Vet Evolution: Shaping the Future with Innovation, Empathy, and Growth.

Well, good evening, and welcome to the Veterinary Business Summit. This veterinary expert webinar will focus on vet education, shaping the future with innovation, empathy, and growth. So whether you're leading a growing team, navigating change, or just trying to stay ahead in a shifting industry, today's summit is for you. We'll explore how innovation, empathy, and smart systems can help you create a practice that's not only resilient, but ready for what's next. From tech and team dynamics to client experience and compliance, you'll walk away with real strategies to lead the evolution of veterinary care.

Joining me for this summit, please welcome Dr. Emil Walzer, Anthony Lapolla, Claire Pickens, Jacinthe Morais, Stacey Purcell, Nick Baumeyer, Stacy Gentry, Albert de Rienzo, and Mary Moonjoy. It's great to have all of you here with us.

Thank you for your time and your talent. Let me also just take a moment to introduce to you to perhaps or remind you of the Veterinary Business Podcast, which is every Tuesday at 5:00 A. M. Eastern Standard Time, as you can see from this slide. So the Veterinary Business Podcast covers a wide range of topics in discussion with industry leaders, experts, and practice owners. You can find this podcast at veterinarybusinessinstitute. com, and I just encourage you, it's a great source of best practices, innovative ideas, inspiration, and great thought leadership as well.

So make sure to go check them out as well. So in today's summit, we are going to discuss on the topic Vet Evolution: Shaping the Future with Innovation, Empathy, and Growth, which is about transforming care, inspiring teams, and lead the evolution. So I'll start off with introducing myself. My name is Lester De Alwis. I manage live events and summits at the Veterinary Business Institute, where I focus on creating impactful educational experiences for veterinary professionals.

I also consult independently in the dental and aesthetic industries, helping build strategic partnerships and grow community-driven initiatives. My background is in business and event strategy, and I am passionate about bringing people together to drive meaningful results.

So let's welcome Dr. Emil Walzer. He's a veterinarian, data scientist, and senior manager of AI at Mars Petcare. He leads the development of advanced diagnostic tools that integrate AI with clinical standards, helping veterinary professionals make smarter, faster decisions with confidence. His work bridges the gap between data science and day-to-day care in real clinics. Welcome, Dr. Walzer. We're glad to have you with us tonight.

Thank you for having me. Next up, we have Anthony Lapolla, is a strategic HR leader, M&A advisor, and veterinary business strategist with over 15 years of experience. He's the founder and CEO of Empower Business Strategies, where he helps veterinary organizations build strong people-first cultures that drive sustainable growth. His work spans leadership development, integration strategy, and inclusive team building. Welcome, Anthony. It's great to have you with us tonight.

Thank you so much. Next up, we have Claire Pickens, is a seasoned business executive and founder of Clarity Group, where she helps pet-focused entrepreneurs grow through expert strategy, project planning, and deep industry know-how. With over 20 years of experience in veterinary operations and leadership, Claire is also a published author, dynamic speaker, and passionate mentor for the next generation of innovators in veterinary care. Welcome, Claire. We're thrilled to have you with us today.

Thank you. Nice to be here. Next up, we have Jacinthe Morais, is a seasoned veterinary marketing strategist and the CEO and co-founder of VetScribe. With over 20 years of leadership experience spanning corporate marketing and association strategy, Jacinthe is on a mission to streamline documentation and improve both patient care and team wellbeing. She's held senior roles at VCA, VetSource, and served as president of the World Pet Association. Welcome, Jacinthe. We're so excited to have you with us today.

My pleasure. Next up, we have Stacey Purcell, is the founder and CEO of The Vet Recruiter and one of the most respected executive recruiters in the animal health and veterinary space. With over 25 years of experience, Stacey has helped shape the leadership landscape of this profession, placing top-tier talent in C-suite roles, hospitals, startups, and global animal health companies. Stacey, it's great to have you tonight with us.

Thank you for having me. I'm happy to be here with everyone. Next up, we have Nick Baumeyer, is the director of the hospital operations at Blue Heron Consulting and a respected voice in veterinary business strategy and startup consulting. He's led the development of Blue Heron's startup and acquisition division and now oversee a team of over 15 consultants, guiding hospitals through growth and valuation and operational excellence. Welcome, Nick. We're so glad to have you with us tonight.

