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When you’re running a veterinary hospital, it’s easy for the day-to-day clinical work to take the spotlight. But behind the scenes, financial accuracy plays a critical role in the long-term success and health of the business. One of the most important, and often overlooked, pieces of this financial puzzle is how revenue codes in your Practice Information Management System (PIMS) are set up.

If your revenue codes aren’t properly aligned with the AAHA Chart of Accounts, you’re likely flying blind when it comes to interpreting your P&L. That misalignment can lead to confusion, incomplete reporting, and missed opportunities for growth.

The AAHA Chart of Accounts was developed specifically for veterinary practices. It’s a standardized framework that gives structure and clarity to financial reporting, making it possible to understand how your business is performing in key areas. But to truly benefit from it, your PIMS system needs to reflect that same structure. If the services you provide and the revenue, they generate aren’t categorized correctly in your PIMS, the financial data you get out, particularly your profit and loss statements, won’t tell the full story.

Here’s why that matters: when revenue codes aren’t mapped accurately, services can be lumped into the wrong categories. You might see dental procedures bundled in with surgery, or pharmacy revenue grouped with general medical services. And when that happens, you lose visibility. You can’t track what’s growing or shrinking. You can’t easily identify which parts of the practice are thriving and which need attention. This lack of clarity makes it difficult to make informed business decisions or set meaningful goals.

It also becomes nearly impossible to benchmark your hospital’s performance against industry standards. Most veterinary benchmarks, whether they come from AAHA, AVMA, or financial consultants, are based on practices that use the AAHA Chart of Accounts. If your revenue isn’t aligned with that structure, you’re not comparing apples to apples. You lose the ability to evaluate whether your surgery department is underperforming or if your wellness plans contribute enough to the bottom line.

The effects of misalignment don’t stop at revenue. When revenue is miscoded, it can throw off other financial metrics, like cost of goods sold, department margins, and even doctor production reporting. Forecasting becomes less reliable, budgets lose their meaning, and KPIs become skewed.

Another area where proper setup is critical is with group codes in your PIMS. Group codes are often used to bundle procedures with related services and inventory items. For example, a spay surgery might include the surgical procedure, anesthesia, IV fluids, injectable medications, and post-op pain meds. If those group codes aren’t built correctly, you risk two major problems: missing charges entirely or capturing them in the wrong revenue categories.

From a financial standpoint, that leads to distorted revenue and cost tracking. If inventory items like pharmaceuticals or surgical supplies aren’t automatically pulled when a procedure is invoiced, you’re underreporting revenue and COGS. And if the services are tied to incorrect AAHA categories, even your accurate charges are misrepresented on your P&L.

Properly built group codes ensure that every part of the procedure is captured and allocated correctly—both in clinical workflow and in financial reporting. This creates consistency, reduces missed charges, and aligns the clinical side of the practice with the business side.

The good news is that this is fixable. Conducting a revenue code audit in your PIMS is a great first step. This means taking a close look at your existing codes, identifying which AAHA revenue category each should roll into, reviewing group code structures, removing duplicates, and making sure everyone on your team understands how and when to use each code. Once your revenue structure is aligned, your financials will become a much more powerful tool. Your P&L will start to reflect the real story of your hospital, helping you make better decisions and plan with more confidence.

At the end of the day, clean and consistent revenue coding isn’t just about tidy bookkeeping; it’s about giving your practice the clarity and control it needs to grow. If your numbers aren’t telling you what you need to know, we’re here to help you get them back on track.

Written by Meghan Bingham, CVPM