This is the third in my series on “telemedicine is coming to the vets.” As the reality of the pandemic being with us for some time becomes apparent, more and more veterinary practices are engaging with telemedicine providers.
To learn more about another provider, I turned to Brandon Werber, a colleague in VetPartners. A year and a half ago, he developed a platform known as Airvet (www.airvet.com) and has been super busy with the large number of accounts coming on board each day.
The son of a veterinarian, Brandon grew up around animals and those who care for them. Since Brandon’s father was his veterinarian, Brandon always knew that he had access to him for advice or service – at just about any time. But he worried about pet owners who didn’t have a family member to turn to at just “any time.” That inspired him to create Airvet.
After graduating from USC Marshall School of Business and establishing businesses offering tech-based tools for advertising and customer loyalty, it was no surprise that Bandon turned his talents to help pet owners and veterinarians.
He created Airvet with the consumer first in mind. Brandon says, as we all know, that the veterinary industry is driven by the client. The sad reality, however, is that, in 70% of the time the clients take their questions first to “Dr. Google.” Social media has replaced the veterinarian. “The veterinarian isn’t the first line of defense, anymore,” he says.
Brandon’s product extends pet care beyond the walls of the practice and enables pet owners to turn first to the veterinarian at any time, from any place. He combines telemedicine (based on the VCPR (Veterinarian-Client-Patient-Relation) with telehealth, in which a veterinarian can provide general guidance and triage, without treatment.
By signing onto this service, pet owners can reach their vet online (with or without video) to make appointments, get a post-op report, request prescription refills, lab results, or even advice related to behavioral questions.
If it happens to be after-hours, the client can select the “on-demand” call option, and Airvet will immediately connect the pet owner with another licensed veterinarian in their network. The veterinarian will be able to offer advice and information.
One client wrote about his experience on the Airvet Facebook page:
Excellent service. Requested “First Available Vet” on a Sunday morning and received a call back immediately. The vet was everything a frantic pet owner could hope for – caring, attentive, reassuring, and patient with initial camera struggles and input from multiple anxious family members. The best $30 I ever spent. He suspected a cruciate ligament injury and saved us a $$$ ER vet bill, advising us it would be safe to wait til our vet reopens tomorrow as long as we put our dog on complete rest until then. Highly recommend.
Airvet provides a benefit to pet owners who need advice when they need it, and it provides a benefit to the veterinarians who need some private/personal time but still want their clients to be served. If the veterinarians choose, they can simply sign-off, and their clients can be directed to another licensed veterinarian to help provide advice and/or triage. Thousands of veterinarians, qualified through background checks, are in the pool of those available – all at least 50 miles away from the client’s primary veterinarian, so as not to provide competition.
One of those participating veterinarians is Gaines White, DVM of Atlanta, GA. He signed on to communicate with his clients and also to be an always-available vet (“cloud staff,” as he calls it) to those – near and far- who need to reach a vet after-hours.
As part of the “cloud staff,” Gaines is happy to give clients information and peace of mind. For example, he had one pet owner whose pet had been treated since the pet chewed his tail off, but now, late at night, had chewed off the stitches. Through their video connection, Gaines was able to counsel the client to wrap the tail and call the vet in the morning.
In another case, Gaines observed a 100-pound dog whom he regarded as a “mean dog.” The owner needed to return to his vet for post-surgery service but was reluctant, because his dog was so resistant. Gaines was able to observe the dog, relaxed in his home setting, and actually counseled the owner to remove the sutures himself, at home.
Since many of Gaines’ own clients must travel over an hour each way to visit the hospital, the Airvet service has saved the clients several hours of travel time by seeing them on video and advising or prescribing through telemedicine. This usually saves time on his end, as well.
In this day of telemedicine and telehealth, it’s a win-win. It seems that pet telemedicine is here to stay.