Thank you so much for having me And next we have Stacey Gentry, who is an operational coach with Blue Heron Consulting and a passionate culture builder in veterinary practice leadership. With over two decades in the field, she brings deep experience in hospital operations, team development, and coaching. Her journey from client service rep to practice owner, and now mentor, gives her a powerful perspective on what drives sustainable practice success.

Welcome, Stacey. We're thrilled to have you with us tonight. Thank you so much. And next we have Albert de Rienzo, is a visionary innovation leader with over 30 years at the intersection of science, medicine, and technology. As co-founder and CEO of One Health Group, he's driving game-changing advancements in diagnostics and monitoring tools that serve both animal and human health. With more than 100 medical solutions launched, numerous patents, and leadership roles at global health tech companies, Albert's impact on healthcare innovation is unmatched.

Welcome, Albert. It's an honor to have you tonight with us. Thank you very much. It's a pleasure. And finally, we have Mary Monjoy. Is a nationally recognized attorney and trusted legal strategist in the veterinary and dental industries. As partner of Foshelli Deegan Lorena, she chairs the firm's veterinary practice group, guiding clients through complex legal landscapes, mergers, acquisitions, DEA compliance, and more. Her legal insight and leadership have earned her accolades, including Crain's Notable Women in Law.

Welcome, Mary. We're thrilled to have you with us today. Thank you. It's a pleasure to be here with you. So we have a great lineup tonight, and I'm truly appreciative of each of you being here with us in this summit. And on your screen, you'll see the main points we'll be covering today. We'll be discussing about financial resilience, use smart tools for better decisions and long-term stability, AI in practice, improve diagnostics, workflows, and client communication. Enduring leadership, build trust, empower teams and lead change. Winning culture, attract and keep top talent with a strong workplace culture. Modern HR, upgrading hiring and team development with real-world strategies.

Efficient software, streamline care and boost client satisfaction. Prevent burnout, support mental health with proven well-being tools. And finally, legal preparedness, avoid risks with proactive compliance strategies. So I'm confident these points will deliver an insightful and valuable discussion tonight. I encourage you to take notes while listening to this webinar. It's really important. One thing I often notice with webinars is that we, or summits like this, is that we try to capture everything.

But it's more valuable to focus on these key insights that can truly set you up for success. So I also want to let you know that tonight we will have the chat open. So for those of you who are just joining in or just listening in, if you'd like to pose a question, please just go ahead and do that, and I will manage to bring those questions into this discussion. And we also would like to see your reactions. If you have any heart reactions, thumbs up, or any engagement, that will be really helpful for us too in this, throughout this discussion.

And just before we get started, I also have something for you, for everyone who's listening in. If you stick until the end of this webinar or during the middle of this webinar also, there will be some gifts for you, for the audience. A cool little surprise. I'm not going to tell you too much more than that, but I can tell you that this gift will have significant impact on your practice and yourself. So you might want to hear a little more about it, so stick around until the end.

But like I said, it's not going to be involving any involvement of any cost, but it's going to be a complimentary gift from the Veterinary Business Institute to you. So with that said, let's go ahead and get started.

AI IN VETERINARY DIAGNOSTICS

We have some great questions lined up for tonight, and I'm going to start with Dr. Walzer, and I'm going to stop sharing my screen. So let's kick things off with a fascinating look into the future of diagnostics. So Dr. Walzer, with your work at the intersection of AI and clinical practice, you're uniquely positioned to help us understand how tech is reshaping care. How is AI currently being used in diagnostics across general practice clinics, and what kind of outcomes are we seeing?

Yeah. So first of all, I want to thank you for inviting me here and giving me the chance to lead off. What a great group of people here to speak. I'm really humbled by that. So to start off, where are diagnostics in practice and where is AI being used?

I think we're starting to look and really have it integrated all across the gamut, both from your reference lab diagnostics to actually in-clinic. So, disclaimer, I work for Antech Diagnostics, just so everyone's aware. We have AI products that would be rapid read X-ray. Clinicians are able to actually submit X-ray cases for automated analysis there. So that's the one that I'm probably most intimately familiar with as I work on that one day to day. We also have, I think the one other options that people would be really familiar with is we have rapid read dental geared at dental X-rays.

