Single, National Benchmarking Database Launched

Ned Flaxman & Lottie Pfizer Animal Health and Central Veterinary Services are collaborating in a unique venture to create a unified National Benchmarking Database that is open to all veterinary practices. In an unprecedented move, Pfizer Animal Health will integrate 15 years’ worth of data from its Performance Index practice benchmarking service (formerly known as the Fort Dodge Index) with that of the Central Veterinary Services’ Management Analysis Indices (MAI). This will provide a much bigger, and therefore more accurate and relevant, benchmarking of UK companion animal practice performance. The first combined reports from this new National Database will be available in May providing a comprehensive analysis for the first quarter of 2012. For Performance Index practices, this will be available via a new and significantly improved web portal. These two benchmarking services have been in co-existence for a number of years, each utilising different databases. By combining the data from the participating practices within each benchmarking service, a database of almost 300 practices will be created overnight providing a critical mass of in excess of 10% of all UK companion animal and mixed practices. Participating practices will continue to access their reports and services independently via their respective portals for PI and MAI, but will instantly benefit from the larger database providing greater accuracy, granularity and relevance of exactly who a practice chooses to benchmark itself against. This, in turn, should provide all participating practices with an even better understanding of both their critical success factors and where there are clear opportunities for growth. As ever, practice data confidentiality will be guaranteed for all subscribing practices. Ned Flaxman, Director Business Innovation, at Pfizer Animal Health comments: “We have recognised that what veterinary practices really need is to be far more specific about who they benchmark themselves against. There is little relevance to a rural mixed practice in the Lake District employing 3 full time vets (FTVE) benchmarking themselves against a large 5 FTVE companion animal practice in the centre of Manchester – you are comparing apples and pears! My vision for creating the National Database was really to increase the business benefits of practice benchmarking and enable practices to compare apples with apples. With the new system, the large urban practice in Manchester should be able to compare its performance against other urban practices in the North of England employing 5FTVE! “To ensure practices have accurate and relevant data from which to make informed decisions to grow and thrive in these turbulent conditions, the creation of a single national benchmarking database is the only sensible solution. Although we are effectively levelling the playing field by enabling other veterinary suppliers to offer benchmarking, we believe it is the right thing to do for veterinary practices and the market as a whole. For Pfizer Animal Health, the needs of our veterinary clients are the driving force for our business decisions, veterinary support services and product development.” Martin Barrow, Managing Director of Central Veterinary Services adds: “We fully agree that a single benchmarking database is the right solution for the market. The creation of this National Database, open to all practices irrespective of their supplier, will provide the participants with unique tools to give them powerful insights for their practices’ future continued success. “MAI and the Performance Index have competed with each other for years and provided a very useful added value service for their respective subscribers but when we were approached to integrate the two databases, we immediately saw the bigger picture and recognised the significant benefits this could bring to a wider audience of UK veterinary practices. “The national database uses open standards for data collection and data is accepted from all practices irrespective of which practice management system they use. We believe it is the right thing to do for veterinary practices and brings significant benefits to the whole veterinary profession.” Practices are urged to subscribe to the PI or MAI services either independently or through one of their practice development partners. Although run from a common database each service will continue to be provided with its own unique features. The real benefits of benchmarking remains the full utilisation of the reports generated by the service. For further information on Performance Index practices should contact their Pfizer Account Manager, email Pfizer at [email protected]. For further information on MAI, practices should contact Central Veterinary Services [email protected], or telephone 01359 245310

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