Price of vet care what's being done

[Kflowers]

Elizabeth Warren Targets Private Equity Firm Buying Veterinary Offices (rollingstone.com)

"In a press release, Warren and Blumenthal write, “Veterinarians at private equity-owned practices have reported being overworked and pressured to upsell patients on expensive tests and procedures. At some practices, corporate managers require clinicians to meet demanding quotas for certain procedures, tying their income to the amount of revenue that they generate.”

They add, “Private equity firms have also raised the cost of veterinary services, exploiting consumers’ love for their pets to make a profit. Since 2014, prices for veterinary services have risen by 60 percent, with prices well over $300 per visit.”

 

[di and bob]

I wouldn't doubt it a bit. The problem is, EVERYTHING has gone up! A lot tied to the price of gas and diesel shipping everything. I am sure the vets are having price increases on help, products, and tests. The best thing to do is shop around for a good, hometown vet. they are hard to find......

 

[neely]

I think more than ever we have to be an informed consumer and that includes veterinary care. By that I mean asking the vet questions and doing your own research to better understand the options for your pet. I'm willing to pay more for a vet I trust who answers my questions, spends time with my pet so I don't feel rushed, returns my calls, is knowledgeable and concerned about my pet's health.

 

[Alldara]

I think more than ever we have to be an informed consumer and that includes veterinary care. By that I mean asking the vet questions and doing your own research to better understand the options for your pet. I'm willing to pay more for a vet I trust who answers my questions, spends time with my pet so I don't feel rushed, returns my calls, is knowledgeable and concerned about my pet's health.

Problem is "do your own research" is becoming increasingly difficult.

Google became a personalized search algorithm and many search engines followed suit.

Now we have the AI search engines that quote things like Reddit posts and say dangerous things.

We add that most people dont know how to vet sources to begin with and "do your own research" is increasingly becoming a recipe for disaster....

 

[Kflowers]

I think a starting point for research is to discover what company now owns the vet clinic of choice. For clinics that are now owned by corporations and hedge funds, the new owner will not be the vet who owned the clinic before it was sold. Then keep an eye on the profits declared by the company and the raises given to company officers. Just as a starting point.

 

[artiemom]

Thank you for this thread. I just did some research on these companies. There are a few near me.
One is a hospital, which I had taken Artie to, and vowed to never visit them again-- it was like a revolving door. They seemed to 'specialize' in euthanasia. While waiting for the Vet, which was usually an hour or more wait, I sat and watched the incoming 'emergencies'. So many people just came in to 'euthanize'. It was really ridiculous.

With Artie's diagnosis of Megacolon and IBD; I asked the specialist about life span. I was bluntly told:
"When you get tired of dealing with this."--- point blank. Left and never returned.

There are a couple of "emergency' clinics around me. I have heard good things about them, but also their prices are exorbitant. Probably even more than going into Boston, to Angell Animal Medical Center; which is where I was taking Geoffrey.

I know the local Vet I was using, sold his practice and it is impossible to get an 'add on' appointment. They re alswyad cutting their hours, depending on availability of Vets. It is kind of ridiculous to adequately manage a practice and cut evening hours and Saturday hours, on a whim. Yet, they are always busy... Lack of Veterinarians is really a problem.

 

[neely]

Problem is "do your own research" is becoming increasingly difficult.

Yes, I agree and AI is definitely becoming a problem but I think K Kflowers was on to something when they said a starting point is to discover what company owns the vet clinic of your choice.

 

[fionasmom]

Both my dog and cat vet, along with the specialty/ER that I use have been bought by VCA and AmeriVets. It is hard to get appointments, especially at the VCA cat vet, but she is a good vet and very honest. The corporate policies, such as not providing any service during a first appointment (i.e. if a cat needs to be neutered, you will have to return for a second appointment after the "meet and greet" one), are clearly designed to make money. I was able to fight that one with Rikki by pointing out that now that they had met him they might as well just neuter him, but this was with a very long time vet.

I question all tests/procedures. If they only provide anecdotal information or information upon which I will never continue to provide extended care, I don't do them. Having said that, the prices have definitely climbed up.

My avatar, Lily, has miliary dermatitis which seems to be improving after three visits, but we are still not out of the woods. Overall bill so far is about $900 for a skin condition. Fortunately, we have insurance but that does not solve the overall problem.

Most people are going to just accept the AI responses that pop up. It is possible to disable them, or at least PC Magazine has pointed out that it is, but I just go to my own sites that I trust like Cornell University.

