AAHA Bolsters Your Business

As veterinary medicine continues to evolve, this Special Commentary poses a fundamental question: can financial success and clinical excellence truly coexist—and who should be leading the profession into the future?

AAHA President Parva Bezrutczyk, DVM, lays out some important tips for practitioners who are in any stage of veterinary practice ownership.

The grief that follows pet loss can be more powerful than caregivers expect it to be, and often, the veterinary team is the first to acknowledge the depth of that grief; sometimes, they’re the only ones to acknowledge it. With the help of several experts in the veterinary end-of-life care and grief support spaces, we’ve highlighted a few ways your team can offer these family members support—without needing to add “counselor” to your job description.

AAHA Vice President Paige Anderson, DVM, describes how a simple exercise at a conference changed her perception of team building.

Why are new vet school graduates reluctant to perform surgeries? Current vet school student Jeremiah Pouncy explains.

Lyme disease, heartworm, ehrlichiosis, and anaplasmosis are expanding into regions that have historically been low risk, raising a new set of questions for veterinary teams. We know the map is changing, but are clinical protocols, client conversations, and everyday assumptions keeping pace with it?

Veterinary receptionists are often the first voice pet owners hear when they’re scared, confused, or desperate. They guide clients through difficult, emotional conversations, and they often act as a bridge between the care team and the pet’s family.

If you’ve ever thought that this crucial role “just” answers the phone, this first-person view from AAHA’s own Alice Bayless will help you better understand all the tasks veterinary receptionists handle. Because, truly, there’s no “just” about it.

Medical record and invoice auditing is challenging mainly because of the lack of time, but answers to auditing challenges may already be at hand.

AAHA Board member Melissa Magnuson DVM, discusses the new veterinary landscape, with Artificial Intelligence as a complex but important feature.

Occupational injury is the most common danger for veterinary professionals, with animal-related injuries, particularly bites and scratches from dogs and cats, ranking among the most commonly reported. By using stress-reducing care techniques with patients, staff can not only make veterinary visits easier on the animals, but safer for staff, too.

Endorsed by several key veterinary organizations and industry partners, including the American Veterinary Medical Association (AVMA), Veterinary Hospital Managers Association (VHMA), and VetPartners, the VMG/AAHA Chart of Accounts is the standard for classifying and aggregating revenue, expense, and balance sheet accounts in small-animal veterinary practice. The AVMA Economics Advisory Research Council initiated and coordinated this effort using previously created materials from VMG and AAHA.

Tiered pricing for veterinary exams and consultation fees can help provide patients with the care they need, better organize your practice’s schedule, and add more value to your time.

Do you offer discounts on veterinary care to employees? It’s important to know the laws on taxation of fringe benefits to avoid surprises for both the business and your team members.

For practices with a traditional brick-and-mortar structure, creating connection can happen organically through shared spaces and daily interactions. But when your team works remotely, creating that connection and facilitating recognition requires intention.

Staffing challenges, changing attitudes toward pets, and financial factors are all pointing to a decline in traditional kennel and boarding services.

AAHA Board member Jenni Mitchell, DVM, points out that while psychological safety in the workplace is not a new concept, it has finally found its rightful place in veterinary medicine.

As Valentine’s Day approaches, a great way to share the love is to create Senior Care Kits, for pet parents with older pets. A pro tip, brought to you by the AAHA 2023 Senior Care Guidelines for Dogs and Cats.

Veterinarians may not all be natural businesspeople, but as Scott Driever, DVM, AAHA immediate past president says, in these economic times it literally pays to keep track of the numbers.

We’ve been trained to ask the human if we can pet their dog. But maybe it’s time for a different approach.

Part of every veterinary practice’s comprehensive safety program should include appropriate signage to communicate hazards effectively and ensure employee safety.

“Affordability” has been a hot topic in political circles. But on the ground in the vet med world, it has real implications and presents multiple challenges from a business and patient care standpoint.

Veterinary clients know that they have a plethora of options for filling their pets’ prescriptions. At the same time, veterinary teams need to manage the burden external prescription requests place on their team members’ time and the potential revenue loss from clients choosing not to fill medications at the practice. We spoke with an AAHA Practice Consultant Manager and reviewed recent VHMA reports for some guidance on ways to navigate these challenges.

