Or more precisely, what is the dominant motivating factor in your veterinarian’s recommendation to perform diagnostic testing – imaging, lab work, or other – on your dog?

If you are an unsuspecting (normal) dog parent, there is only one answer: because your vet believes there is or may be something wrong with your best friend, and the only way to determine this for sure is to perform a specific diagnostic test (or multiple ones).

The reality, unfortunately, may be far different.  And what you’re about to read is just one indication of what I referred to here as the really ugly, unseen underbelly of the veterinary profession.

Take a look at this article by DVM360, a leading veterinary industry publication (click to enlarge):

Let’s start with the title:

How diagnostics drive success in veterinary practice (Sponsored by IDEXX Laboratories Inc.)

Diagnostics “drives success” in veterinary practices?  Does that mean that by providing diagnostic services for dogs and cats whose care and conditions indicate it, one can be more successful?  Nope.  The article begins with what is presumed to be a question posed to a veterinary clinic owner, by his or her professional financial adviser – then two such individuals, Karen E. Felsted (CPA, MS, DVM, CVPM) and Fritz Wood (CPA, CFP) provide the “answer.” (Ed.: Emphasis added)

“Q) What percentage of gross revenue should you expect from diagnostic testing?

“Wood: I would like to see your diagnostic income approach 20% to 25% of your total gross income. And I’d like to see it grow on an annual basis. (See Figure 1 for a chart showing laboratory revenue in well-managed practices.)

“Felsted: If you look at the three published studies out there,1-3 it’s currently somewhere between 13.5% to almost 18% of revenue. If a practice is producing less diagnostic revenue than that, management needs to focus on this area.“

Stop and think about that.  A normal person – and pet parent – would assume that a veterinary clinic’s revenues for diagnostic services are generated because the vet(s) have examined the animals under their care and, based on what they observe, advise that certain diagnostic tests be performed.

Now, re-read those “answers.”  They have nothing whatsoever to do with animal welfare – only with a desire to increase the veterinary clinic’s revenues.  Then, imagine you are an honest veterinarian, reading this article.  These professional financial advisers say that if your clinic’s diagnostic revenues don’t measure up to their recommended targets, that you should “focus on this area” – implying, convincing pet parents to authorize diagnostics that their best friends may not need.  Finally, the financial adviser who is listed as a veterinarian (Felsted) says your revenue should be higher than the other’s recommended target – and that this figure should “grow on an annual basis.”

No one wants to envision their veterinarian acting like this. How sad that it is veterinarians themselves who are giving us solid reasons to view them like this.

Think about all that.  Imagine this wasn’t a veterinary publication, but say, one targeting auto service centers.  Now, imagine the publication featured a column by auto service industry financial advisers who openly state that “shock absorbers should constitute 20-25% of your annual revenues,” and that that figure should “grow on an annual basis.”  How soon would it be before a governmental consumer protection agency, or an enterprising investigative journalist, would be sending in undercover customers, to see how many times service centers who subscribe to this publication follow its implied advice – and was recommending that unsuspecting customers pay to have new shocks installed on their cars, whether they needed them or not?

Yet here we have this advice, being openly given on a medical website, DVM360.com, that claims to be “the (veterinary) market’s best read and most respected publications” (hover over the “Publications” circle at that link, or click here for screencap).  It is published by Advanstar Veterinary, which claims DVM360.com is “the leading news website in terms of reach and engagement, serving the entire universe of 155,000 unique veterinarians and teams each month.”

And as an added punch line, the article is sponsored by IDEXX Laboratories, which just happens to be a leading maker of veterinary diagnostic technologies.

Conclusion

So basically, what we have here is an advice column for veterinarians that:

• Counsels them to (a) aim to generate 13-25% of their annual revenues from diagnostics – regardless of whether their patients actually require these tests – and (b) work to make this figure grow on an annual basis.

• Is sponsored by a company that just happens to make certain diagnostic technologies, and therefore stands to significantly profit if vets actually follow the advice in this column.

Certain honest veterinarians are now openly stating (example) that if the veterinary profession doesn’t clean up its own act, someone from the outside is eventually going to pull back the veil, and expose the outrageous, profit-driven shenanigans that are being perpetrated by some within it.

News flash: Shayna’s List is going to be that external force that exposes this kind of shameful nonsense.

Do you have a story of similar outrageous conduct by veterinarians, or those who counsel them?  Email me.