Telehealth for the General Veterinary Practitioner

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The general veterinary practitioner is busier now than ever! Pandemic puppies, curbside visits, and staffing shortages have stretched many hospitals thin. Busy phone lines, demanding clients and fatigued staff need solutions to deal with new stressors within the veterinary industry. Clients now expect telehealth options and Anipanion’s telehealth platform is here to help!

 

Telehealth can be utilized in all clinic settings and customized to meet the needs of your practice. If you already text or email clients, or monitor patient vitals remotely, you are already practicing telehealth.

 

If you have a computer or device with a camera and a microphone, you are already prepared to begin your Anipanion telehealth service!

 

Telehealth Benefits

  • Add value to your practice
  • Build client trust
  • Increase patient access
  • Improve client retention
  • Provide clientele with a virtual option
  • Increase revenue by monetizing client communication
  • Free up phone lines
  • Streamline client communication
  • Save staff time
  • Allow pets to be home in a stress-free environment when appropriate
  • Requires little equipment (computer or phone with camera and microphone capabilities)

 

Telehealth Definitions


Veterinary telehealth is an umbrella term. There are many components of telehealth that can be integrated into any hospital setting.

 

Teletriage

  • Does this medical issue require veterinary care right now, or can it wait?

Telemedicine

  • Allows for diagnosing, prescribing, educating, scheduling, and facilitating communication
  • Must be in compliance with state laws and regulations

Teleconsulting

  • Useful for communication between veterinarians

Telemonitoring

  • Remote monitoring of patients using wearable devices or portable glucose monitoring such as the Freestyle Libre

Teleadvice

  • Providing guidance and education to pet parents
  • Not intended for diagnosing and prescribing

Electronic Prescribing

  • Replaces need for paper and faxed prescriptions
  • Digital transmission and filling of medication
  • Must be in compliance with state laws and regulations
  • Must be in compliance with DEA if controlled

 

Getting Started with Anipanion

Determine availability

  • Do you want your practice to be available to clients 365/7/24?
  • Customize your telehealth availability that fit your hospital and pet parent needs.

Determine accessibility

  • Do you only want to use the asynchronous chat feature or offer real-time video as well?

Establish telehealth services you will provide

  • There are many ways to utilize telehealth in your practice.
  • Refer to the section below for ideas.

Alert clients

  • Inform clients of your telehealth-added service.
    • Email
    • Social media
    • Snail mail
    • Phone calls
    • Texts
  • Describe the added telehealth service and where/how they can access the new platform.

Choose an Anipanion Telehealth team champion

  • Finding a telehealth leader in your practice who will champion Anipanion’s platform is vital for the success of the service.
  • This person should be excited about telehealth and how it will benefit the hospital, pet parents, and patients. He or she will help integrate telehealth services, train staff, problem-solve and set team telehealth goals.

Staff training

  • Teach staff how telehealth in the hospital will work.
  • Define telehealth expectations.
  • Show Anipanion app features and uses.
  • Provide veterinary telehealth continuing education.

 

Telehealth Services

Triage

  • Utilize veterinary technicians or veterinarians to triage patient medical issues.
  • Asking basic health questions and viewing images or videos of the pet can provide valuable info about the patient’s status.
  • Provide the next steps for the pet parent.
      • Come into the clinic now.
      • Schedule an appointment for a later date.
      • Monitor symptoms at home.

 

Medical Rechecks

  • Medical rechecks are a great way to utilize telehealth.
  • Check-in with pet parents to see how a lameness is responding to conservative therapies or how a pet parent and diabetic patient are doing after beginning insulin injections.
  • Anipanion’s platform allows you to connect with clients more readily and monitor patients more closely through remote access.

 

Pre-op Consultations

  • When it comes to surgery, pet parents come fully loaded with questions and anxiety. Put their minds at ease with a telehealth pre-surgical session where all questions can be answered prior to the procedure date.
      • Discuss surgical procedure details.
      • Provide curbside or drop-off instructions.
      • Fasting and water intake instructions.
      • Provide any documentation requiring signatures.
      • Collect payment or deposit.

 

Post-op Rechecks

  • Check-in with your patients 24 hours after surgery without them having to leave home.
  • Discuss eating/drinking/urinating/defecating.
  • Visualize the surgical incision.
  • Ensure patients are taking their medications well.
  • Schedule the next telehealth or in-hospital recheck.

 

Behavior Consultations

  • Behavioral issues involve heavy, time-consuming dialogue with the pet parent.
  • Behavior sessions can be tailored to new pet parents wanting a 101 puppy class, or clients looking to curb their dog’s separation anxiety.
  • Channeling the discussion into Anipanion’s platform will help focus the conversation and lead to a better patient outcome.

 

Diet and Feeding Advice

  • Companion animal nutrition has become a very confusing topic for pet parents. What better way to help clients navigate this issue than with a telehealth consultation?
  • Discuss the pros and cons of AAFCO, grain-free, raw, fresh frozen, freeze-dried, prescription, limited ingredient, and boutique diets.
  • Provide clients with personalized, best feeding recommendations for their pets.

 

Palliative and Hospice Care

  • Alleviating suffering and helping pets die with dignity is a privilege and an essential service in the veterinary industry.
  • Create a multimodal palliative care or hospice plan using real-time sessions.
  • Routinely check in with pet parents and patients to monitor symptoms and adjust the palliative plan as needed.

 

Quality of Life Discussion

  • End-of-life discussions are often emotional and time-consuming.
  • Discussing this topic while pet parents can be in the comfort and privacy of their own home is a wonderful service veterinarians can provide.

 

Euthanasia Planning

  • Although euthanasia is a daily part of veterinary work, it is an emotional and complex event in the life of a pet parent.
  • Walking pet parents through the process remotely and answering questions about euthanasia prior to the appointment is an appreciated service.
  • Payment can be collected prior to the scheduled date as well as documents signed.
  • Also, discuss details about pet remains at the telehealth session as this will make the day of the appointment much smoother for you and the client.

 

Grief Counseling

  • Grief is a normal part of loss. Provide your clients an outlet to discuss their feelings and mourn the loss of their pets.
  • From a client’s perspective, it’s not how much we know, but how much we care as veterinary professionals.

 

Online Scheduling and Prescriptions

  • Free up phone lines by allowing pet parents to request medications or schedule appointments using Anipanion.
  • This allows the client to also make the request outside of normal business hours.

 

Chronic Medical Issue Monitoring

  • Remotely check in with your diabetic, kidney failure, CHF, or chronic OA patients routinely.
  • Change medication dosing.
  • Schedule hospital rechecks or labwork appointments depending on patient status.

 

Labwork Results Discussions

  • Schedule a telehealth session to review labwork results.

 

Boarding and Grooming

  • Have boarding and grooming clients make appointments and fill out paperwork through the Anipanion app
  • Offer new boarders and grooming clients a facility tour or a meet and greet with the groomer or kennel manager.

 

 

There are many ways to integrate Anipanion telehealth into your hospital. Customize your telehealth services and availability to meet the needs of your hospital, pet parents, and patients. Improve client retention, increase pet care quality, and monetize pet-parent communication by utilizing telehealth. Anipanion is here to make telehealth easy and efficient for you and your clientele.

 

 

Need some extra support? We're here for you and can't wait to help!

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📩 : Email: support@anipanion.com
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