Below is an email sent to all clients regarding upcoming changes to UVC:
7/14/2024
SUBJECT: Important Changes to Our Services & Medical Care at University Veterinary Center
Dear Valued Clients,
We hope this message finds you and your beloved animals doing well.
Since opening our doors in 2016, it has been our mission to provide the highest level of care to your beloved pets. We have grown and evolved together over the years, and your trust and support have been the cornerstone of our success.
With that in mind, I am writing to inform you of some significant changes at University Veterinary Center (UVC). As many of you know, we recently lost our long-time beloved doctor, Dr. Hernandez, following her maternity leave last year. Additionally, Dr. Rodriguez, who joined our team around the same time last year, has transitioned to a new role to pursue advanced training in dermatology. This leaves me, Dr. Ash, as the sole veterinarian at our practice moving forward.
I want to share with you that the decisions outlined in this email were not made lightly. Since the inception of UVC, I have been dedicated to our clients and patients. I have worked late nights and weekends nearly every week for over 8 years—all for the love of our clients and their amazing pets. My commitment to their health and well-being has always been my driving force. However, the current circumstances demand that I make some difficult changes.
In addition to being the sole doctor at UVC, I also have personal responsibilities that I can no longer neglect. My father is battling kidney disease, and I need to be there for him as well. Balancing my professional duties with my personal life has become increasingly challenging. As much as I would love to continue working at the same pace, it is simply not sustainable with the number of clients we have.
Given these changes, we are writing to announce that UVC will be revamping our services to focus on key goals and changes moving forward. Here are the key changes:
Revamped Services: Moving forward, we will concentrate on providing care for animals with ongoing diseases, conditions, and ailments requiring advanced level care. Having worked in the emergency room and specialty hospitals prior to starting UVC, this is my main area of expertise and the number of emergencies we treat per week suggests this is where people need us the most. This shift in focus will allow us to utilize our specialized expertise (emergency, internal medicine, cardiology, etc) to its fullest extent. Healthy animals that do not require our specialized services may need to seek routine care elsewhere (until we're able to find more general vets who can step in to help). With that being said, if you are comfortable paying for the small increase in our services in order to continue ongoing care here, it would be our pleasure to serve you. We feel having a doctor who has the expertise to treat your pet in wellness and in illness is a good choice for everyone, but we understand that some may choose to seek veterinary care elsewhere moving forward. (With me as the solo vet on staff, it may take weeks to schedule an appointment - and I don't want you to get frustrated that I cannot squeeze in more patients to be seen). Our goal is to keep our clients out of the animal emergency rooms and we've been able to do that for many of you. So, let's focus on what we do best.
Increased Fees: To help manage the increased workload, maintain adequate discussion time during appointments, and keep the quality of our advanced services & staff at a high caliber level, we will be adjusting our fees as follows:
Sadly, some clients come in and get advice only to ask for written prescriptions for all their pet's medications. While we understand and respect your choice to fill your medications anywhere you'd like, these visits do not cover the costs of the receptionists, nurses, and support staff who help keep this hospital functional. Historically, ongoing medication sales have kept veterinary fees low. With the transition to online purchases, veterinary hospitals and clinics will likely need to increase their service and office visit fees. While this leads to an unfortunate rise in costs for you as clients, it is the invariable repurcussion of the public choosing the internet over local businesses. For those of you who have continued to purchase your medications through our hospital and those of you who have switched back to support our pharmacy, we thank you and will be focusing our time and efforts in supporting you and your pets—just as you've done for us.
We also face challenges with clients not picking up their phones when we call with lab results, necessitating multiple phone calls per lab result. If we are unable to reach you, we will leave a voicemail, and you can call to schedule an in person follow-up to discuss the details as needed.
Many people are behind on wellness examinations and are foregoing routine care and preventatives like vaccinations for their pets. While it has always been our goal to help with preventative medicine, it seems many of our clients are only reaching out with urgent care and emergency needs. Hence, we feel this is a more suitable game plan moving forward.
Insurance premiums and the cost of laboratory and pharmaceuticals are continuing to go up. Clients with extremely aggressive pets may be notified that we are no longer able to service their pets due to limitations of our new insurance carrier. Furthermore, please do your part to save up for your pet's ongoing medical needs as I anticipate the cost of receiving veterinary care everywhere will only continue to go up in the years to follow.
