Success

Veterinarian holding a dog

"Antech's partnership allows us to focus on what we love most - more time caring for patients."

Nicole Sheehan, DVM, CVA, CVCH, CVFT, Veterinarian and Founder, Whole Pet Veterinary Hospitals

You can experience the impact of our reference lab, right in your practice.
Here’s how.

If you had told Dr. Nicole Sheehan ten years ago that she would create and run her own practice, she might not have believed you — but she did! In 2013, Dr. Sheehan founded Whole Pet Veterinary Hospital in Davidson, North Carolina. In 2020 and 2021, she expanded into Wilmington and Charlotte, creating three practices renowned for their quality of care, efficiency, and a team of dedicated hearts.

Dr. Sheehan and her team at Whole Pet Veterinary Hospitals run annual bloodwork on all of her patients. They work with Antech as their reference lab partner to help with all of their routine and specialty diagnostics.

A comprehensive approach was taken

Finding #1

Many veterinarians and their staff believe that the value of same-day results is not worth the hidden stress (and cost) it places on an already stressed system.

In the post-peak pandemic era, veterinary clinics are experiencing compound staff changes

78% of respondents confirmed staffing shortages in at least one role type

(Vet Nurses & Vets)

In a staff shortage environment, placing greater focus on staff retention becomes important

Most pet owners do not expect same-day results

74%

Of pet owners are willing to receive wellness test results the next day

62%

of pet owners are willing to wait till next day even for sick animal results

Finding #2

In-house diagnostics are a requirement for urgent and critical care workups.

However……


This is not necessarily the case for pre-anesthetic and general wellness testing.

92% of vets consider pre-anesthetic blood work performed prior to the day of procedure acceptable

Four weeks is the professional acceptable consensus


Practices agree that wellness testing is more accurate, more efficient and fast enough when sent to reference labs.

In-house fecal flotations were reported by technicians as the least satisfying diagnostic workflow

Enjoyment Level Among Technicians

Values represent the employment level on a scale of 1-10. Overall mean of 7.02

Sending fecals out makes for a better practice

Finding #3

Leaning more heavily on send-out labs unlocks “found capacity” which could translate to:

A. Up to $120k per vet per year


B. A lower stress work enviroment

Adding 30+ minutes of wait time to a patient visit is stressful for the patient and the practice

Time/motion studies unexpectedly revealed that running comprehensive wellness testing in-house adds 30+ minutes to the patient visit.

Why not capture 2 – 5 new appointments per vet per day, yielding:

$120K

Revenue per vet / per year

Why not use the found capacity to slow the pace of the practice while proving a boost to staff morale and retention

Reference Laboratory Testing: Combating Workplace Stress & Inefficiencies

THE INVESTIGATION*
“Reference Lab First” Workflows: A Contemporary Approach to Veterinary Diagnostics.


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