The people over at VitusVet “love pets and believe in advocating for them because they can’t speak for themselves”. If you haven’t heard of them before, VitusVet is a thought leader in the veterinary industry truly providing patient driven solutions. Their product features a mobile app that any veterinarian or pet parent can access. Not only can veterinarians share patient images with specialists, the pet parent can then show those images to any veterinarian in the world to get a second opinion.
A Patient Driven Model
CTO Kalpesh Raval and CEO Mark Olcott, DVM met back in business school. It didn’t take very long for these co-founders to find common ground in the realization that there are tremendous information silos in the veterinary industry; whether it be general practices or specialty hospitals. As you probably know, it’s not rare to hear that even if their offices are located in the same building, two corresponding offices will communicate via fax. It’s 2017 and it just doesn’t make sense that an industry focused on improving the lives of animals relies on such outdated technology. Which is why VitusVet was started: as a mission to break down those barriers and help veterinarians access the information they need in a timely and effective manner. All of which can possibly help save and improve the lives of animals.
What makes VitusVet shine super bright amongst the industry stars is the fact that not only was their product created in mind of veterinarians; they wanted to ensure that pet parents have access to their animal’s health records. That’s where the mobile app comes in. The VitusVet mobile app allows pet parents to access full records including: study notes, lab work, prescriptions, vaccinations, and medical imaging; all 24/7.
We always say that good word of mouth referrals come from happy customers. The thing is that Kalpesh and Mark understood the importance of establishing transparency and a degree of trust in the Veterinarian – Pet Parent relationship. By having the ability to access these records, both parties are eligible to: 1) Save costs by not having more scans taken needlessly. Besides, radiation is not only bad from humans, but also for Fido and Fluffy. 2) If a family happens to be out of town during an emergency, this kind of access to information can actually save a life.
Who Uses VitusVet?
Today, VitusVet has a SaaS product that helps veterinary practices grow their revenue by getting more appointments. How? By providing their clients with the VitusVet mobile app, pet parents can not only check out their pet’s records; they can make appointments, request refills, book for boarding, etc. They furthermore can get notifications and reminders. For instance, if Fido is due for his Bordetella vaccination, the app alerts the pet parent. This all helps veterinary practices improve productivity and efficiency by not having staff sit hours on the phone booking appointments. People are getting more and more busy. They don’t always have time to sit down and make calls. A mobile app takes that annoyance out of the equation completely as all of that communication can be done virtually. It is needless to say that general practices thrive off of this digital channel to solve patient satisfaction issues.
Why Purview?
One of the key differentiators that a partnership with Purview has provided is the ability to enable sharing. Pet parents can share images of their pets with their friends and veterinarians…and veterinarians can do the same with colleagues. Going back to one of the reasons why VitusVet was founded, everyone has heard a horror story of how a life could have been saved if there was just more time or if the veterinary team had more resources. If you have taken your pet to the Emergency Hospital after hours, Fido will possibly have lab work as well as veterinary images taken. The staff will at some point ask you who your GP is, because they are obligated to send those images to your veterinarian so they can be added to Fido’s records. Typically, those images are faxed. But what about the digital images? You can’t fax a digital image. And that’s where Purview steps in. With a Purview Cloud based solution, you can share those images digitally…with a single click.
Final Thought
If every single veterinary and healthcare practice in the world was 100% patient driven, perhaps we would be living in a different world altogether. However, part of the reason why this is not the case already is due to the fact that not everyone has transitioned to updated technological mediums. If you have a smart phone or tablet, you already use apps on a daily basis. Have a veterinary practice or perhaps pet at home? Download the free VitusVet app and start enabling pet parents and veterinarians in your community to start using technology to improve veterinary outcomes.
