This article originally appeared in the Fall 2024 issue of EquiManagement. Sign up here for a FREE subscription to EquiManagement’s quarterly digital or print magazine and any special issues.
Solo practitioners make up somewhere between 40-60% of equine practitioners in the United States. These veterinarians have chosen this practice type for a variety of reasons, but many have prized the independence working alone provides. They make all the policy decisions, decide on their work schedules, and have control over how their career impacts their life. However, one of the biggest challenges solo equine practitioners face is determining an exit strategy when they are ready for retirement or an alternative career.
Options when retiring from solo equine practice include:
- Informing clients the practice is closing and referring them to other local colleagues through a letter.
- Identifying a local practice interested in acquiring the retiring veterinarian’s practice.
- Selling the client list to a trusted colleague and actively supporting the transition of clients.
- Selling the practice to a new solo owner.
In the current environment of increased demand for and short supply of equine doctors, most veterinarians will not be interested in purchasing a solo practice because it does not offer a significant advantage to simply opening a practice of their own. When an existing doctor retires and clients must seek a new provider of services, they are often grateful if a new veterinarian pops up in the area.
Jo Vecchione, VMD, of Perkiomenville, Pennsylvania, opened Vecchione Veterinary Equine Mobile Services seven years ago after a long career in a multidoctor equine practice. “Going solo was the best thing I ever did,” she says. When she formed the practice, her goal was to get out of debt within 10 years, an aspiration she has achieved early. Her practice is primarily limited to sports medicine, with very few emergencies. She employs three team members full-time, and her veterinary technician sees tech appointments one day a week.
“I’m in control of everything,” she says, but notes that “While I make all the important decisions, I delegate everything that doesn’t have to be done by a veterinarian.” At 64, Vecchione still loves practice and says she’ll keep going for as long as she’s healthy. “I pray to God I will stay healthy because I’m not looking to retire. I don’t want to leave my peeps without anyone,” she says. Vecchione has considered merging with another practice or hiring an associate who might purchase the practice but acknowledges they are difficult to find. “I practice in a great area with great clients,” she says, “and I guess I’m hoping with a wing and prayer.”
Selling Your Solo Equine Practice: Not as Easy as It Seems
Sometimes a solo practitioner with a busy schedule decides to hire an associate to take on some of the workload so they can begin to slow down, and they hope the new hire will buy the practice when they decide to retire fully. Unfortunately, building up the practice to support even 1.25 veterinarians can take a toll on the solo practitioner during the often prolonged time during which they attempt to hire an associate. Many worry they are taking on too many clients in the event they cannot find an associate or the new hire leaves within a short time. In addition, with average salaries climbing in 2023 to over $94,000 for new equine graduates without internships, the financial burden might be untenable for the solo doctor to absorb. Also, because the retiring solo practitioner is essentially the brand identity of the practice, unless they can attract an associate with a similar skill set and shared values, the clients might not be satisfied with the new option. For these reasons, the sale of a solo practice is generally very difficult.
Transitioning Out of Solo Equine Practice
Mitchell Rode, DVM, solo practitioner and owner of Clarke Equine Wellness & Performance in Berryville, Virginia, is the current AAEP Treasurer. “As much as I am aware that ‘hope is not a strategy,’ I must confess I do not have a concrete plan for succession in my solo practice,” he says. “And I do, indeed, hold out hope for something happening organically. I try to keep that possibility in mind daily and try to conduct myself and administer my practice in such a way as to make it potentially attractive to a like-minded individual.”
Understanding that many equine veterinarians continue to work until they physically cannot continue to do so, he says, “I am relatively sound at this time, and I hope to retire that way. So I don’t plan to work until my body gives out. I plan to work until I am no longer motivated to go out and do it every day. And no longer desiring to subject myself to the physical demands may be a part of the rationale.”
But like many veterinarians in this helping profession, Rode gets joy and satisfaction from the relationships with clients and patients. “The most difficult thing I contemplate about retirement is the loss of connection with my clients, my patients, and my colleagues,” he says. “I thrive on these personal and professional interactions and will miss them if I retire. Which is part of why, when I picture retirement, I hope for it to be less of a stoppage and more of a transition—into some other related space that offers a similar level of interaction.”
