Help to run a pet health plan is as important as fee collection, according to practice owners and managers

Simplyhealth Professionals, the leading provider of preventive health plans for cats, dogs, rabbits and horses, has reported the results of a survey* that found that help to run a preventive health plan is as important to practice owners and managers as help with the processing and collection of fees.

The survey of decision makers in non-corporate practices found 79 per cent of respondents used the payment plan provider’s services for payment and collection of fees. 

Asked what services they would find most useful from their payment provider in the future, respondents rated payment and collection of fees, help with administration running the service and marketing advice and support literature equally highly – with 61 per cent saying they would find it useful if their payment provider offered these services.

Preventive health plans have become increasingly popular both as a way of ensuring pets benefit from best practice preventive healthcare and also helping practices grow client loyalty and generate a regular monthly income.

Nick White, Head of Sales and Training at Simplyhealth Professionals, says the result of the survey are borne out by his team’s experience of supporting practices to develop and run preventive health plans, “We tend to see practices at two different stages – those who are starting with preventive health plans for the first time and those who have been running a plan and are now ready to take the next steps in evolution of their plan.

Those just starting, benefit from support to formulate what they include in the plan and having a training infrastructure and policies in place that make introducing the plan to their clients a smooth process. Those ready to evolve what they do, benefit from support to align their pricing, or refine and expand the types of plans on offer. It’s very much a face to face process and we advise an annual review is carried out by every practice that offers health plans.”

*About the survey

The survey was carried out in 2017 by Simplyhealth Professionals. The survey attracted 175 respondents; non-decision makers, or those who worked in corporate practices were screened out, leaving 38 practice owners or managers. The results are reported on the basis of responses from these owner/ managers only. Respondents included those not currently using a preventive health plan or those stating they used a plan from one of a reported seven different providers, including their own in-house plans.