FILM CLUB: Navigating the cost of veterinary excellence

RE: FILM CLUB: Navigating the cost of veterinary excellence

Ben Walker — Tue, 01 Apr 2025 18:59:23 GMT

[quote userid="9239" url="~/f/non-clinical-questions/31159/film-club-navigating-the-cost-of-veterinary-excellence/246948#246948"]Where do all the money go? [/quote]

So, I've done a bit of amateur consolidation of some annual returns and put together this:

All revenue figures are millions. It doesn't look to me as though equipment costs are a major driver of fees. Staff costs are a huge expense (VetPartners are unusual in not putting them in their cost of sales). Administrative overheads are surprisingly high across the board given the purported benefits of consolidation, and finance costs are really high for VetPartners, moderate for IVC, and negligible for CVS and Linnaeus. I suspect Linnaeus has the benefit of a patient parent company re financing so their finance costs will probably increase once they become profitable.

The CMA will be assessing profitability based on capital employed which is much harder for me to judge.

However, based on these statements, I think that staffing ratios, salaries, consultation lengths, and (except for CVS) financing probably have bigger inflationary pressures on fees to clients than clinical CAPEX.

RE: FILM CLUB: Navigating the cost of veterinary excellence

Rob Loxley — Sat, 29 Mar 2025 17:29:46 GMT

[quote userid="5012" url="~/f/non-clinical-questions/31159/film-club-navigating-the-cost-of-veterinary-excellence/246949#246949"]Directors, managers, shareholders, dividends. [/quote]

Increasingly, servicing debt used to acquire practices?

But also in-house CPD provision, employee support, new grad development programmes, supporting certificate study, investing in equipment (thought I do get Dinu's comment about value for money equipment)

RE: FILM CLUB: Navigating the cost of veterinary excellence

Clive Ansell — Sat, 29 Mar 2025 09:34:20 GMT

[quote userid="9239" url="~/f/non-clinical-questions/31159/film-club-navigating-the-cost-of-veterinary-excellence/246948#246948"]Where do all the money go? [/quote]

Directors, managers, shareholders, dividends.

RE: FILM CLUB: Navigating the cost of veterinary excellence

Dinu Catilina — Fri, 28 Mar 2025 18:07:20 GMT

[quote userid="2100" url="~/f/non-clinical-questions/31159/film-club-navigating-the-cost-of-veterinary-excellence/246946#246946"]Is that your observation too? That procedures take longer than they used to? I wonder if there is any data on this? [/quote]

Not in my experience but I don't know how things were 20 years ago.

I find that the costs of running a practice are increasing and sometimes the vets are at fault. I don't want to sound like sour grapes but man, do we all need DR radiography, 25000 pounds ultrasounds, 25000 or more endoscopes etc when there are cheaper (and not as good but good enough) alternatives?

I see some of the prices vehiculated to open a new practice and I know I can do it for half the money.

It's getting crazy. Caesarean in the night at an emergency vets in Kent last night for 4300 pounds. Absolutely mental.

Chery eye - 1200- 1500.

I'm not rich but I make decent money and we charge less than half. My staff is paid over the average. Where do all the money go?

RE: FILM CLUB: Navigating the cost of veterinary excellence

Arlo Guthrie — Fri, 28 Mar 2025 09:19:13 GMT

Another interesting point raised elsewhere is the increasing length of time it takes to perform procedures these days because of increased paperwork, elf and safety, regulations, etc etc, the point being that practices have big up front fixed costs, so there is an opportunity cost of procedures taking longer.

Is that your observation too? That procedures take longer than they used to? I wonder if there is any data on this?

