I must report that I hoard reports on the business of veterinary medicine. I’ve saved more than 100 industry studies, benchmark publications and data guides to my desktop, all no more than a few years old. Among my favorite suppliers are the American Veterinary Medical Association — thank you, Veterinary Economics Division — Packaged Facts, the American Association of Veterinary Medical Colleges, the North American Pet Health Insurance Association, and companies like Synchrony, iVET360, Mars Veterinary Health and Banfield Pet Hospital.
When I want to double-check a fact, I open my “Vet Studies” folder. When I want to share something with readers alongside an article, I dive into the stash of PDFs and a handful of Word documents. (See the “Mistaken Beliefs” sidebar on Page 63 for an example.)
I try not to keep all those resources to myself, as valuable as they are. So, I’d like to highlight a few statistics and points of emphasis that jumped out over the past few months.
- According to a Companion Animal Health survey, “69% of veterinary clinics are interested in prescribing less pain medication.”
- iVET360’s 2022 Veterinary Industry Benchmark Report found that “One unfortunate trend we saw in the breakdown of administrative costs was a significant decrease in spending on marketing. We get it: With more clients than you know what to do with, who needs to advertise? However …”
- A paper authored by Dr. James Lloyd on behalf of Mars Veterinary Health noted that “Since at least 2014, approximately 20% of U.S. veterinarians every year have expressed a desire to work fewer hours per week, even if it meant a lower level of compensation.”
- The latest COVID-19 Pulse Study by the American Pet Products Association contained this bullet point: “The percentage of pet owners purchasing medication for their pet from the veterinarian rose significantly, from 28% to 37%.”
I could go on and on. If you have a report you’d like to share, I’ll take it! You may email me at kniedziela@navc.com.