Transferring your pet healthcare plan
Why should you transfer your pet plan?
When you set up your pet healthcare plan, your provider probably offered you a lot of support and guidance. They probably justified charging a high price because they threw in lots of extras you thought you’d need. But since you launched your plan you probably don’t hear a lot from them. How many times have they offered refresher training to your team? How many of those “extras” do you really use? And how much are you paying them?
It’s always good to shop around and see if you can save your practice money or improve the service you currently receive. Of course, transferring your plan to another provider can seem risky, so we address the most common questions we get asked;
Q – Isn’t there a risk that we will lose pets from our plan?
A – We’ll be honest, yes this is a risk. However if you’re paying less per month per pet with your new provider, you can still be making more money from your plan than before you switched.
We also find that when switching plans, there is a relaunch within the practice so it doesn’t take long to win back any lost pets and exceed your original numbers.
We always work out a transfer plan with our clients in order to minimize disruption to pet owners and reduce the risk of losing pets.
Q – How much notice to I have to give to my existing provider?
A – This will depend on your contract but we find it is typically three months.
Q – How do I choose which provider to switch to?
A – There are lots of things to consider but we recommend you think about the following;
• The cost – there has to be a financial benefit to switching.
• Plan flexibility – some providers will insist that you put certain services in your plan while others don’t. It’s also worth checking how regularly you can make changes like additional benefits or price increases.
• Training and ongoing support – find out what support is offered, how frequently and whether it costs extra.
• Trust – how well do you know the provider? Have you had any experience with them before?
Q – How can you afford to run my pet plan at such a low cost?
A – Most other providers only offer payment plans; that’s all they do. As you probably know, we provide a variety of insurances and financial services for vets. This means we can afford to be flexible in the way we price our plans.
