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15 TIME-SAVING TECH TIPSLeverage your software to save valuable time throughout the day

For most veterinary practices, time is the most valuable resource – especially during the busy summer months. Here are 15 ways to use your practice management software to save time. Some of these impactful tips will save minutes each day; others will save more significant amounts of time. The right combination can make a big dierence in your veterinary practice. Multitask with multiple tabsSwitching from task to task in your software can eat up valuable time. If you’re working on inventory in your software and then need to help a client, you likely have to close out the inventory tab to get to patient files, then start all over again when you make your way back. But with many cloud software platforms, you can have multiple tabs open in a browser, much like Google (email, calendar, drive, etc.). Use multiple tabs to enable multitasking eciency. 2 | Page1

Add and annotate digital imagesThough you can likely store radiograph images in your EMR, sometimes it helps to take a photo of a patient’s condition and store that image in the EMR as well. And it’s even more eective to add notes directly to that image. Do this within your software to convey an immense amount of information with one quick glance and ensure that dierent practitioners viewing the patient data each get the benefit of seeing the condition and noting what their colleagues thought. Train new hires with videos and webinars from your software Our veterinary industry experiences lots of sta turnover. Here’s a time-saving tip: Leverage how-to videos from your software provider as training for new hires! These training videos are simple, inexpensive (or free) ways to get new sta trained on practice management software, without taking up hours of your day. These videos are particularly helpful when they are available on-demand and have the built-in flexibility to be completed when time allows. Page | 323

Automate calendar appointment requestsIt’s no secret that automation makes our lives easier overall. In a veterinary practice, the more routine tasks are automated, the less time is needed for those tasks. Automating your appointment calendar is one way to save time. For example, with online appointment requests, clients can select an open slot on your website, enter their information and request the appointment. The request automatically shows up in your software for you to accept or reschedule. The appointment is made and the calendar is updated, without time-consuming back-and-forth phone tag with clients. Use the power of bundlesAnother eective way to automate entries is to set up bundles of services, products and charges as appointment types or specific service oerings. Once that appointment type is scheduled for a client, those services and charges automatically flow into the SOAP and the invoice – and they can always be removed if the patient does not need them. Estimates can also be quickly generated from appointment types using the same system. This greatly simplifies the process for both novice and experienced sta members, substantially reducing the amount of time needed for training and tasks. 4 | Page45

Page | 5Standardize and save time with templatesUsing templates in your software can help sta members follow standard appointment procedures. They are especially helpful for lab tests and results if you do not have a bidirectional integration in your practice. Templates standardize workflow, provide consistency in operational matters and reduce manual entry errors.Widely available features such as auto-populate, short text and picklists make templates one of the best ways to increase eciency and save time, including time spent training new sta. With templates, it becomes easier for sta members to adopt protocols and procedures, helping to ensure consistency even among the newest employees. Integrate your payment processingLong gone are the days of any service provider or professional not accepting credit cards. Now, it’s a matter of how to most eciently accept them in our increasingly mobile and fast-paced world. A payment solution that is integrated within your veterinary practice management software is not only easier to use, but also improves accuracy. You’ll have the ability to swipe your client’s credit or debit card and automatically receive payment for the invoice in your software. No more missing payments, multiple steps or diculty balancing receivables at night. 67

6 | PageCloud software? Use the apps! Eective apps can be a huge time saver, allowing you and sta members to get more done in less time, even while moving around the veterinary practice or from an o-site location. Well-designed mobile apps help you complete most tasks just as if you were on a computer, plus they automatically sync with your software.Think about it. What if you could take care of most of your daily tasks from your phone or tablet and, in some instances, not even be physically present in the oce to do so? When most client-facing tasks can be completed on a mobile device, including creating invoices and accepting payment, that’s a big time saver.Set your most ecient home screenWhen logging in each morning, do you go to a general landing page in your software, only to jump to the area of the software in which you spend most of your time, such as the scheduler, inventory management or financial reports? Try customizing your landing page in settings. Changing your home screen to the area of software where you spend most of your time will help you maximize speed, saving a few seconds here and there that add up to minutes each day. 89

