Getting Patients Back in the Practice

What cost-savings opportunities can you uncover for veterinarians looking to provide a range of treatment options for pet owners?

Like most of us who work in the animal health field, I was born loving animals and can’t imagine not having at least one furry, four-legged creature in my life. A life shared with pets comes with both great rewards and great responsibility – including financial responsibility. The last couple of years, prices have continued to climb, and everything seems more expensive.

For purposes of this column, I gritted my teeth and decided to see just how much more I’m really paying for a couple of items that I knew have gone up. The 3.5-pound tub of parrot food I get for my cockatoo every month has jumped almost 30% in less than three years, from $29.50 to a whopping $38! In just two years, I discovered the cat’s food has shrunk from an 8 pound to a 7-pound bag, while taking a $6 price jump. Ignorance was bliss!

I can grumble about the higher cost (and all that pricey food on the bottom of the bird cage) but the sad fact is that rising costs coupled with unexpected life events can create a financial burden for many pet owners to the point that they can’t afford to provide the proper care their animals need.

According to the American Veterinary Medical Association’s (AVMA) statistics, practice revenue increased an average of 5.7% from August 2021 through August 2023, but the number of client visits fell 2.7% during the same time. That’s an indication that pet owners are increasingly sensitive to the rising cost of vet care and delaying visits to the veterinarian. That trend coincides with lapsed visits, which are defined as patients who haven’t been to a vet clinic in 14 to 18 months. Lapsing patients increased significantly between January 2020 through July 2023. No surprise that 19% of pet owners strongly agreed with the statement, “I plan to go the veterinarian less over the next 12 months to save money,” in a survey of pet owners conducted by Cleveland Research Company last year.

No doubt several of your clinics are experiencing similar issues of pet owners who are choosing to delay treatment or putting off preventive care. Asking if they’re seeing lapses in appointments or hearing price objections from their customers gives you the opportunity to discuss ideas and make recommendations to help get those clients back in the practice, increase revenue, and most of all, improve patient health and well-being.

Addressing affordability

In this issue, you’ll read about “spectrum of care,” a term that’s only recently been defined as the wide range of care options that veterinarians can provide. The spectrum of care concept addresses the growing problem of affordability of veterinary care by providing a broad range of treatment and care options while remaining responsive to a client’s expectations and financial limitations. Ideally, veterinarians should be able to tailor a variety of high-quality, evidence-based care options that meet the needs of both the pet and pet owner. Spectrum of care doesn’t mean substandard care or less successful treatment options, but instead allows a veterinary practice to serve an economically diverse clientele.

So how much are pet owners spending on their pets? Data from a GOBankingRates survey showed that just over 70% of Americans spent from $600 to $1,200 on their pets in 2023. Considering the rising cost of pet food, and the fact that about half of those respondents spent the lower end of the range, this may mean that veterinary visits are coming up short.

Wellness plans are one option clinics can offer that allow pet owners to budget for the cost of routine and preventive care more easily. These plans can include complete physical exams, office visits, vaccines, deworming, and routine lab tests. They can be tailored based on the type or the age of the pet. A first-year wellness plan might include the spay or neuter surgery for young pets; mature pet plans could include dental care; or laser therapy treatments for arthritic seniors, for example. Some clients opt for a one-time payment for the year, but many clinics offer an affordable monthly fee. Either way, wellness plans place an emphasis on preventive care – always less expensive than treating a medical disease or condition – and ensure regular patient visits and the opportunity to build stronger bonds with pet owners. Clinics should be touting their benefits during appointments, on their website and social media sites!

Similarly, you can help your clinics reduce expenses by taking advantage of promotions that “lock in” their price on high-volume items, take advantage of free goods, or offer rebates. Asking how many of their patients are enrolled in a wellness plan makes it easier to project the minimum amount of those products they’ll need and to set re-order points. Providing price comparisons between name-brand and generic products gives them more cost-saving options.

Dentals have become a costly procedure that may be beyond the financial limitations of many pet owners. Since over 70% of cats and 80% of dogs over age 3 have some form of periodontal disease, practices that emphasize the importance of daily oral care can improve the health of animals and save their owners considerable expense. Using in-home dental care products from pastes and tooth wipes to user-friendly products like gels, sprays, water additives and chews are an effective and economical way that pet owners can improve their pet’s health.

According to Compassion Animal Project (CAP), 19 million pets are living with families below the poverty line and that two-thirds of all pets euthanized are for economic reasons. The most common reasons for rehoming, surrendering and euthanizing pets are the high cost of pet care and pet food. These sobering statistics cause heartbreak for pet owners and contribute to compassion fatigue in the animal health profession. Initiatives like the spectrum of care concept can offer a wide range of treatments for pet owners across the socio-economic spectrum. Your knowledge of treatment and product options and cost-saving opportunities will help your customers provide excellent care for every patient.

Dawn Singleton-Olson has more than 25 years of experience in the animal health industry, including distributor sales, manufacturing, practice management and as a zoo supervisor. She is a volunteer, fundraiser and board trustee for several humane organizations and the Omaha (Neb.) Police Mounted Patrol.

Photo credit

istockphoto.com/Rudzhan Nagiev