PetSmart Charities expanded its educational arsenal with the recently released State of Pet Care Study, conducted in collaboration with Gallup [bit.ly/3Y4Puvr]. The 2,307-person sampling poll is a comprehensive examination of American pet owner behavior and attitudes toward veterinary care. Put differently: PetSmart Charities has provided the profession with a roadmap for opportunities to expand pet care in America and lower its costs when necessary. Every pet owner, veterinarian, veterinary technician, veterinary assistant, veterinary college dean and faculty member, and pet industry leader must study the survey and consider the implications. Let’s get started.
The Human-Animal Bond
Ninety-seven percent of people consider their pets to be family members. I could stop here and just explore the implications of that simple statistic. Would baby-boomer or Generation X families come close to that number back in the day? The short answer is no. My educated guess is that far fewer than 50% of those families (probably closer to 20%) would have considered their pets as family.
If pets are central to a family (not possessions of, but full-fledged members), what won’t people do to take care of their cats and dogs? Their level of commitment means people will devote whatever resources they can to make their pets comfortable, happy and engaged. Unfortunately, it’s a struggle for younger pet owners as they return to in-office work and have a young dog to manage at home.
How will the next generation of pet owners (the children of millennials and Gen Zers) behave when 70% grew up in households where dogs and cats were treated like family members?
Doesn’t all this comfort younger veterinarians and veterinary technicians looking down the road at career runways?
Straight Talk From the Experts
According to the study, 81% of pet owners view their veterinarian as a primary source of information on pet health care. Doesn’t that open the door for veterinary practices to develop everyone on their staff to help people conveniently learn about their pets and all the steps to keep a dog or cat healthy? Pet owners don’t want only pet care from veterinary practices; they also want information and advice they can trust and use at home.
Think about how far we’ve come from families with baby-boomer children who visited the veterinarian for one of three reasons: vaccines, post-accident care, or to put down a pet.
Leveraging the information source and expertise assigned to veterinary offices offers huge commercial opportunities of real value to pet owners.
The Affordability Factor
PetSmart Charities also found that 65% of people will spend up to $1,000 to save a pet’s life (and half will spend more). It makes financial sense for veterinary practices to understand and plan for the $1,000 threshold for emergency or last-stage care. A major theme of the survey is the desire of pet owners to be provided financial alternatives and cost projections they can trust when evaluating how to handle a pet’s needed medical care.
That section of the State of Pet Care Study leads to the heart of the report and these findings:
- 52% of pet owners declined recommended veterinary care within the past year, and 37% declined care recommendations from veterinarians after visiting a clinic. What was the common reason? Seventy-one percent of this cohort cited financial costs or inabilities. Even 1 in 3 pet owners with annual incomes over $90,000 declined care because of the expense. And here’s where it gets interesting. Of pet owners who declined care, 73% indicated they were never presented with a lower-cost option or the opportunity to pay over an installment period, such as one year.
- 64% responded that a one-year payment plan would make all the difference. Pet owners want to take care of their family members. They’ll pay what a veterinarian charges most of the time, but many need options other than full payment at the time of a procedure or visit. Think of all the payment options human health care provides. It rarely boils down to cash on the barrelhead. Yet, veterinary practices haven’t valued or perhaps considered payment plans that make costs affordable and don’t necessarily require lowering prices. For many pet owners without credit cards (or affordable credit cards), an in-house plan could dramatically improve the chance they agree to recommended care.
What Now?
It might sound simplistic to suggest that access to veterinary care for many American pet owners could be solved with a relatively short-term payment plan, but the PetSmart Charities study suggests just that. Surely, the American financial engineering juggernaut can design models for pet care. Perhaps the veterinary practices owned by private equity firms could launch the first steps, given the financial expertise and resources underpinning the firms.
As you may expect from your author, there are implications or suggestions from the PetSmart Charities survey that highlight the demand for telemedicine services as viable and cost-efficient. Thirty-seven percent of the sample population challenged by barriers to accessing care would enjoy a telemedicine option, and 38% indicated that in-home visits would make a difference. New companies, like Hound’s Homelove, are stepping into the marketplace to provide in-home services — alternatives that will be welcomed.
It’s also obvious that the shortage of veterinarians and veterinary technicians drives part of the economic challenge. Many practices are short-staffed, and it shouldn’t surprise anyone that the problem impacts pricing. Former University of Florida dean Dr. James Lloyd (the rare Ph.D. in economics and DVM) recently reminded us that the laws of supply and demand also apply to veterinary services [go.navc.com/invisible-hand-TVB]. More veterinarians would provide practices with more tools to meet the needs of current and potential clients. Ultimately, expanding the workforce lowers costs and lessens the burnout factor.
Access to care cannot be solved wholesale, but it can be solved one by one in communities and care facilities across the United States. Unlike human health care, pet health care will never include a national payment mechanism or insurance model (at least soon) to address access to care challenges. The veterinary industry is digging deeper into mechanisms to address access to care and, in some cases, the financial engineering required to meet consumer demand.
PetSmart Charities deserves deep thanks from pet owners and care providers for laying bare the underlying facts. Please take the time to read the report, share it with colleagues and join the conversation to take practical steps to address the accessible care problem.
EDITOR’S NOTE
Katie Jarl, the vice president for government relations at Animal Policy Group, and Caitlin Cushing, the organization’s general counsel, contributed to this report.
ANOTHER FACT
According to the PetSmart Charities study, “Interest-free payment plans would significantly increase most pet parents’ cost ceilings.”