Page | 7Go paperless or paper lightIf you feel you’re spending too much time looking for, maintaining and updating paper files, then going paperless or paper light will save you a ton of time. Using paper files likely feels comfortable – it was the only way for many years. But electronic files are much faster and cleaner. A paperless system saves time, frees up space and gives peace of mind. You can pull a patient record, research a diagnosis or schedule an appointment in seconds. And those seconds add up to hours by the end of the week.If you’re not comfortable going completely paperless, you can go paper light and make small changes, slowly transferring some documents to electronic files over time. The key is to determine what mix of paperless/paper-light tasks works best in your practice.Use digital formsDoes anyone really love all the paperwork involved with onboarding a new client? Clients find it cumbersome and time-consuming – sta members, too! So, why print, sign, scan and upload when you can use an online form to capture information and signatures electronically? Better yet, you can have those forms automatically uploaded to your practice management software.Not only is that a time saver for everyone involved, but it also demonstrates that your practice is current and cutting-edge, which resonates with clients – especially with millennial pet owners. This can also work with estimates, allowing clients to approve recommended procedures or treatments on the spot, with a digital paper trail to prove it.1011

Automate online reviewsWith more information online than ever before, pet owners are turning to online reviews to assist them in selecting the right veterinary practice. To fill this need, some software programs oer a reputation management solution directly within the software or through an integration. Veterinarians can send unlimited surveys tailored to each specific type of client, post feedback on their websites and encourage clients to post positive reviews on public review sites such as Google and Facebook. This all happens automatically in the background after every appointment, saving an enormous amount of time and sparking growth by attracting new clients.Oer online bill payWhat happens when clients get backed up at checkout? They get frustrated. Then sta members get frustrated. Then everyone is stressed out and mistakes occur more frequently. But what happens when clients have other options for payments, such as a 24/7 online option? In those instances, you can send clients a text with a link to the online bill and they can pay on a tablet or phone from anywhere, including the exam room. Payments automatically hit your bank account and reconcile with your software. No more lines – no more frustration!8 | Page1213

Integrate your inventory An integrated inventory management system between your software and your distributors reduces the time you spend looking for and counting products, reconciling your numbers and reordering. All of these tasks take time and drain eciency. An integrated system continuously and automatically updates your amounts, provides more accurate reporting and automates the process from purchase orders to receiving products to reconciliation each month. It can even send you an alert when a product reaches its pre-set reorder point and recommend the quantity to be ordered based on past performance. The entire process is seamless, so you can focus more on your patients and less on counting inventory.Speak your medical notes, don’t type themTyping medical notes can be exceedingly time-consuming, eating into early morning and late-night hours. What if there were a faster way to enter those notes? What if you could stop all the typing and simply speak your notes, capturing complete and accurate notes in far less time? Enter speech-to-text! The power of speech-to-text in a veterinary practice is invaluable, saving time each day through the ability to speak medical notes rather than type them. Voice-recognition software translates the voice to text directly into the medical notes, so that chart notations are captured quickly and accurately. Software can translate hundreds of words per minute, much faster than you can type or write. Page | 91415

$ How NaVetor saves you timeNaVetor is a cloud software platform from Patterson Veterinary that contains these features for ultimate time savings:A practice mobile app and a client mobile app, both free with your subscriptionThe ability to work in multiple tabsAdding and annotating images using the NaVetor practice mobile appTraining videos for several roles in the practiceOnline appointment requestsO-the-shelf templates for completing medical records, along with the ability to create your ownIntegrated payment processing with Gravity Payments, Global Payments Integrated, and Care Credit (including text-to-pay).Digital forms and automated online reviews through an integration with Patterson’s Vet HeroThe ability to create bundles for appointment types or service oeringsInventory integration with Patterson’s eShelfA voice-to-text integration with Talkatoo dictation software24PV1148200 (7/23)navetor.com