Innovation Station

Publicize your telehealth service often and in a variety of ways. Client testimonials carry a lot of weight.

As a veterinarian who helps practices integrate telehealth into their daily workflows, I understand what works and what doesn’t. When I ask clinic owners about the challenges they faced in starting a telehealth program, I often get the same answer: “I wish I had started marketing it months before I started providing it.” Paying for […]

Thanks to technology and the power of artificial intelligence, more of yesterday’s referral patients can be diagnosed at today’s primary care practices.

The son of a veterinarian, I grew up in a clinic and, like many of my colleagues, knew from my earliest memory that I would become a veterinarian. My recollection of companion animal practice revolves around large shifts in the industry. I remember hearing the word “parvovirus” in the late 1970s, when I was a […]

Veterinary telemedicine providers aren’t doing enough to protect themselves and their clients from hackers.

Are you considering implementing or expanding veterinary telemedicine? Are you concerned about the security of the information transmitted back and forth? You should be. Cybercrime is on the rise in incidence, severity and sophistication. Stories about ransomware continuously dominate headlines. Health care is increasingly at risk of cyberattacks that can cause significant losses, both operationally […]

How we train residents isn’t sustainable. Online learning and greater collaboration between universities and private practice are among the solutions.

I followed a relatively typical path to becoming a veterinary ophthalmologist. I graduated from an accredited veterinary school, matched and completed a one-year rotating internship at an academic institution, and then did a two-year private practice ophthalmology residency alongside dedicated board-certified mentors. I attended MD program lectures and rounds, spent a month here and there […]

We know (or think we know) where veterinary medicine is headed over the next decade. Let’s prepare for and enjoy the ride.

I have been around long enough to be wary about futurists, the people who all too often predict a future that looks pretty much like today, only more so. None of these futurists seem to be able to see around corners or alert us to unanticipated dangers. Too bad the futurists of 1750 didn’t understand […]

Robot team members? Expanded use of artificial intelligence in veterinary education and diagnostics? Get ready.

Imagine a pet owner enters a veterinarian’s office and is greeted by a 5-foot-tall robot that provides limited but flawless reception services. Given audible instructions, the client and his pet enter a designated exam room. There, a human veterinary nurse performs hands-on procedures like a dental exam and blood draw. She then activates another robot […]

Communicating with clients and seeing patients remotely has never been easier.

It was 2015 and a woman driving a Toyota Corolla pulled into the parking lot of Monticello Animal Hospital in Shawnee, Kansas. Practice owner Crista Wallis, DVM, watched as the woman got out of the driver’s seat, pulled three wooden planks out of the trunk, opened the rear passenger door, erected a ramp to the […]

Demand for virtual care is soaring. The ever-expanding field of teleconsulting and telemedicine has options galore for any size practice. You just need to investigate and choose a partner.

Is your veterinary practice one of the estimated 32% that use some form of virtual care? If you joined the crowd due to the COVID-19 pandemic, you’re not alone — telehealth platform use skyrocketed once social distancing arrived and clinics scrambled to take care of pets while keeping their owners six feet away. But maybe, […]

Forced to pivot because of COVID-19, the profession learned more lessons about telemedicine. The pandemic exposed clinics and clients to pet-only visits and could lead to the rebranding of relief work.

It’s anything but business as usual in the veterinary profession. Over the past couple of months and likely for the next several months, practices have adapted to a world that looks very different. While each day brought surprises and challenges, there is a sense that practices have implemented protocols, adjusted hours and staffing, and begun […]

Harnessing a select group of clients can help you meet the needs of the next generation and not alienate long-time pet owners.

I received two emails less than 24 hours apart from two very different veterinary clients. One raved about how excited she was about the new program her veterinarian had implemented that would give her 5% off the invoice at each visit. She had gotten a new puppy, the costs were adding up and the discount […]