• Inventory Management for Veterinary Professionals provides a thorough introduction to the logistics of effective and efficient veterinary inventory management. Designed for any employee of a veterinary practice, the book covers strategies and tactics for all major aspects of inventory management. It provides veterinary professionals with a practical roadmap for this key business operation, with stories drawing on the author’s experience to provide a real-world perspective.

    Emphasizing both the ‘how’ and the ‘why’ of developing effective inventory management systems, it’s an indispensable tool for veterinary professionals at every level of practice. Taking a holistic approach to setting up, maintaining, and optimizing an inventory system, the book begins by describing the theory and strategies for inventory management, then discusses how to incorporate this knowledge into practice.

    Inventory Management for Veterinary Professionals offers:

    • Detailed discussion of topics including the flow of inventory through the practice, forecasting, ordering, troubleshooting, and more
    • Advice on how to receive and restock, organize, price, and sell inventory
    • Guidance on how to set up an inventory action plan
    • A chapter on setting and executing inventory management protocols around controlled substances
    • A companion website with additional tools, resources, and self-assessment questions

    Inventory Management for Veterinary Professionals is ideal for any veterinary professional, including practice managers, receptionists, assistants, technicians, and practice owners.

  • Preface xv

    Acknowledgments xvii

    About the Companion Website xix

    1 Introduction to Inventory Management 1

    1.1 What No One Told You During Your "Training" as an Inventory Manager 3

    1.2 Inventory Can Be Hard But It Matters. Here's Why 4

    1.3 What is the Impact of Inventory Management on Our Practice? 4

    1.4 When Do People Look to Reassess their Inventory System? 7

    1.5 Inventory Goals 8

    1.6 The Three Mindsets for Inventory Management 10

    1.6.1 Mindset Exercise 11

    1.7 The Role of an Inventory Manager 12

    1.8 Qualities of an Inventory Manager 16

    1.9 Creating an Inventory Team 18

    1.10 Getting Your Team on Board 19

    1.10.1 Co-creating an Inventory Improvement Plan 23

    1.11 Best Practice Recap 23

    2 Your Inventory Ecosystem and the Flow of Inventory Through your Practice 25

    2.1 Your Inventory (and Practice) is an Ecosystem 27

    2.2 Introduction to the Flow of Inventory in Your Practice 30

    2.3 Communicating with Your Team 33

    2.4 Inventory Manager Spotlight 34

    3 Introduction to Demand Forecasting and Reorder Points, the Foundation of Our Ecosystem 35

    3.1 Author's Note/Story 35

    3.2 Introduction to Demand Forecasting 36

    3.3 Demand Forecasting and Purchase Planning 37

    3.4 Determining When an Item Needs to be Ordered 38

    3.5 Utilizing Your Sales and Usage to Forecast Demand 39

    3.6 Methods for Calculating Reorder Points 40

    3.7 Reorder Point Exceptions 51

    3.8 You've Calculated Your Order Points ... Now What? 53

    3.9 Calculating Reorder Quantity – How Much to Order? 63

    3.10 Calculating the Minimum and Maximum Level 66

    3.11 Calculating the Economic Order Quantity 69

    3.12 Putting It all Together 70

    3.13 A Quick Story from the Author 73

    4 Efficient Ordering and Replenishment 75

    4.1 The Ordering Process 75

    4.2 Replenishment Techniques 76

    4.3 Creating an Order Schedule 77

    4.4 Ordering Workflow 78

    4.5 Strategies for Navigating Backorders 81

    4.6 Utilizing Purchase Orders in Your Practice Management System 84

    4.7 Special Purchasing Considerations 84

    4.8 It's More than Just the Cost of an Item 89

    4.9 Choosing and Evaluating Vendors 91

    4.10 Creating and Using a Budget 92

    5 Receiving and Restocking Your Inventory 99

    5.1 Author Note 99

    5.2 Receiving Inventory 100

    5.3 Guidelines for Receiving and Restocking 100

    5.4 Setting up Your Software to Optimize this Process 106

    5.6 Invoice and Statement Processing 108

    5.7 Putting It into Practice 110