 

[Kflowers]

A bit more for today
"Southern Veterinary Partners, based in Birmingham, Alabama, has more than 400 practices, while Mission Veterinary Partners, based in Southfield, Michigan, has more than 330, according to their respective websites. The private equity firm Shore Capital Partners is a major investor in both.

A combined company with more than 730 practices would rank high in size among corporate consolidators operating in the U.S. The largest is Mars Inc., with more than 2,000 practices under the brands Banfield, VCA and BluePearl. Other large players include National Veterinary Associates, Vetcor and Thrive, which own more than 1,400, 880 and 380 practices, respectively, according to their websites."

Veterinary chains Mission, Southern plan merger - News - VIN

 

[Kflowers]

This isn't much, but most things in the US start with a petition, which gains awareness more than the demanded action.

Sponsor: The Animal Rescue Site
Protect the quality of care pets deserve and ensure veterinarians can focus on what truly matters: the well-being of our animals.

https://theanimalrescuesite.greatergood.com/clicktogive/ars/petition/private-equity-veterinarians?

 

[Meowmee]

Even many of the ones, especially the er/ speciality places, that aren't the newer conglomerations here all still have the same issues and have had for years- charging exorbitant prices knowing people will do anything to save their cats/ dogs etc.

But the newer ones are very dangerous because they endanger the cat/ dog in trying to force more visits/ income etc. in order to receive chronic care rx etc. the same is done in people medicine now.

Luckily I have found a place for our regular dvm that is more old school, which I have actually used on and off for a while, which doesn’t follow these policies and which caters to outdoor and former outdoor cats as well as regular kitties. They can’t do more advanced things though, so it will be a problem if someone needs something done that they can’t do. At least the dvm we see is more old school.

I am not a fan of ai, but last few times I googled something, it simply gave me what was on various websites which were linked, all of which had relatively good information. You still have to read it of course and decide for yourself, but that’s the same for everything. It doesn’t stop me from finding research articles and I can still always go directly to specific sites to search as well.

Researching online is an essential way of protecting your health and informing yourself of potential serious issues that can arise with certain treatments and meds that you will for the most part not hear of from medical professionals. I am very thankful for that. When my mother died, due to negligence, it was much harder then to find out information and had we been able to do that rapidly, and easily she could still be alive today.

 

[Alldara]

Meowmee I'm certainly not saying it's not worthwhile. But just pointing out that it can also be dangerous/not helpful at times.
Google being a personalized algorithm is extremely important to know. Different people get different search results based on many different personal factors. Great if you're looking for something location based. Not so great if you are looking for something educational. There are other search engines that are not personalized algorithms.

There was a thread on here about milk and cats or something that ended up being an example. Everyone's search results were pretty close to their already opinions on if a cat could have a little or not.

Then, the searcher needs to be able to tell, when was it written, who by?, is this still relevant or has new research come?, what are the authors biases that might skew what they're saying?; am I being presented with both pro and con information....etc... to tell the quality of the source.

 

[Meowmee]

Meowmee I'm certainly not saying it's not worthwhile. But just pointing out that it can also be dangerous/not helpful at times.
Google being a personalized algorithm is extremely important to know. Different people get different search results based on many different personal factors. Great if you're looking for something location based. Not so great if you are looking for something educational. There are other search engines that are not personalized algorithms.

There was a thread on here about milk and cats or something that ended up being an example. Everyone's search results were pretty close to their already opinions on if a cat could have a little or not.

Then, the searcher needs to be able to tell, when was it written, who by?, is this still relevant or has new research come?, what are the authors biases that might skew what they're saying?; am I being presented with both pro and con information....etc... to tell the quality of the source.

Yes but that is always true, you have to read what you find and make a judgement, even if it’s in a med journal etc. that’s bad if it’s catering it’s what you think but I have not had that experience yet. I don’t know how anybody would know what I think about whether a cat likes milk or not or something so specific like that.
For example people on this site give advice about supplements and things like that. This one’s great for this and X and X, but the fact is, it’s not always great for your specific cat and we all know that so we proceeded with caution.

I can definitely see how that could be more of an issue with AI but so far I haven’t seen it yet at least in my limited searches since they seem to be using AI to help you now.

 

[neely]

Then, the searcher needs to be able to tell, when was it written, who by?, is this still relevant or has new research come?, what are the authors biases that might skew what they're saying?; am I being presented with both pro and con information....etc... to tell the quality of the source.

