Veterinary Coalition to Target Drop in Client Visits DVM 360
A couple of quotes from the article: "At presstime, a planning meeting is slated for November to bring leaders in practice and industry together in an attempt to carve out a series of strategies to help reverse a trend of dwindling client visits. " "Heartworm prevention represents a huge opportunity for practitioners, Payne says, especially if the profession can improve compliance rates and convert pet owners who are not currently giving heartworm preventives to their pets. In fact, he believes a wholesale push could offset losses from flea and tick product revenue for practices. " |
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Interesting article.  Are you seeing this as anything in particular for concern? My take is from the viewpoint of the economy affecting all businesses, so why should the vet clinics expect themselves to be exempt? In my area, we are seeing more people taking their (pet) animals into the vet. We are a smaller, mostly rural area. People who were doing no to little vet care of "nonessential" pets are getting caught up to the country in general. (Farm background - the vet care went to the essential livestock, who were the income, not the extra pets..) The practice used to be primarily large animal, where now the small animal business is hugely more of the income the practice generates. I can see their marketing concerns, from the ads that encourage owners to bypass the vet to purchase products (fles/tick, HW meds) from the larger companies. But in a free enterprise system, that is what is going to happen. If there is no customer loyalty established, people will go for the $$ savings. I don't know how huge that is, as we don't use the marketed chemicals on our dogs, and the same for most of our dog showing and competing friends. |
| Our vet is reluctant to do a three-year rabies vaccination for this very reason. Most people will not bring their pets in for wellness exams, heartworm testing/prevention, etc., on a yearly basis. People are tending to buy meds online, although my vet's prices are very comparable. Actually from the crowded waiting room at our vet you couldn't tell business was down for them at all. |
Quote: Our vet is reluctant to do a three-year rabies vaccination for this very reason. Yeah, I know where you're coming from on this... there are some people who don't provide the basic care... vets, rescues too, are discouraged by this because some things are preventable. But vets should never overlook the "first do no harm" objective and over-vaccinate pets just to get people into the office for other services... no matter how important they may be. If the immune system is messed up due to over-vaccinating, it defeats the purpose of any wellness exam. |
got sheep wrote: Interesting article. Are you seeing this as anything in particular for concern? Personally, I'm always concerned when there are indications that the veterinary community may try to make up for financial losses by promoting other products or procedures. |
| I read the article on another site. Bottomline, this is a business and they have bills to pay, just like the rest of us. I like the emphasis on prevention of problems, which is also the goal of human medicine (finally). Heartworms are a significant issue in my area. We took in a dog from a friend of a family member. The dog had to be treated for heartworm. So I support the push for prevention, at least here. |
| When I took Archie in to diagnose his limping, it cost nearly $1K for radiograph and biopsy and blood work. I am grateful I could do it, but it meant giving up something pretty important in exchange. We're lucky that my job and my husband's job are both fairly secure, although next year we will see a temporary (but significant) decrease in income. I can only imagine what other people do, who have had to deal with lay offs or have to make do with very pieced together jobs, which is what my kids are all doing right now. One graduates in Dec. and another graduates next June. |
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