Petsmart Charities released results of a new survey recently that shows a majority of people (52%) struggle with affording veterinary care. Everyone is talking about it, as you’ve likely seen. I will probably write about it in more detail soon, but I wanted to share my thoughts (rant) about some terrible advice I saw from an e-newsletter and website for veterinary professionals. I won’t name it here, but I will say that I, myself, would not respond well or feel good about their ideas of how veterinary teams should pre-ask about paying for veterinary care or handle times when people feel worried about paying for recommended veterinary care. It’s cringe-worthy, IMHO.
So, imagine a veterinary staffer asks you this question, when you …
- Call to make a veterinary appointment
- Receive a veterinary appointment reminder via text or email
- Check in at the front desk for a veterinary appointment — with other veterinary clients within earshot in the lobby
“How will you be paying for your pet’s care?”
Pardon me, but what the actual (bleep)? The e-newsletter and website for veterinary professionals actually recommended asking this and explained that the question creates a “nonjudgmental and procedural tone” to “help set expectations early.”
Hmmm.
- What does it matter if I’m paying cash? (rarely)
- Or paying with a check? (Do people still do that?)
- Or paying with a credit or debit card?
OK, I do know that card processing fees keep going up, so when I go places like a locally-owned coffee shop, I do try to pay with cash to help them out. But, I’d never have enough cash on my person for affording veterinary care, even routine things.
What’s the right answer to such a question? With magic beans?!
It’s entirely possible that I’m feeling extra cranky on the financial front for a number of income and expense reasons currently, but I honestly don’t believe asking this question, especially IN ADVANCE, is doing anyone any favors. I’ve been writing professionally in the veterinary / pet space for 30 years. I understand what’s at stake for people on all sides of these scenarios, and I cannot imagine a situation where the question makes anyone feel good.
Wait, What? Used-Car Sales Tactics Too?
That same article also suggests veterinary professionals say something like this if veterinary clients mention struggling with affording veterinary care the team recommends.
“Let me speak with my administrators about this … “
The article says a statement like this can “demonstrate an active effort to advocate for the client, so they see you have tried.”
Except, if you’re saying that while knowing that nothing can be done to help, then it’s dishonest and risks damaging bonds with clients, I think. It feels like used-car a sales tactic where your sales person goes to “speak with the manager” during price negotiations.
I assume the intent is perception and not reality because immediately before this advice the article suggests saying “I’m sorry, this is the clinic’s policy” … which they say “allows you to shift the responsibility onto an established procedure.”
If all three of these things happened to me at one appointment? If I got pre-asked about payment method … if I got told it’s policy … only to watch a little theater acted out around them speaking to an administrator, I would feel skeptical and manipulated.
Thoughts?
Have you ever been asked something like this in a routine veterinary care setting?
I know that often in emergency veterinary hospitals that you must pay 50% of estimated costs up front, but I’ve never had someone question how I will pay for my dogs’ veterinary care in an everyday scenario.
When Clover needed a bone-marrow biopsy at the specialty hospital we use a few years ago, there was some weirdness about me paying upfront. I was actually overcharged and a front-desk staffer who knows me well from decades as a client even balked at me being asked to pay in advance and apologized while processing the refund when I picked Clover up and checked out.
As someone whose been a client there since the 1990s and paid a total well over 10s of thousands of dollars for veterinary care over the years for 3 generations of dogs, I’d like to think I have some credibility as a veterinary client, but I did not say any of that. I just complied even though it struck me as strange. I saw it as another shift caused by veterinary consolidation.
There’s already a lot going on in the veterinary world that’s hard for everyone. I hope bad advice like this doesn’t become the norm.
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