Later in a career, a position in industry or academia might be an opportunity that arises. Many veterinary programs, veterinary technician schools, equine studies departments, and pre-veterinary curriculums need instructors, which can be an excellent way to stay relevant and involved. In addition, many companies operating in the equine space need veterinarians on their technical services staff.
Selling Your Client List and Equipment
When retiring, solo doctors can sometimes sell their client list as well as their used equipment. Client list sales are typically structured such that the purchaser pays a percentage of the revenue earned from the seller’s clients over a three-year period. The first year the buyer typically pays 15-20% of the revenue earned that year from the seller’s clients, with the second year dropping the percentage paid on earned revenue by about a third (10-13%) and the third year an additional third (5-7%). This approach requires some trust and detailed recordkeeping. The buyer is expected to provide an accounting of monies earned from the seller’s previous clients at the end of each year, which usually means logging them into practice management software in a way that allows these reports to be generated. The payments can be made quarterly or annually. Some clients use both the seller and the buyer before the sale, so defining what revenue will be counted is essential.
With a client list sale, the selling veterinarian sends a letter to his or her clients stating that their records will be transferred to the buyer’s practice unless they request otherwise. As it is to the seller’s benefit that their clients transfer to the new service provider, the seller typically also expresses confidence in the new veterinarian and tries to help the doctor succeed by being available to them for questions about clients or patients for a time after the sale.
Selling to a Successor
Occasionally, a solo practitioner attracts a new graduate or early-career veterinarian who has an interest in future ownership, and the doctor’s financial security allows them to be primarily a mentor for several years to ensure the practice’s ongoing success. Leaning in this way can help ensure their clients will remain loyal to the new owner. If that practice has up-to-date diagnostic equipment, strong policies and procedures, staff members that are open to change, and a reliable and robust stream of profit, it is more likely this business can be sold. Some retiring owners have encouraged these potential successors by gifting them 10% of the practice shares after each successive 12 months of employment until they have worked for five years, at which time they are given the opportunity to purchase the remaining 50% of shares. This arrangement allows the retiring doctor to know the clients and patients will continue to have care, his or her legacy will live on, a young veterinarian has been given a hand up into the career through mentoring and the gift of shares, and the young veterinarian has earned a multifaceted return for his or her years of dedication.
Solo equine practitioner Dorothee Gilmore, DVM, owns and operates Rivendell Veterinary Care, in Lisbon, New York. At 53, she describes her career as “The best job I can imagine.” By having a haul-in clinic, she has become much more efficient and sees about 50% of her appointments at her facility. This has contributed greatly to reducing her average work week to 40 hours. She employs two full-time and two part-time staff members whom she credits with making her practice run smoothly. While she loves her life as a horse doctor, she intends to move in retirement to the mid-coast of Maine and spend several months each winter in a warm place.
“I don’t want to die in my boots,” she says. “And if I can’t find someone to take over the practice, then I definitely can’t stay here because I’d still be Dr. Dorothee—I’d not be able to say ‘no’ when someone needed me.” While she hopes an early-career veterinarian will come along before she’s ready to slow down and transition to retirement, she still loves practice and doesn’t know when that day will come.
Take-Home Message
Exit strategies for solo practitioners do not always need to rely on a practice sale. Well-managed solo practices can produce robust profits that, if invested wisely on an ongoing basis, can yield excellent long-term gains. Some veterinarians simply harvest as much money from their work as they can over the course of their careers, then simply sell their equipment when they are ready to retire. As they age, some of these doctors begin to limit their practice to certain areas in which they have special competencies, and they reduce their client list to slow their growth and minimize the number of hours they work. In these practices, the veterinarian’s legacy remains in the memories of the clients they served.
Related Reading
- The Equine Practitioner’s Mid-Career Crunch
- Business Briefs: Selling a Solo Equine Practice
- The Business of Practice: Starting Your Own Equine Practice
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