I'm just leading off with ours. We have the Element Aim, but I'm going to cover a few of the other ones here, which is, I think what we're seeing a lot is the in-clinic piece too. So you see, there's the- automated analysis for image, just set a view from IDEXX, the Element Aim that are attempting to actually start to analyze samples in a way that we couldn't previously before. So you're actually with things like Setaview and that able to have a better view of blood samples or tissue samples than you were with previous generation analyzers. And that's really powered through AI.

You can look at the other side, which is the radiology. There's Signal Pet, Vetology. There's quite a few out there. Where are we at right now? So I think we're actually across the gamut, seeing them being utilized by veterinarians day to day. Different practices have different levels of familiarity with each of those AI solutions. What I generally tell people is, you can usually get a trial, or you can ask to have a demo of some of the machines that are a little bit higher investment up front.

Things like the radiology solutions, those are going to be out of the gate a little cheaper because they're pay per use for the most part. But we're actually seeing real impact on patients today, helping doctors deliver better care, and I think that's kind of where, I could talk for hours on what's available out there. But mainly what I want to say is where we're hoping to continue to get to is really augmenting this clinician experience using AI, really add a level of ability that they can have, help them do more in the clinic. So I don't see AI as this thing that's taking away from doctors or it's taking diagnosis away from them. What we're really looking to do and continue to drive is this augmentation of the clinician, help them deliver the best care they can.

And in a lot of ways, what I see AI as being able to do on the diagnostic front is help doctors focus on interacting with clients and patients right there and delivering them the best care, doing that all, and then at the end of the day, actually going home and being able to maybe leave the clinic behind. I think that's one thing we often don't talk a lot about is, in the diagnostics world, you replay it again and again. So having some level of support from AI can actually help you close that down, come to a conclusion for the day, and put it away. And I think we'll talk a lot about it more. I didn't even touch on the scribes or the large language model piece just because I think there's other people who have a lot to share on that, but that's another piece of that as well.

Thank you, Dr. Walzer. Yeah, that was such a thoughtful breakdown. It's also exciting to hear how AI is already delivering real results in practice.

HR AS A STRATEGIC GROWTH DRIVER

So moving on, let's shift gears to the people side of practice. So Anthony, your expertise in HR strategy gives you a rare lens into how teams can drive or stall our growth. So how can veterinary practice reframe HR as a strategy growth driver rather than just a compliance function?

Yes, and thank you very much for having me this evening. We see this quite often in practices, whether they're startup or existing practices, where HR is looked at as a reactive versus proactive. So it's only thought about from a compliance standpoint or an employee relations standpoint instead of looking at it being a position that's a business partner in the practice. So we really encourage when we work with our practices that we're not just a reactive, we're there to be proactive and have a seat at the table. The other thing that we look at, too, is HR metrics and how we tie them to hospital KPIs. And so looking at open positions, time to fill for those positions, making sure that employees are satisfied because if employees are satisfied, then clients are satisfied, and it's a trickle effect when you're looking at revenue and operating costs. So having an HR advisor is extremely important to ensure all those are humming the same tune, so to speak, in the clinic.

The other thing, too, is recruitment and retention with employer branding. So by having a strong employer branding for your practice, and tying in HR to that conversation is huge because we look at it from an onboarding experience, which I know we'll talk about later on this evening, but from an onboarding side, looking at job postings, making sure that they're attractive, and maybe the use of social media within your organization. And then finally, one of the things that we talk about frequently is HR and culture, and what does that really mean. And HR is so important in driving the overall culture of the hospital to ensure that employees are successful. And so how do you get culture up in your practice?

Well, it's about working with your practice managers, medical directors, and owners to look at leadership and teaching employees leadership skills. So all in all, having HR having a seat at the table, whether you're a practice of six employees or a practice of 100, it's important to have somebody by your side that can help you get through these day-to-day maybe issues or problems and really just take your whole entire clinic to the next level of performance. And at the end of the day, it affects, like I mentioned, client success, taking care of your pet parents and your pets, as well as taking care of the employee from a mental health and wellbeing.