Taking a look at the veterinary school accreditation journey: Inside the process, the people, and our path forward.

To many, the future may seem very uncertain, so we here at AAHA invite you to seek some clarity for the future by reflecting on the past with our theme for 2026: “Back to our Roots.”

The American Heartworm Society (AHS) is asking veterinarians to participate in the 2025 AHS Heartworm Incidence Survey.

A mix of breaking news and thoughtful features complete this year’s list of Top 10 articles from Trends’ first year as an all-digital publication. Here is a look back at the Top 10 viewed articles of 2025.

With the wide variety of practice management software options available, choosing the right software for a veterinary practice can be a daunting task. We can help.

The inclusion of so many AAHA-accredited hospitals in Newsweek’s Best Animal Hospitals 2026 ranking is meaningful for any clinic that’s pursued accreditation. Striving to meet these standards of excellence indicates a practice’s commitment to practicing the type of medicine pet parents expect (and patients deserve). That’s not just something to be proud of, but something AAHA-accredited hospitals can share with their clients and communities.

With nearly half of pets missing a veterinary visit in their final year, Senior Pet Care Awareness Month serves as an important reminder of the crucial role we play in advocating for proactive, compassionate senior care.

Wondering how to navigate contracts when it comes to bringing on a relief vet? Labby chats with an expert on the subject in this month’s Dear Labby. 

As client expectations evolve, veterinary practices are finding innovative ways to provide urgent care that strengthens both their teams and their connection to the community.

When it comes to dog training, there’s an app for that—but not all dog training apps are created equal. Some can lead to improved behavior and even medical outcomes, while others might actually lead pet parents to delay seeking medical advice. Here’s what behavior experts say reputable apps offer, as well as the red flags you should caution your clients about.

What’s your response when you don’t know the answer to a client’s question? After surveying Trends readers and speaking to an expert on veterinary client communication, we’ve got some tips for navigating these conversations.

What’s your go-to response when you don’t have the answer to a client’s question? We want to hear from you!

It is time once again for the Trends annual Teams@Work Photo Contest!

Pet poison hotlines are currently unable to directly assist Georgia pet owners. But questions about a new law will hopefully be resolved soon.

Labby weighs in on how to understand and validate the mindset of team members who value work-life balance, having a predictable schedule, and protecting their time away from work, even if that’s not the way things used to be.

For the first time in 90 years, AAHA’s standards of accreditation have undergone a thorough and comprehensive review process. Here’s what you may want to know about this refresh (and what it means for your team).

With everything on your plate, choosing art to hang on the wall in your practice might not be a priority. But, art and color can have a surprising effect on emotions and wellbeing.

The 2025 AAHA One Health Guidelines: Navigating Cross-Disciplinary Partnerships are officially out! And while they contain plenty of guidance on what to do in the case of zoonotic disease, these new guidelines don’t stop there. Learn how viewing your cases through a One Health lens could make a massive difference for your patients, your clients, and your team.

Thought leadership is the new content queen in marketing, and with good reason. This article shares what thought leadership is, how it’s used, why it’s valuable, and ways for even smaller practices to start producing it.

In the year leading up to their euthanasia, nearly half of all pet dogs and more than half of pet cats did not see a veterinarian, according to research.

You might love seeing clients with cats, but is your practice as cat-friendly as it could be? From small tweaks that make a big impact on patient care to major redesigns that’ll wow your clients, there are plenty of ways to level up the cattiness in your practice (in a good way).

The rising cost of veterinary care presents different challenges, including financial strain on clients, reduced access to care, and moral dilemmas for veterinarians. Can anesthesia services be a way to control costs?

Looking for an opportunity to elevate your business know-how? The annual AVMA Business and Economic Forum is back to meeting in person. And for those who register before the end of the day on August 15, 2025, we have a special discount code. Who’s in?

How do you maintain profitability in your veterinary practice amidst rising inventory costs without pricing clients out of the care their pets need? It’s not easy, but we’ve compiled some resources that you may find helpful in your management of pricing and revenue.

With the pet insurance market posed to grow to $10 billion in size in the next five years, Pawlicy Advisor recently posted a culmination of newer data outlining what the pet insurance landscape for 2025 looks like.