We may have to forgo veterinary care for patients who require a significant amount of outside prescriptions for their ongoing care. I am simply unable to continue to spend my weekends reviewing medical records and writing 8 hours of outside prescriptions. The main focus of all my time and energy moving forward will be to keep this hospital open, non-corporate, and focused on providing advanced veterinary care for those who wish to seek such care under my guidance.
We provide advanced internal medicine and surgery for dogs and cats and will announce when we are able to take new patients soon who need this type of care. We are in the process of recruiting people who specialize in advanced veterinary care to help with our newfound focus on the treatment of sick animals moving forward. If any of our clients know veterinary professionals who love animals and are well-suited for our hospital, please feel free to make an introduction or referral.
As we transition to a hospital where people can seek advanced veterinary diagnosis, diagnostic testing, and treatment, we will work on recruiting additional support staff and veterinary professionals to help with this new game plan.
We recognize that some clients are not keeping up with bloodwork requirements to remain in compliance for continuing medications from us. If you don't keep up, we will have to forgo prescribing medications for your pet in order to maintain our hospital rules and our licensure requirements. Please don't place us in an uncomfortable position by not complying with these requirements. We will also start using AI software to help with reminders and text messages for this purpose.
We don't have all the details of this transition sorted out as Dr. Rodriguez's departure and all these ongoing changes are happening at the same time. However, we will continue to practice transparency by reaching out to clients with updates when we have them. We will also be reaching out to anyone whose appointment was originally with Dr. Rodriguez who still needs to be rescheduled due to her departure.
Your continued trust means the world to us, and we are committed to providing the best possible care under these new circumstances. Should you have any questions, would like to share feedback or need further assistance, please do not hesitate to reach out to us. I value the relationship our team has with each and every one of you and truly hope you will understand the difficulty with which some of these decisions have been made.
Thank you for your understanding and support during this transition.
Warm regards,
Dr. Ash
Medical Director and Founder
University Veterinary Center (UVC)
714-551-9911
[email protected]
SUBJECT: Important Changes to Our Services & Medical Care at University Veterinary Center
Dear Valued Clients,
We hope this message finds you and your beloved animals doing well.
Since opening our doors in 2016, it has been our mission to provide the highest level of care to your beloved pets. We have grown and evolved together over the years, and your trust and support have been the cornerstone of our success.
With that in mind, I am writing to inform you of some significant changes at University Veterinary Center (UVC). As many of you know, we recently lost our long-time beloved doctor, Dr. Hernandez, following her maternity leave last year. Additionally, Dr. Rodriguez, who joined our team around the same time last year, has transitioned to a new role to pursue advanced training in dermatology. This leaves me, Dr. Ash, as the sole veterinarian at our practice moving forward.
I want to share with you that the decisions outlined in this email were not made lightly. Since the inception of UVC, I have been dedicated to our clients and patients. I have worked late nights and weekends nearly every week for over 8 years—all for the love of our clients and their amazing pets. My commitment to their health and well-being has always been my driving force. However, the current circumstances demand that I make some difficult changes.
In addition to being the sole doctor at UVC, I also have personal responsibilities that I can no longer neglect. My father is battling kidney disease, and I need to be there for him as well. Balancing my professional duties with my personal life has become increasingly challenging. As much as I would love to continue working at the same pace, it is simply not sustainable with the number of clients we have.
Given these changes, we are writing to announce that UVC will be revamping our services to focus on key goals and changes moving forward. Here are the key changes:
Revamped Services: Moving forward, we will concentrate on providing care for animals with ongoing diseases, conditions, and ailments requiring advanced level care. Having worked in the emergency room and specialty hospitals prior to starting UVC, this is my main area of expertise and the number of emergencies we treat per week suggests this is where people need us the most. This shift in focus will allow us to utilize our specialized expertise (emergency, internal medicine, cardiology, etc) to its fullest extent. Healthy animals that do not require our specialized services may need to seek routine care elsewhere (until we're able to find more general vets who can step in to help). With that being said, if you are comfortable paying for the small increase in our services in order to continue ongoing care here, it would be our pleasure to serve you. We feel having a doctor who has the expertise to treat your pet in wellness and in illness is a good choice for everyone, but we understand that some may choose to seek veterinary care elsewhere moving forward. (With me as the solo vet on staff, it may take weeks to schedule an appointment - and I don't want you to get frustrated that I cannot squeeze in more patients to be seen). Our goal is to keep our clients out of the animal emergency rooms and we've been able to do that for many of you. So, let's focus on what we do best.
