Pet-Specific Care for the Veterinary Team. Группа авторов

This is also a great time to promote pet health insurance as one way of “flattening the curve” when it comes to veterinary expenditures (see 10.16 Pet Health Insurance). If done correctly, these strategies can be profitable for the practice, as well as convenient for pet owners.

      In times of turmoil, people often safeguard their cash reserves and postpone everything that is not considered essential. In an emergency situation, that might also necessitate postponing things that are actually essential, including rent, mortgage, groceries, and even healthcare. Because veterinary care is often considered a discretionary expense, it can become a low priority if there is not a system in place to help ensure funding for such care.

      If at all possible, this is a time to consider the best ways to help pet owners manage their financial insecurity around pet expenditures. This can be done by recommending pet health insurance, if feasible, and also by considering payment plans (also known as wellness or concierge plans), which offer established fees charged intermittently (often monthly) for a defined basket of services. As mentioned previously, pet health insurance helps “flatten the curve” when it comes to unanticipated expenses, while payment plans “smooth the curve” for anticipated expenses (vaccines, parasite control, etc.). Both allow pet owners to budget more effectively for veterinary care without having to contend with periodic “spikes” in expenditures. Because most consumers will be anxious about pet care expenses, this can help pet owners plan for needed care without adversely affecting practices. If positioned correctly, both insurance and payment plans can be profitable for veterinary hospitals and a convenient and anxiety‐reducing approach for pet owners.

      1.6.7 Retail Considerations

      If your clients were not used to making online purchases before the pandemic, that has likely changed, and they have now established a new comfort level for dealing with e‐commerce and home delivery. Expect that this will continue, and many clients will also be considering and researching making online purchases for their pet supplies, foods, and medications.

      This is the time to consolidate and promote online retail, as this is not only convenient for your clients but increases the safety of your staff as well (see 9.10 Dispensing and Prescribing). Veterinary hospitals might consider aligning with an online veterinary pharmacy and directing clients toward such purchases. It is important that veterinary practices price their products competitively, so clients can make a seamless transition to online purchasing without having to price shop for better deals elsewhere. It is possible for veterinary hospitals to do this profitably, because with online pharmacies and retailers there are no inventory costs for the practice. While it might seem that veterinary hospitals could stock and dispense products and keep a larger share of the revenue, it can actually be more satisfying to earn a profit margin without having to deal with all the costs of maintaining inventory.

      In some countries, veterinary medicine still involves actual cash exchange, but following a pandemic expect that most customers will prefer cashless transactions, and even more likely contactless transactions, where there is not even the handling of credit or debit cards, or even receipts. It is important to consider payment options carefully, and this type of retail experience is likely to continue long into the future.

      1.6.8 Vendor Relationships

      Economic shocks can be extremely challenging, but they also provide opportunities to improve operations, and this is very true of our relationships with vendors. Rather than treat vendor visits as intrusions and assigning front office teams as gatekeepers, this is a great time to establish systems for prescheduling vendor visits (or even televisits), streamlining inventory to just those products needed, and leveraging vendor relationships to bring the most value to clients, the hospital team, and the hospital itself. This does not necessarily always favor the vendor with the lowest price, since value can be conveyed in other ways such as hospital support, continuing education, expedited delivery, and prioritization when supplies are in high demand but short supply.

As new products become available, rather than sales representatives visiting with any staff member who might be available, they can be requested to provide a packet of information to a formulary evaluation committee, in charge of making recommendations for what might be included in inventory. In general, if a product is recommended to be included in the hospital formulary, then the committee should also recommend which product in the same class of medications should be removed from the formulary, or only made available through the hospital's online pharmacy. If the committee evaluates a product and finds that it is not suitable to be included in the practice formulary, those reasons should be recorded and conveyed to the hospital staff so the product does not need to be reevaluated every time a representative makes a sales call.

      1.6.9 Changing Business Models

      With every new economic shock comes opportunities for improving the veterinary business model to be more responsive to current market pressures. Following the most recent pandemic, some of the most acute problems to be addressed include embracing pet‐specific care so that clients better understand the lifelong needs of their pets without requiring prompting by in‐hospital visits; making it easier for virtual care to be delivered to clients; facilitating e‐commerce and home delivery; and constructing a more profitable business model better able to withstand such economic shocks. Such crises should also convince practice owners of the importance of financial metrics and dashboards that allow clinics to be resilient and thrive despite challenging events. Veterinary care may be an essential service, but all veterinary practices are not recession proof.

      Pet‐specific care allows clients to understand the lifelong needs of their pets in advance, and to financially prepare for dealing with them (see 1.2 Providing a Lifetime of Care). Even in the case of economic shocks, clients can appreciate where care needs to restart when situations normalize, what is to be prioritized, and discussions to be had with the veterinary team either virtually or in person. There is no need to wait for regular appointments to resume before instituting appropriate care.

TAKE‐AWAYS

       Economic shocks tend to have an impact on consumer behavior long after the actual shock has concluded.

       Consumer spending habits are often dramatically changed by an economic shock, and tend to persist as long as individuals feel vulnerable.

       It should be expected that clients will have a heightened sensitivity to hygiene following a pandemic, and will be concerned for their own health and that of their family.

       Hospital protocols need to change to reflect evidence‐based standards of care, including ways to keep everyone in the hospital safe.

       Clients are likely to be receptive to services that allow them to interact with the hospital remotely, including telehealth, online purchasing, and home delivery.

MISCELLANEOUS

      1.6.10 Cautions

      Economic shocks are difficult to predict, but often have profound effects that last long after the precipitating event has concluded. Because most shocks are not anticipated, it is difficult for veterinary teams to be completely prepared from one crisis to the next. Each crisis tends to provide its own lessons for the future, and veterinary practices need to consistently adapt to remain relevant and vital.

Recommended Reading

      1 Ackerman, L. (2019). Why should veterinarians consider implementing virtual care? EC Veterinary Science 4 (4): 259–261.

      2 Ackerman,