Who generates revenue in your practice? And does that affect the benefits and consideration you offer them? Read on for some expert insight on ways to define and measure revenue generation and the importance of making all team members feel valued.

Knowing when your veterinary practice should jump in on a social media trend (and when it’s better to steer clear) is tricky. And, even if you have a post truly take off, the results might not be quite as helpful as you’d hoped. However, keeping these simple rules in mind can help you avoid pitfalls while finding fun ways to showcase your team’s commitment to supporting your patients and clients.

The longhorned tick has been in the news recently as a rapidly spreading invasive species. Your clients have questions, but how concerned should they really be?

Finances are a common hurdle to veterinary care for pet owners, and this isn’t only challenging for the family; it causes moral distress for the veterinary team, too. After all, these team members entered this profession because they want to help pets and their families. Fortunately, there are a variety of solutions out there that can help practices overcome this economic obstacle. And, while new community models are improving access to veterinary care, you don’t have to wait for an industry-wide paradigm shift. There are tools you can use today to help bridge the cost-of-care gap and build client relationships without burning your hospital’s bottom line.

Looking for ways to get more people (and their pets) into your veterinary practice? It might be time to change your marketing strategy.

The rising trend of relief veterinary medicine presents a complex challenge for veterinary hospitals.

Mentorship and formal training are critical elements in supporting new team members across all roles in fostering a collaborative culture and enhancing patient outcomes.

Is gratitude woven into your practice culture? Do team members feel recognized for a job well done? If not, your practice could be missing a huge opportunity when it comes to improving staff retention. Fortunately, experts have identified several straightforward ways to make sure recognition isn’t just being given, but that’s also done right.

Summer is here, so now is a great time to advise clients about the importance of keeping their dogs up-to-date on vaccinations, especially if they are planning to travel anywhere with their pets.

Harmful algal blooms (HABs) are making headlines right now, especially in the Pacific Northwest, where new benthic algal mats in the Columbia River have led to the deaths of two dogs. But HABs occur all over the country, and there’s plenty veterinary teams can do to help pet owners avoid a dangerous situation. From helping pet owners learn to identify water with a high potential for toxic algae to making sure they know when to seek emergency help to sharing resources, we’ve got the expert advice to help you help your clients, and their pets, safe this summer.

Cyberattacks, ransomware, and data extortion attacks on businesses continue to make headlines, and veterinary hospitals have good reason to be concerned.

When you first decided to enter veterinary medicine, what kinds of expectations did you have? And, when you look at your daily life in clinical practice now, how do those expectations stack up against your reality?

These are questions we asked in Phase 2 of our Stay, Please retention study, and understanding the differences between how various roles scored their reality compared to expectation is a key to improving staff retention in your practice.

Veterinarian Andy Roark embraces new tech, but there’s more to the future of the profession than technological advances. The tradition of building trust through interpersonal relationships will always be important in clinical practice, and he believes there’s a way to move forward with technology while still holding those traditions dear.

Two former veterinary practice owners offered distinctive spins on selling their practices. Their business sale models kept their practices independent and now bring the profits to those who do the work: the employee-owners.

Companion animal veterinarians may encounter injured, sick and orphaned wildlife; this article provides information and guidance for those situations. It also provides resources for further research on the topic.

Knowing what factors matter most to those in clinical practice is an important first step, but to truly improve retention, leaders, owners, and other decision-makers must seek to understand how their team members define the factors that push them away or inspire them to stay. And that’s just what we did in Phase 2 of our Stay, Please retention study.

In the digital era, social media is key to communicating with others, advertising products and services, and even fostering relationships. Veterinary practices must implement thoughtful and strategic social media strategies to foster trust and strengthen connections with current clients, attract new clients (and team members), and create an engaging online presence.

On the surface, things look good financially with $41.4 billion expected to be spent in the U.S. this year on veterinary care and sales of pharmaceuticals and other products through veterinary clinics.

But a deeper dive reveals that amidst all this growth, veterinary practices are facing major financial challenges.

With more than two dozen pet insurance companies in North America, few veterinarians have the bandwidth to walk clients through all the options.  Enter: The pet insurance specialist. This is a designated team member who helps clients sort through insurance plans. And this could be a winning scenario for your clients, their pets, and your practice.