Increased Fees: To help manage the increased workload, maintain adequate discussion time during appointments, and keep the quality of our advanced services & staff at a high caliber level, we will be adjusting our fees as follows:
- Regular Appointment Exam Fee: Increased from $90 to $110 per visit, effective August 1st.
- Emergency Drop-Off Exam Fee: Increased from $120 to $150, effective August 1st.
Sadly, some clients come in and get advice only to ask for written prescriptions for all their pet's medications. While we understand and respect your choice to fill your medications anywhere you'd like, these visits do not cover the costs of the receptionists, nurses, and support staff who help keep this hospital functional. Historically, ongoing medication sales have kept veterinary fees low. With the transition to online purchases, veterinary hospitals and clinics will likely need to increase their service and office visit fees. While this leads to an unfortunate rise in costs for you as clients, it is the invariable repurcussion of the public choosing the internet over local businesses. For those of you who have continued to purchase your medications through our hospital and those of you who have switched back to support our pharmacy, we thank you and will be focusing our time and efforts in supporting you and your pets—just as you've done for us.
We also face challenges with clients not picking up their phones when we call with lab results, necessitating multiple phone calls per lab result. If we are unable to reach you, we will leave a voicemail, and you can call to schedule an in person follow-up to discuss the details as needed.
Many people are behind on wellness examinations and are foregoing routine care and preventatives like vaccinations for their pets. While it has always been our goal to help with preventative medicine, it seems many of our clients are only reaching out with urgent care and emergency needs. Hence, we feel this is a more suitable game plan moving forward.
Insurance premiums and the cost of laboratory and pharmaceuticals are continuing to go up. Clients with extremely aggressive pets may be notified that we are no longer able to service their pets due to limitations of our new insurance carrier. Furthermore, please do your part to save up for your pet's ongoing medical needs as I anticipate the cost of receiving veterinary care everywhere will only continue to go up in the years to follow.
We may have to forgo veterinary care for patients who require a significant amount of outside prescriptions for their ongoing care. I am simply unable to continue to spend my weekends reviewing medical records and writing 8 hours of outside prescriptions. The main focus of all my time and energy moving forward will be to keep this hospital open, non-corporate, and focused on providing advanced veterinary care for those who wish to seek such care under my guidance.
We provide advanced internal medicine and surgery for dogs and cats and will announce when we are able to take new patients soon who need this type of care. We are in the process of recruiting people who specialize in advanced veterinary care to help with our newfound focus on the treatment of sick animals moving forward. If any of our clients know veterinary professionals who love animals and are well-suited for our hospital, please feel free to make an introduction or referral.
As we transition to a hospital where people can seek advanced veterinary diagnosis, diagnostic testing, and treatment, we will work on recruiting additional support staff and veterinary professionals to help with this new game plan.
We recognize that some clients are not keeping up with bloodwork requirements to remain in compliance for continuing medications from us. If you don't keep up, we will have to forgo prescribing medications for your pet in order to maintain our hospital rules and our licensure requirements. Please don't place us in an uncomfortable position by not complying with these requirements. We will also start using AI software to help with reminders and text messages for this purpose.
We don't have all the details of this transition sorted out as Dr. Rodriguez's departure and all these ongoing changes are happening at the same time. However, we will continue to practice transparency by reaching out to clients with updates when we have them. We will also be reaching out to anyone whose appointment was originally with Dr. Rodriguez who still needs to be rescheduled due to her departure.
Your continued trust means the world to us, and we are committed to providing the best possible care under these new circumstances. Should you have any questions, would like to share feedback or need further assistance, please do not hesitate to reach out to us. I value the relationship our team has with each and every one of you and truly hope you will understand the difficulty with which some of these decisions have been made.
Thank you for your understanding and support during this transition.
Warm regards,
Dr. Ash
Medical Director and Founder
University Veterinary Center (UVC)
714-551-9911
[email protected]