VetWatch Data: A Return to Revenue?

Monitoring veterinary market trends amid COVID with VetWatch.

Are we seeing a bounce back from veterinary practices? There’s definitely an improvement, according to data collected by VetWatch. A consortium of leading animal health distributors has partnered with Animalytix, the North American Veterinary Community, Greenline Pet, and Circa Healthcare to bring the latest information about the impact of the pandemic in real-time, and on both a local and national level. The following are some of the latest insights gleaned from VetWatch data. For the most up-to-date information, visit vetwatch.com.

May 20: Widespread adoption of alternate client service models

VetWatch observed on May 20 that alternative client service models appeared to be in widespread use to accommodate patients’ needs and ensuring the safety of staff and clients. “Only 6% of respondents say that they are allowing normal client access into their physical plant while more than 80% report moving exclusively to a curbside service or drop off patient experience. Currently, more than 17% report reducing the number of clients/pets within the building at one time. Other practical adaptations, including telemedicine, have been referenced by 13% of respondents as additional distancing tools.”

May 20: Metro area practices see bigger hit during the pandemic than rural practices, data shows

Practices in large metropolitan areas are taking a bigger hit during the pandemic while practices in rural areas are faring better, even posting growth in some cases, new data shows. Total revenue is generally down in major metropolitan areas, particularly Boston. The city has seen a 16.5% decline in year-to-date revenue compared with last year. That said, Phoenix has actually seen 6% growth, while Seattle has had 4.8% growth.

May 27: Challenges accessing personal protective equipment

“It appears that the vast majority of practices are having to do more with less when it comes to the issue of supplies,” VetWatch said based on compiled data through May 27, 2020. Only 1 in 4 survey respondents report they can access all necessary supplies readily. Conversely, more than 64% of respondents report challenges accessing personal protective equipment including surgical caps, masks, and gowns.

“Obviously, this creates operational stresses in ensuring staff are adequately protected while in the workplace. Now, as many states begin to lift restrictions and practices in many affected areas resume full-service capabilities, it will be interesting to see if this opening up creates any secondary stressors on availability or if supplies have been fully restored. Thankfully, with demands on human hospitals far less than anticipated in most areas, these limitations in the supply chain will hopefully resolve over time and become one less challenge practices have to deal with during the COVID experience.”

June 4: Social distancing measures still the driver

As of June 4 data, it appeared that social distancing measures were still driving operational procedures as practices maneuver to accommodate patients’ needs and ensure the safety of their staff and clients. Less than 6% of respondents said that they were allowing normal client access into their physical plant, while 17.5% report reducing the number of clients/pets within the building at one time. Almost 80% report moving exclusively to a curbside service or drop off patient experience. Other practical adaptations, including telemedicine, have been referenced by almost 12% of respondents as additional distancing tools.

“Interestingly, these statistics are relatively unchanged since first reported in early May,” VetWatch said in its weekly commentary. “As states and communities continue to open up in the coming months and weeks, it will be interesting to follow these operational decisions and see which are temporary fixes to the current challenges and which might become integrated into a new way of serving patients and their owners.”

June 6: Monitoring the impact of protests in markets

Continued protesting dominated the news the week of June 1. In many markets, the violence was replaced by more peaceful protesting. Reporting on 20 markets heavily impacted by the protests reflected mixed results, with 50% below 2019 revenue performance. The Boston, MA and Lincoln, NE market zones each struggled with double-digit declines in YTD revenues and are among the most negatively impacted of any markets. Despite the current civil unrest, 19 of the 20 markets featured in this sample experienced improvements in their revenue positions compared to the prior week, suggesting the recovery efforts were continuing to progress. The Cleveland, OH and Minneapolis, MN market zones have met their “Return to Revenue” threshold, reaching or exceeding total year to date revenues as compared to 2019 results. An additional dozen market zones join these two across the country in meeting or surpassing this threshold the past week, including; Allentown, PA, Bangor, ME, Baton Rouge, LA, Colorado Springs, CO, Eugene, OR, Milwaukee, WI, Moline, IL, Raleigh-Durham, NC, Redding, CA, Springfield, IL, Tampa-St. Petersburg, FL, and Tucson, AZ.

June 17: Increase in online purchases of pet products

M/A/R/C Research has completed two sets of stratified surveys with 1,000 U.S. pet owners to assess the impact of the COVID-19 on certain pet-related behaviors. The most recent study indicates purchasing behavior has been significantly impacted by initial stay-at-home orders, with 32% of pet owners denoting increased levels of online purchasing for pet products. These consumers indicated a strong preference for the online option, with 83% indicating a plan to continue their online purchasing practices even after retail and commercial conditions return to normal. An analysis of purchasing behaviors month to month was mixed across the two surveys with pet nutrition products showing strong growth in both periods while flea, tick, heartworm, and certain other chronic medications showed a sharp downturn in the May results, presumably due to a return to traditional veterinary sourcing options.

June 24: More markets move into positive territory

Practices in Atlanta moved into positive territory this week, joining major market zones like Denver, Houston, and Phoenix, among others posting net YTD revenues ahead of 2019 results. Market zones such as Boston, Detroit, and Baltimore continue to struggle with revenues below 2019 levels. An additional eight market zones have met or surpassed the “Return to Revenue” threshold this past week, including; Asheville, NC, Columbia, SC, Dalton, GA, Grand Junction, CO, Grand Rapids, MI, Omaha, NE Santa Rosa, CA and St. Joseph, MO. The “Return to Revenue”  threshold has been met by 65% or 138 of 213 market zones reported by Greenline Pet year to date. Overall, 200 of 213 reporting zones posted net revenue growth for the week vs the year prior week. These results surpass last week’s performance to become the strongest reporting period since the inception of the COVID-19 outbreak in mid-March.