In addition to doing a search and taking into account what you mentioned above, I've seen members in different countries or remote/rural areas who don't necessarily have the same quality of healthcare which is unfortunate.

 

[BellaBlue82]

Veterinary care, much like human health care, has become extremely difficult to navigate the past few decades. It saddens me to see that DVMs and staff are being pushed more to generate revenue versus treat the "patient." I had a horrible experience back in 2014 with one of my GA cats at a VCA hospital, and at that point decided to never go back. I vetted quite a number of new vets (8-10 I think?) until I found the vet I have now. She does house calls, which is an absolute life saver. And though she will tell you she's not an emergency vet, she has been there for me (telephonically or in person) more than any clinic I've ever dealt with in the past. She doesn't work with the corporate locations for true emergencies, only nice local vet hospitals. I've used a few and they've been wonderful as well and send all my kitties results directly to her. With all my past cats chronic conditions, she sat and talked with me for at least an hour. I would come prepared for questions, she helped me learn about Sadie's IMHA and read/interpret her blood work results, and is always happy to send me veterinary articles when I want to research. I love working with her, and she loves that I advocate for my furry kids and want to be knowledgeable about their care. Not long after I found her, she could no longer accept new patients.
I only wish everyone could have this. It's a diamond in the rough, and I don't know how long I'll have it so I treasure it for now.

 

[Alldara]

In addition to doing a search and taking into account what you mentioned above, I've seen members in different countries or remote/rural areas who don't necessarily have the same quality of healthcare which is unfortunate.

So very true. Even within the same country sometimes but certainly on a global community like ours.

 

[Tik cat's mum]

This is happening all over, I'm in the UK and have just had to find a new vet. Not because I was unhappy with my boy's care. The total opposite in fact my vet is closing the office. She has been trying to hire a vet to help her for 5 years and she just can't keep working 6 day's a week anymore. because of the vet shortage she can't get any time off it would break anyone. When I was calling round to ask about registering the boy's I obviously asked about fee's and found out I'll be paying more with every vet I called. Some of them even wanted me to bring the boy's in for a first check even though they are fit and well and would receive their records from my vet. So I am now registered at not the cheapest vet but the vet's that didn't try to put me on a care plan. And actually listened when I said I wasn't interested in buying flea, worm meds from them, one of the big vet's actually said you might forget this way you won't also we check them out twice yearly. to look for something wrong with them no doubt. The saying goes if it isn't broke don't fix it. My original vet was a big company owned and you never saw the same vet twice. The vet that's closing is independent.

 

[vampiric_conure]

Oh wow... I really lucked in with my vets! I have two - my mobile vet for the cat and dog (Winter, the dog, has been seeing her since she was a puppy) and one, my old vet, who specializes in birds. Vet care isn't cheap, but the mobile vet is reasonable and my dog loves her. They'll be seeing Puddles for the first time in October

 

[BellaBlue82]

Oh wow... I really lucked in with my vets! I have two - my mobile vet for the cat and dog (Winter, the dog, has been seeing her since she was a puppy) and one, my old vet, who specializes in birds. Vet care isn't cheap, but the mobile vet is reasonable and my dog loves her. They'll be seeing Puddles for the first time in October

Mobile vets (if you can find them nowadays) are an absolute godsend. I never knew they existed until Sonny, and it's nice to know that no matter who sunsets from the family or who joins the clan, they're getting the same level of care from the same person.

 

[VinceL]

When we moved to North Carolina almost 17 years ago, one of our cats was diabetic. He was having some problems shortly after we moved, and we desperately had find a vet. We found a vet practice just a couple of miles from where we were living. The vet we saw was wonderful. He really cares about the pets that he sees. He has been our vet for all the years we have been in North Carolina. When we bought a house, it was about a 30 minute drive to see him, but it was worth it. He left that practice and joined another practice that is actually within walking distance from our house. He has cut back his hours and is planning on retiring soon. Fortunately, we like the other vets at this practice. Our older daughter has also used him as her vet even though she lives 2 hours away. We consider him a close friend. He wrote a recommendation letter for our daughter to get into vet school. She is now a licensed vet here in NC. Listening to her and our vet talk, the conversation goes way over my head.

We have been very fortunate to have had such a great vet for so many years, and now we have a vet in the family.

With our 4 kittens that we adopted in June, it gets expensive when we take them in for their vaccinations. Only one more set of vaccinations and we are done with kitten vaccinations.

With the increasing costs for pet surgery, etc. for the first time ever we purchased pet insurance for our 4 furballs (only for accident and illness to help with potential catastrophic bills).