A new management company, Veterinary Practice Partners (VPP), has entered the veterinary market. The company was founded to be a partner to veterinary practices as they navigate the changing marketplace, according to Rich Lester, founder and CEO of VPP. “For the first time in the industry, many veterinary practice owners face problems that are impacting their exit plans and profitability,” said Lester, who is also the former president of BrightHeart Veterinary Centers. “Owners who are ready to retire are finding the younger associates are less excited about buying a practice because of their large student loan burdens and trying to balance family responsibilities. “Another issue is that pet owners who previously turned to veterinarians for the purchase of medications are now buying from low cost Internet pharmacies. “These issues, among others, are causing disruptive changes in the practice of veterinary health care, impacting the bottom line of practice owners. VPP’s partnership approach can help owners and their current associates navigate these issues successfully.” In addition to being president of BrightHeart Veterinary Centers for almost three years, Lester has spent most of his career in human health care services where he focused on forming joint ventures with doctors. VPP’s leadership has seen this type of partnership model—where business people and doctors own health care facilities together—thrive in human health care, according to Lester. “This unique approach creates a clinical and business environment that puts patient care first, while implementing reasonable business practices that result in a financially successful venture,” according to the company. VPP plans to use this approach in the veterinary industry. VPP will focus on the business and administrative aspects of practice management while the veterinarian partners lead the clinical and client side, according to VPP. Today’s approaches are either 100 percent corporate owned or 100 percent veterinarian owned, VPP noted. VPP reported that it has “significant” funding from a health care investment firm based in New York. In related news, VPP has retained Fetching Communications as its agency of record. <Home>
