Introducing the North American Association of Veterinary Receptionists

It was a sad day when we learned that the receptionist at our dog’s oncologist had left. This exceptional customer service representative (CSR) was there from the moment we walked through the clinic’s doors last year.

He knew our names and always greeted our senior dog, Andy, with kindness and enthusiasm during our increasingly regular visits. He responded promptly to our questions and requests for appointments and medication via email and phone and advised us when we needed to bring Andy in immediately. He cheered when Andy successfully completed radiation. This individual was more than a receptionist for us; his presence made our time at the clinic easier during a tough stretch.

Front desk staff are the unsung heroes of the veterinary world. Yet, they don’t get the attention or recognition they deserve. A new nonprofit, the North American Association of Veterinary Receptionists (NAAVR), launched in the summer of 2024, hopes to change that.

NAAVR is the brainchild of Jill Clark, DVM, an expert in learning and team development. Clark is also the founder of IGNITE Veterinary Solutions, an educational company elevating the knowledge of veterinary teams around the world. The idea for the association came to Clark when students who completed IGNITE’s Veterinary Receptionist Certificate of Excellence Program wanted to advance their skills with additional training. Clark enlisted the help of Debbie Boone, CVPM, who had spent most of her career teaching client communication and working with front office teams, as well as Ronda Bell, CVPM, an expert in social media and marketing, to get the nonprofit incorporated in Texas off the ground. Within the first two weeks of launching this summer, the association gained 100 members.

The purpose of NAAVR is multifold. It aims to give CSRs a voice in the veterinary community, help them be recognized as valuable and integral members of their teams, advocate for their interests, create a code of ethics, and, most importantly, provide educational opportunities and a safe space for sharing.

“I know how hard the CSRs work and the challenges they face. They’re so intelligent and so gifted that it’s so wonderful to finally have an organization being built to help them,” shares Judy Rose Lanier, CVPM, CVA, DES, learning program manager at AAHA, who recently joined the board of NAAVR as the director of education and community. She is excited for NAAVR to empower people within the industry and to finally recognize CSRs for all their skills and talents.

The Value of Well-Informed and Trained CSRs

At first glance, a CSR’s job seems simple. They answer calls, make appointments, and collect payment afterward. However, a well-informed CSR can be a true asset to the practice. “The more educated your front office team is, the better your hospital performs financially because the CSRs have the ability to touchpoint with the client three times more than the medical team,” shares Boone, who serves as vice president of the association. The CSR takes the initial call and gets clients in the door. They greet pet owners and are the last to speak with them about additional services. They do this while fielding questions from existing and prospective clients via phone and email.

“If a receptionist is rude, the potential client is not going to make an appointment, and that has nothing to do with how good the doctor is, how good the team is, or how good the medicine is,” shares Mississippi-based Caitlin Palmer, who has been a CSR for 13 years. “Without the people walking in, you don’t get to treat their pets.”

According to Boone, the veterinary industry has approximately 126,000 front desk team members nationwide.

Because there aren’t specific qualifications needed to work at the front desk, having the relevant medical and nonmedical knowledge will be extremely handy. Palmer uses the institutional knowledge gained from years on the job to assist her practice’s clients better.

For example, knowing when something is an emergency helps her properly advise the client. If it’s a male cat who can’t pee, it can’t wait until tomorrow, she recalls telling one pet parent. “We help explain things to clients. It’s a lot more than just answering phones and making appointments. We are the front line for our patients.”

Similarly, at the end of a vet visit, a well-informed CSR can help get the client to return when necessary. If the doctor made a recommendation and the client is on the fence about it, having a trustworthy CSR confirm what the vet said will make the difference in getting that follow-up appointment. When clients have confidence in the CSR, they rely on them for nonurgent recommendations as well. “There’s no reason that your CSR cannot talk to somebody with a new puppy or kitten and talk to them about the beginning of the training that they need, the food that they need, the vaccines that are going to have to happen, how old they would be when they get spayed,” says Boone.

She adds that in the practice she manages, the CSRs can triage cases, take medical history, know the medical terminology, and coach people on food and on the most appropriate heartworm and flea preventives. This is all possible because they had all been highly trained and tested on that material.

“They are not an afterthought; they are the intent of the education.” CSRs act as traffic police, creating workflows for hospitals and practices. Medical knowledge also allows CSRs to provide detailed notes for the medical team and allot the right amount of time for each appointment. “They understand that if the dog was vomiting and had diarrhea and maybe had gotten into the garbage, they need to book 10 minutes longer because we would have to take an X-ray,” says Boone.

Lack of training could lead to inefficiency in scheduling, according to Boone. They may schedule wellness visits on Monday, leaving no room for urgent care, and then, two days later, there’s nothing on the books.

“You have to train them to look at an entire week as far as scheduling goes and balance out the workflow, and the rest of the team has a much happier life when we do it well at the front desk.”

Benefits of Membership

While seasoned front desk staff have honed their skills and garnered expertise over time, many receptionists haven’t had opportunities to receive adequate training and obtain credentials. NAAVR members will benefit from an online platform that links to various resources and gives access to a private community forum to engage and exchange ideas and challenges in a safe space.

NAAVR will offer opportunities for members to get credentials in the future. NAAVR hopes to achieve its key objective of advancing learning by creating a repository for learning on the website, NAAVR.org, with links to information that’s already out there, sorted by subject matter, so that practice managers and front staff can easily find valuable and pertinent information on things CSRs need to know well.

This material will be reviewed and approved by people who have done the job before, CVPMs, experienced consultants, and those working in associations like AAHA, which already has a wealth of medical and nonmedical content freely available that would benefit CSRs. “I personally have done webinars that are free and available on everything from how to forward book to how to handle a euthanasia telephone call, which is something they all want to learn how to do,” shares Boone.

Lanier says they want to “identify things out there that we feel that our CSRs could benefit from, whether it be an online webinar, a live event, or even books or periodicals.” The site will also have links to help people understand emotional intelligence and unconscious bias, as well as websites like the Harvard Implicit Bias Test so that people understand their biases and judgments. This knowledge base is beneficial for small practices that do not have any formal training set up for CSRs. It allows managers to find information easily to train their staff using the resources in the education hub and even track progress.

In the near future, NAAVR will offer opportunities for members to enroll in various certificate-level programs using the materials already available. “Then, the big goal is to have this as a professional certification, very similar to CVPM, so that they are a certified client experience professional,” says Boone. “A certification requires prequalification, some education level, an experience level doing the job, and then passing an accredited test. They’re the ones who probably have a deeper medical knowledge of triage.” Certification will require continuing education to maintain it.

“The idea of us being able to be credentialed to have that recognition within the veterinary community is so meaningful,” says Palmer. “I’ve been told I’m just a receptionist. I’m more than just a receptionist, so that validation and recognition of having letters after my name means a lot to me.”

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