other settings on the “$ Appointment Settings page”  page allow you to optimize your time management. Appointment duration is currently locked at 30 minutes. This allows you to encourage clients to book additional time when needed, although this feature may be customizable in the future. The appointment interval is the amount of time between periods of availability. This feature is also currently locked at 30 minutes, but future upgrades may allow you to add further flexibility to your schedule. To indicate how quickly you’ll see a pet after booking, set a minimum advance notice from 15 minutes up to 12 hours.

Veterinarians using Vetster’s marketplace are paid through Vetster Payments within 7-10 business days of each completed appointment. Payout options vary based on your region, but include bank transfer and PayPal. Note that Vetster has the right to withhold payout if it is deemed that the appointment was insufficient or unsatisfactory.

Vetster retains a 30% commission (taxes included) from the rates you set in your account settings per completed appointment. This accounts for the costs of running the technology platform, customer & technical support, marketing efforts to drive appointments, and much more. Vetster is dedicated to transparency on this because we value you and want you to be adequately compensated for your time on the platform.

Efficient time management and strategic fee setting are vital components that can drive your practice’s growth and reputation. By embracing technology, demonstrating value, and delivering quality virtual care during the hours clients are looking for it, you’ll not only optimize your time but also foster a loyal client base that values your expertise in the digital realm of veterinary care. This is an ideal example of how well virtual care works to supplement in-person care and meet client demand to drive the universal goal of improved pet health and well-being.

You may create an account as a veterinary professional, or learn more here.