{"id":78585,"date":"2025-10-01T00:00:28","date_gmt":"2025-10-01T04:00:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/todaysveterinarybusiness.com\/?p=78585"},"modified":"2025-09-23T15:07:02","modified_gmt":"2025-09-23T19:07:02","slug":"general-practice-creative-disruption-1025","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/navc.sitepreview.app\/todaysveterinarybusiness.com\/general-practice-creative-disruption-1025\/","title":{"rendered":"Make Secondary Care Second Nature"},"content":{"rendered":"

The scope of general practice has been shrinking for decades. Slowly, quietly and sometimes with just a shrug, we GPs have allowed it to dwindle. Expanding or re-expanding the scope of veterinary practice isn\u2019t just possible, it\u2019s also necessary. Why? Because when we stretch ourselves clinically, we improve access to care, open new opportunities for our teams, strengthen the financial health of our practices and (maybe most importantly) reignite our passion for our work. And let\u2019s not forget that one of the most significant contributors to burnout is a lack of challenge.<\/p>\n

What Is the Scope of Practice Anyway?<\/h3>\n

A quick refresher. The scope of practice is what you\u2019re legally allowed and professionally competent to do. Your state\u2019s legislature defines it in statute, your licensing board sets rules, and your training and experience provide the skills. Licensed DVMs and VMDs are the only individuals who can diagnose, prescribe, prognose and perform surgery. That\u2019s our lane. But under our supervision, with proper training, our teams can do just about everything else.<\/p>\n

There\u2019s no single cookie-cutter scope that applies to every GP or every practice. One clinician\u2019s bread-and-butter might be another\u2019s hard pass. That\u2019s OK. Scope is dynamic. It evolves with experience, confidence and continuing education. The real question isn\u2019t what\u2019s allowed but what\u2019s possible.<\/p>\n

In Praise of GPs<\/h3>\n

Full disclosure: I\u2019m biased. I love general practice and always have. GPs are the glue that holds our profession together.<\/a> GPs are adept at building relationships, making do with less and achieving the maximal result with often limited means. Hippocrates said, \u201cIt\u2019s more important to know the patient who has the disease than the disease the patient has.\u201d We\u2019re the ones who get the first call and deal with everything that follows. We see patients from birth to earth. We\u2019re nimble, we adapt, and we make a difference.<\/p>\n

Two-thirds of U.S. veterinarians are general practitioners. In human medicine? That number is closer to one-third. And here\u2019s the deal: More primary care means better health outcomes at lower costs. It\u2019s true in people and pets.<\/p>\n

I\u2019m not trying to throw shade on my specialist friends. I\u2019ve got immense respect for our colleagues in specialty care. They trained long and hard, and they bring invaluable expertise to the table. I\u2019m grateful for my ability to consult them and refer to them. But it\u2019s fair to ask this: Are GPs sometimes outsourcing cases we can handle ourselves? Several specialists have told me they\u2019d prefer that we not refer less complicated cases. They\u2019re even happy to coach us on how to keep those cases in-house.<\/p>\n

Why the Shrinking Scope?<\/h3>\n

Let\u2019s unpack things. Why has general practice narrowed its focus? First, the rise of specialization. When I graduated last century, we had about 2,000 boarded specialists. Today? North of 17,000. The ratio of specialists to GPs has tightened from about 1-to-20 to 1-to-10. Add to that an explosion in medical knowledge, rising client expectations, a fear of social media and state boards, and a lack of confidence.<\/p>\n

We\u2019ve also internalized some often-unhelpful messaging. Many of us were trained at referral teaching hospitals, where the default belief was, well, refer cases to them. Combine that with dwindling mentorship from retiring boomer-era GPs who came of age in a time when GPs, by necessity, did everything. It\u2019s no wonder we\u2019ve backed away from complex cases.<\/p>\n

The result? General practitioners are leaning hard into wellness care, preventive care, chronic disease management and first-line diagnoses. These are all worthy and necessary, but they\u2019re not the whole story. We can \u2014 and should \u2014 do more.<\/p>\n

Say Hello to Secondary Care<\/h3>\n

Between the familiar territory of primary care and the rarified air of tertiary care lies an exciting middle ground: secondary care. Let\u2019s break it down shown in the table below.<\/p>\n

\"secondary<\/p>\n

Now, here\u2019s the beauty of it all: GPs get first dibs on secondary care! It\u2019s ours to claim and is tailored to our interests, teams, skills and clients. You define what secondary care looks like in your practice. How cool is that?<\/p>\n

What\u2019s in Your Column?<\/h3>\n

If you\u2019re a GP, you don\u2019t need to do it all. But you can do more than you think. Here are a few ideas:<\/p>\n