Are you expecting your veterinary practice to grapple with the pandemic consistently? As well, you should. Research has shown that more than 30 percent of veterinary practices are making use of telemedicine.
Veterinary businesses worldwide are no exception when it comes to how significantly COVID-19 has affected them. With an overwhelming amount of coronavirus cases, veterinary practice owners alter their business strategies and processes to innovative ones. Here’s how the pandemic has impacted these practices.
Reduced Human Visits
None of us perceived the massive changes that have been brought about by the coronavirus. This includes how pet owners now drop off their pets at the clinic without entering the clinic.
The biggest change observed is that 84 percent of clients are asked to wait in their vehicles during their pet’s exam or treatment. With the rapid spread of the virus, your veterinary practice can only survive by adapting to the new normal, including client visits that are only entertained via appointment.
Contactless Payments
Many veterinary businesses have also adapted to contactless processing of payments to maintain their business’ cash flow safely. Given there’s already a decrease in client visits and unending costs for businesses, veterinary practices have changed their processes by taking patient history either virtually or via phone. Any files or samples that need to be provided are done through drive-thru pick-up and drop-off.
SOPs
Without following precautionary measures, you can’t expect your business to thrive amid the pandemic. Veterinary practices now require clients to maintain social distancing. If any of their staff has any virus symptoms, they’re expected to stay at home, which has led to some appointment cancelations.
More than 25 percent of practices have requested their team members to sanitize and recycle their Personal Protective Equipment (PPE). In contrast, some veterinary businesses have asked their staff to limit the use of PPE so that any shortage of this equipment is lessened.
Business Impact
Veterinary owners have experienced a significant decrease in revenue, which has made it harder for them to sustain their operations. Client visits have dropped by 50 percent or less, with five percent of practices completely halting their operations.
The impact of COVID-19 has been so drastic that 60 percent of veterinary business owners had either applied or planned to apply for U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) loan programs. All in all, these practices have been using alternative methods to sustain their operations, even if it means giving up their salary or extract from business reserves.
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