The Association Between French Veterinary Practice Characteristics and Their Revenues and Veterinarian's Time Use.

Ikram Abdouttalib,Didier Raboisson,Guillaume Lhermie,Ahmed Ferchiou,Youba Ndiaye

doi:10.3389/fvets.2021.675028

Abstract

The provision of healthcare by veterinarians consists of a blend of activities ensuring welfare for animals. It also contributes in the control of infectious diseases and food safety. In general practices, most of the activities generate incomes for veterinarians, notably acts (consultations, surgery, etc.) and sales (drugs, pet food, etc.). Increased size of veterinary practices and the arrival of corporate companies modify the veterinary landscape in many countries. In a context of rapid growth of the companion animal health market, the question of the profitability of veterinary activities is relevant. Indeed, beyond a certain threshold, veterinarians may be tempted to leave behind food-producing animals' acts and focus on companion animals' acts, which are generally recognized to be more profitable and more attractive for new generations of veterinarians. A survey was conducted in French veterinary mixed practices, and a regression analysis was used to quantify the relationships between the turnover and the characteristics of veterinary practices, the time to perform veterinary acts, and the characteristics of veterinarians. We found that the characteristics of veterinary practices are positively associated with the turnover and the price of acts, and that there was an association between the status of veterinarians (associate, collaborator, or employee) and the time required to perform companion animals' and food-producing animals' acts. The present study is the first study showing the association between the characteristics of veterinary practices and the turnover, by investigating the price of veterinary acts and the time required.

Highlights

The provision of healthcare by veterinarians consists of a blend of activities ensuring welfare for animals, control of infectious diseases, and food safety
Veterinarians working in mixed practices (CA and food-producing animal (FPA) acts) in France were asked a set of 36 questions arranged in four blocks: structure of the practice, prices of veterinary acts performed in this practices, individual information describing the respondent’s profile, and time spent by each respondent to perform veterinary acts
The more the color of contribution tends toward red, the higher the contribution of the variable (Figure 2), i.e., the contribution of variables related to the nature of the veterinary activity (CA/FPA acts) is very high compared to other variables (Contrib > 0.8)

Summary

Introduction

The provision of healthcare by veterinarians consists of a blend of activities ensuring welfare for animals, control of infectious diseases, and food safety. In France, as in many countries, animals’ owners primarily pay services provided by veterinarians. A diversity of activities generate incomes for veterinarians, notably acts and sales. Healthcare provision can be divided in two main sectors: companion animal (CA) and food-producing animal (FPA). It is noteworthy that at the practice and veterinarian level, many practices or individuals endorse a status of so-called mixed, meaning that they exert both CA and FPA medicine and surgery. In the CA market, the veterinarians sell drugs, consultations, pet foods, and other types of goods. In the FPA market, veterinarians exert an activity of population medicine and sanitary surveillance under a public mandate

Objectives

Methods

Results

Conclusion