RE: FILM CLUB: Navigating the cost of veterinary excellence

Rob Loxley — Thu, 27 Mar 2025 19:13:41 GMT

[quote userid="8991" url="~/f/non-clinical-questions/31159/film-club-navigating-the-cost-of-veterinary-excellence/246942#246942"]It's quite simple to my mind - when basic surgery (thyroidectomies, cherry eyes etc etc etc) are being priced out routinely at £2k in 1st opinion (1.5-2x this in a referral pricelist I saw today) the contextualised care is quite simple - people can't afford it [/quote]

I definitely remember a unilateral thyroidectomy (generally 20 minutes of fairly straightforward surgery) being about £250 - 15 years ago - so agree it shouldn't have got to £1700 today!

RE: FILM CLUB: Navigating the cost of veterinary excellence

David Mills — Thu, 27 Mar 2025 10:22:25 GMT

[quote userid="2100" url="~/f/non-clinical-questions/31159/film-club-navigating-the-cost-of-veterinary-excellence/246941#246941"]

Isn't it just! It's absolutely everywhere.

And to me, it's a solution to a problem that didn't exist.

I mean, vets have always practised contextualised care. Whats new is that the cost of veterinary care has spiralled.

[/quote]

There has been lots of tall talk about it especially since the CMA review I feel. I missed the "on a budget" lectures at BSAVA this year as I value my soul more as I get older.

It's quite simple to my mind - when basic surgery (thyroidectomies, cherry eyes etc etc etc) are being priced out routinely at £2k in 1st opinion (1.5-2x this in a referral pricelist I saw today) the contextualised care is quite simple - people can't afford it

RE: FILM CLUB: Navigating the cost of veterinary excellence

Arlo Guthrie — Thu, 27 Mar 2025 10:10:32 GMT

[quote userid="25265" url="~/f/non-clinical-questions/31159/film-club-navigating-the-cost-of-veterinary-excellence/246938#246938"]

Absolutely agree. I think that's a really fair video and definitely good to encourage owners to talk frankly about finances.

[/quote][quote userid="8991" url="~/f/non-clinical-questions/31159/film-club-navigating-the-cost-of-veterinary-excellence/246940#246940"]Good video.[/quote]

Gosh, thank you! Seriously. Always publish with a certain amount of trepidation and its nice when things go down well!

Had to stick pins in my legs to distract me whilst I said the words 'pet parent' and 'fur baby'.

[quote userid="8991" url="~/f/non-clinical-questions/31159/film-club-navigating-the-cost-of-veterinary-excellence/246940#246940"]"Contextualised care" is fast becoming the new "gold standard"[/quote]

Isn't it just! It's absolutely everywhere.

And to me, it's a solution to a problem that didn't exist.

I mean, vets have always practised contextualised care. Whats new is that the cost of veterinary care has spiralled.

[quote userid="25265" url="~/f/non-clinical-questions/31159/film-club-navigating-the-cost-of-veterinary-excellence/246938#246938"]Cutting care leads to cheaper bills for clients, but we aren't talking openly about whether we could be offering a similar level of quality for less money at the low to mid-range of budget.[/quote]

Indeed. Or whether care needs to be cut, actually. Do we have too many MRIs now?!

RE: FILM CLUB: Navigating the cost of veterinary excellence

David Mills — Thu, 27 Mar 2025 09:36:42 GMT

Good video.

"Contextualised care" is fast becoming the new "gold standard" - BSAVA this year it was soul destroying how much it was being bandied about by people who couldn't be further from using it.

RE: FILM CLUB: Navigating the cost of veterinary excellence

Ben Walker — Thu, 27 Mar 2025 09:22:13 GMT

Absolutely agree. I think that's a really fair video and definitely good to encourage owners to talk frankly about finances.

I recognised a lot of the content from my own opinions, so of course I'm biased

I stand by what I said a year ago that I still think contextualised care is an important but incomplete solution to the problem. It's a sticking plaster that ignores the fact that we have too few vet practices with low overhead business models.

Cutting care leads to cheaper bills for clients, but we aren't talking openly about whether we could be offering a similar level of quality for less money at the low to mid-range of budget.