We know flexibility is important to those working in clinical practice, and we understand how to define it—but when it comes to making it a reality, flexibility may look different to one veterinary professional compared to another. To highlight the varying forms of flexibility that exist, we’ll talk to individuals who’ve found the right type of flexibility for their lives, as seen here with Stephanie Bowes, DVM, who found flexibility with her own mobile end-of-life practice.

Curious to know the top 10 things that dog owners called the Pet Poison Helpline about in 2024? From xylitol to THC, the list highlights the most common things dog owners call with worries about.

This month, Labby answers questions regarding a practice that’s having issues with retention and shares some actionable steps you can take sooner rather than later to start addressing those issues.

What do pet parents truly value in a veterinary practice? And how can your AAHA accreditation help you meet their expectations while strengthening client trust and loyalty?

Our latest consumer research has uncovered eye-opening insights about pet owners’ perceptions, priorities, and misconceptions about veterinary care. Here, we dive into these findings and provide practical strategies for effectively communicating how AAHA accreditation directly benefits pets and their families.

Curious to know the top 10 things that cat owners called the Pet Poison Helpline about in 2024? From lilies to amphetamines, the list highlights the most common things cat owners frantically called about.

Over the last 25 years, technology has completely reshaped how we work. The last decade has brought massive shifts in how we deliver care, communicate, and manage patient health. And the craziest part? We’re just getting started.

In an era of subscription services, from Netflix to HelloFresh, many veterinary practices have yet to embrace this powerful business model for pet care. As practices face declining visits and high costs, could subscription-based wellness plans be the solution both practices and pet parents need?

National Pet Dental Health Month has helped raise awareness surrounding the dental health of pets, but is the one-month focus limiting progress? Explore ways to ensure pet dental care remains a priority all year long.

AI scribing tools, like other generative AI tools out there, are designed to save you time in day-to-day practice operations. But it’s important to note that not all AI tools are built the same. On top of that, how can you best utilize the tool, and what should you look out for?

The Pet Poison Helpline gets calls every year about pets getting into all sorts of things – from plants to paints. But when it comes to DIY projects in the home, what should pet owners be aware of before starting?

When disaster strikes a community, veterinary practices are in a unique position to help by housing displaced animals. With some practical training and preparation, you can be ready to assist your community’s people and pets when they need it the most.

Dive deeper into role-based retention factors by identifying the factors that are high priority and low in expectation vs. reality score for each role, then learning how that role defines that factor.

Practices experiencing turnover in a specific role or two will benefit from better understanding what factors those specific roles prioritize, how they define those factors, and how their daily reality stacks up to the expectations they held when they entered the profession.

What, exactly, do these similarities and differences in definitions tell us? Factors with strong agreement provide a clear path for how to improve that factor, and those with different definitions offer insight into how those factors are seen by various members of the team.

The factors that ranked stronger as attrition drivers (meaning, when they’re done poorly, the push people away) were less likely to have a single definition that all roles in practice agreed upon than the stronger retention factors. Here’s how each factor was defined, along with which roles chose different definitions than their colleagues.

Phase 2 of the Stay, Please study showed striking similarities in how some factors were defined, but the differences in other definitions–as well as how different roles experienced those factors–was perhaps even more noteworthy.

Stay, Please: Phase 2 had two major goals: Defining the key factors impacting attrition and retention, and understanding how different roles in practice experience those factors. Here’s how that data was collected.

Refresh your memory with this brief overview of the key findings from AAHA’s Stay Please, Phase 1, conducted in spring 2023.

Phase 2 of AAHA’s Stay, Please retention study builds on the findings of Phase 1, providing a deeper dive into the factors impacting retention and attrition in veterinary medicine. Want to know how to keep great people in clinical practice? This is the place to start.

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This month, Labby looks at how the whole practice team can all benefit from conferences, continuing education (CE), and other professional development opportunities.

While the practice of donating used human pacemakers is not new, many organizations in veterinary medicine have abandoned the practice. Now, with pet-specific pacemakers more widely available, a shift away from donated, used human pacemakers is taking place – but social media posts are causing some confusion.