    6 Organizing, Storing, and Protecting Your Inventory 111

    6.1 Author's Note 111

    6.2 Why a Tidy Inventory and Pharmacy Matters 111

    6.3 Organizing Your Pharmacy 113

    6.4 Creating a Central Storage or Hospital Supplies Storage Area 114

    6.5 (Re)Organizing Areas of Your Practice 115

    6.6 Integrating Physical Reorder Points and Inventory Organization 117

    6.7 Protecting Your Inventory Investment 124

    6.8 Strategies for Safeguarding Your Inventory 128

    7 Strategic Pricing for Your Inventory 131

    7.1 How Your Practice's Values and Pricing Intersect 131

    7.2 Introduction to Pricing Your Inventory 132

    7.3 Prescription and Dispensing Fees 134

    7.4 Pricing Models 136

    7.5 Pricing Formula Overview 142

    7.6 Pricing Concept: Flat Fee or "Weight Bucket" Injections 147

    7.7 Profit Goals 147

    7.8 Pricing with Your Practice Management System 148

    7.9 Increasing Prices as Your Costs Increase 149

    7.10 Putting It into Practice 150

    8 Selling and Consuming Your Inventory Appropriately 155

    8.1 Why Selling Your Inventory Appropriately and Accurately Matters 155

    8.2 Impact of Missed Charges 155

    8.3 Leveraging Your Practice Management System 156

    8.4 Auditing Medical Records 159

    8.5 Using Barcodes in Your Inventory 161

    8.6 Inventory Dispensing Cabinets 162

    8.7 Using an Online Pharmacy 164

    8.8 Tips for Keeping Your Practice Management System Accurate 164

    8.9 Putting It all Together 166

    9 Optimizing Your Inventory 169

    9.1 What Does It Mean to Optimize Your Inventory? 169

    9.2 Evaluating Your Products and Items 169

    9.3 Adding New Products 175

    9.4 Cycle Counting Your Inventory 176

    9.5 Creating a Routine with Your Cycle Counts 182

    9.6 Monitoring and Interpreting Discrepancies 183

    9.7 End-of-year Counts 185

    9.8 Prioritizing Your Inventory and Using an ABC Analysis 187

    10 Why the Wheels Come off the Bus and How to Fix It 189

    10.1 What is an "Out-of-control" Inventory? 189

    10.2 Is "Fixing" Your Inventory Worth It? 190

    10.3 Fixing Your Inventory 191

    10.4 A Surefire Way to Keep Your Important Items in Stock 195

    10.5 Why the Wheels Come off the Bus 197

    11 You're Brand New… Now What? How to Set Up Your Inventory 201

    11.1 You're a Brand New Inventory Manager ... Now What? 201

    11.2 Author's Note 203

    11.3 You're a Veterinarian Starting a Brand New Practice …Now What? 204

    11.4 Getting Your Inventory Started Overview 205

    11.5 Example: Setting Up Your Inventory Action Plan 208

    11.6 You Just Purchased an Existing Practice ... Now What? 210

    12 An Introduction to Controlled Substances 213

    12.1 Author's Note 213

    12.2 What is a Controlled Substance? 214

    12.3 Controlled Substances and the Cycle of Inventory in Your Practice 215

    12.4 Forecast and Purchase Planning 216

    12.5 Ordering and Replenishment 217

    12.6 Receive and Organize 218

    12.7 Strategic Pricing 220

    12.8 Appropriate Inventory Sales and Consumption 220

    12.9 Biennial Inventory Requirements 222

    12.10 Auditing and Reconciling Your Controlled Substance Logs 222

    12.11 Other DEA Regulations 224

    12.12 What Next Steps Should You Take? 224

    12.13 Author's Note 225

    13 Maintaining Your Inventory 227

    13.1 Author's Note 227

    13.2 How to Maintain your Inventory 227

    13.3 Creating Standard Operating Procedures 228

    13.4 Introduction to Key Performance Indicators 233

    13.5 Inventory Key Performance Indicators: Cost of Goods Sold (as a Percentage of Revenue) 237

    13.6 Inventory Key Performance Indicators: Inventory Turnover 241

    13.7 Inventory Key Performance Indicators: Value of Inventory On Hand 245

    13.8 Inventory Key Performance Indicators: Number of Adjustments or Variances in a Time Period 248

    13.9 Putting It All Together 248

    Appendices 251

    References 265

    Index 267

  • Nicole I. Clausen, CSSGB, CCFP

    Is Founder and CEO of Veterinary Care Logistics and Co-Founder of Inventory Ally in Belgrade, Montana, USA.

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