Urgent care hospitals expand access to veterinary careAugust 26, 2022To help expand access to care, VCA Animal Hospitals has added an urgent care option to its network of clinics..
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The future of veterinary inventory managementMarch 23, 2018Running a veterinary hospital is no easy task—managing staff, client experience, finances, and marketing, not to mention delivering quality medical care to patients, are top of mind. In general, inventory management gets pushed aside. Having managed veterinary hospitals large and small, I certainly understand how inventory can be neglected. During my career, the priority in managing inventory was to keep the hospital stocked, with little regard to controlling costs. If we ran out of a medication or a product, I would get an earful. Over the past five years, veterinary medicine has changed. The cost of goods, overhead expenses, and, especially, wages are increasing at an unstainable rate. Minimum wage laws and "living wage" campaigns across the county are touching every aspect of veterinary medicine. These costs will continue to rise. Human healthcare went through a similar transition two decades ago. The answer to reducing costs was process improvement. Today most large healthcare systems have invested in Lean, Six Sigma, or some other form of Kaizen (continuous improvement) programs. The veterinary industry would be wise to follow this lead. Although change is difficult, the good news is human healthcare has already started this journey. Most of the methods, processes, …
SCA Pharmaceuticals issues recall on morphine, fentanylOctober 26, 2017A voluntary recall has been issued by SCA Pharmaceuticals, a sterile compounding company. The recall is for 11 lots of its injectable morphine and fentanyl products due to possible microbial contamination. The products associated with this recall were distributed nationwide to human and veterinary hospitals. The company not received any customer complaints or reports of adverse events related to this issue, the manufacturer stated. SCA Pharmaceuticals is notifying its customers via telephone, email, and the USPS, and is arranging for return/replacement of all recalled products. Customers who have product being recalled should discontinue use immediately and return the product to SCA Pharmaceuticals at SCA Pharmaceuticals, 8821 Knoedl Court, Little Rock, AR 72205. Consumers can contact SCA Pharmaceuticals at 877-550-5059 between the hours of 8 a.m. and 5 p.m. Central Standard Time, Monday through Friday. Adverse reactions or quality problems experienced with the use of this product may be reported to the FDA's MedWatch Adverse Event Reporting program either online, by regular mail or by fax. Complete and submit the report online at fda.gov.medwatch/report.htm; to submit by regular mail or fax, download the form at fda.gov/MedWatch/getforms.htm or call (800) 332-1088 to …
Petco officially enters the veterinary hospital ring with ThriveOctober 10, 2017Petco has an answer to PetSmart's Banfield Pet Hospitals: Thrive Affordable Vet Care clinics. The company's first Thrive opened inside a brand-new Petco in Aldine, Texas, last week. Thrive offers $10 exams and "a full suite of in-store veterinary care and wellness services," according to the company. Twelve more Thrive veterinary hospitals will open within newly remodeled Petco stores in Texas, California, and Colorado through the end of 2017. "While pet health and wellness are increasingly important to pet parents, navigating veterinary services in particular can be confusing and overwhelming," said Brad Weston, Petco CEO. "Understanding what pets need at each stage of life, what constitutes routine care, urgent or specialty care, and when to seek veterinary expertise are common challenges pet parents face. "By expanding our in-store veterinary services, Petco's veterinary professionals can help pet parents through every step of their pets' health and wellness needs, all in one convenient location," he added. "Our Aldine location is the first of our new in-store hospital design, and we are excited about bringing more of these locations to the Houston market in the next few months." In addition to new in-store veterinary hospitals operated by …
Mars Inc. completes VCA Inc. acquisitionSeptember 12, 2017What started in January is a done deal, as Mars Inc. has announced that its acquisition of VCA Inc. is now complete. VCA will operate as a distinct and separate business within Mars Petcare, alongside Banfield Pet Hospital, BluePearl Veterinary Partners, and Pet Partners. Bob Antin, co-founder and CEO of VCA animal hospitals, will remain at the helm at its Los Angeles headquarters. "I welcome the 25,000-plus VCA team members to the Mars Petcare family of companies," said Poul Weihrauch, president of Mars Global Petcare. "VCA's partnerships with veterinarians and pet care providers, as well as their breadth and expertise in veterinary services, diagnostics and technology, will position all of us to deliver more comprehensive care and continue on our journey supporting our purpose: a better world for pets." Mars, which reports approximately $35 billion in sales per year and operates in more than 80 countries, produces Pedigree, Royal Canin, and Whiskas pet food brands, in addition to owning Banfield, BluePearl, and Pet Partners. VCA delivers pet health care services through more than 800 small animal veterinary hospitals in the U.S. and Canada; Antech Diagnostics, a nationwide clinical laboratory system that services all 50 states and Canada; animal diagnostic …