Thank you, Anthony. Yeah, it's important. That reframe is so powerful, especially in today's hiring environment. So great to hear about that from you, Anthony.

STARTUP STRATEGY AND SCALING

So let's now turn to startup strategy. So Claire, you helped build and scale some incredible businesses in this space. What foundational systems should every new veterinary or pet-centric startup have in place to scale successfully? That's a great question. And if there's a Schnauzer that goes off the chain behind me, I'm sorry. The neighborhood is walking their dogs, and that is against her rules. So- ... I'll try to keep her quiet. So I'm going to mirror a little bit of what Anthony said, because I think when people are thinking about starting businesses, a small one or scaling businesses, their minds go straight to technology and financial stuff, and they go straight for the fancy stuff first.

And I can say from personal experience and from helping others, the very first thing on your list should be however you're taking care of your people. So how you're paying them. If you miss a paycheck as an employer, you just ruined your brand. How you're communicating with them. If you're communicating 24 hours a day on a Slack channel, that's another great way to ruin a brand. So I think these systems come first before anything else, because as an employer, as a small or large business, you're nothing without a team that trusts you.

So I would say that's the very first thing to set up. After that, the next thing I think is the next most important thing is how are you going to solve problems when they happen? So these days, it's not that difficult to come across sets of SOPs and instructional guides. So I don't think people have to put as much work into that as they used to because there's so many great ways to do it now. However, how you adapt and change to your business is super important. So what does your change management look like? Set that up right at the beginning and figure out how your people will be, the people doing the job, will be directly involved with adapting and growing, like version two, version three, version four of those systems. Because not every handout's going to be perfect that you purchase, so you just have to have a way to change it.

That adaptability to me is a difference-maker in being able to grow, and that's everything. That's how you handle cash at the end of the day, to how you run a fecal, to where you have the local county rabies protocol written down. It's everything that you do needs to be adaptable and need to be able to change. So where you store it, how you change it. For scaled companies, how many copies that you have of it, and how many people are in the editing of it. Anybody who's planning knows how complicated that gets in Google Drive.

And probably the third thing I'd say is the culture of real conversations. It's a huge mistake I see happen fairly often, small and big companies, is that they start off with such an idealistic nature to what they're doing and, I call them hockey stick graphs. Like, we're just going to do this, and we're going to just keep doing this, and everything's on the up, and that's just not real life. I think you have to, from the start, set that tone in your business that here's how we're going to have real conversations, and here's how we're going to point out when things don't work, and we're going to change. Because technology's changing so fast.

You've got to have a way for those voices to be heard that doesn't turn into complaining. So that's essential to the growth and scaling of a company. So those would be my three. I know those aren't technical systems, but they are systems. They're operational systems of a business. Exactly. Thank you, Claire. Yes. That was packed with practical gems. So anyone trying

DOCUMENTATION, AI SCRIBES, AND CLINICAL EFFICIENCY

to, thinking of launching or growing a business, it's going to be very helpful for them. So Jacinthe, now let's talk documentation. One of those areas that can either make or basically create practice harm or basically cause serious friction. So Jacinthe, with your work at VetScribe and beyond, you've seen this challenge from all sides. How can practices rethink documentation workflows to reduce burnout and increase clinical efficiency?

Yeah, that's a good question. So first, who likes documentation? Raise your hand. Okay, I don't see any hands in the air. Documentation, it doesn't look like something which is painful, but it is, and it's contributing to burnout. So those two, sometimes up to three hours that veterinarians and staff are spending doing notes are really eating at them. So what we offer with AI scribing is a way to reclaim that mental space that they need to be efficient or to be just good in their daily life.

So now by pressing a button and starting a conversation with the client and just letting the AI do the work, it's such a relief for the doctor, and it's offering them a feeling of closure. At the end of every consultation, they have the impression that the work is done, what has been discussed has been captured. I don't know about you, but there is nothing more than, what I like is when I'm doing something, and I can see what I have done, and I can close it, and I have the final product. So veterinarians are like us. And think about it, now they can do it with every consultation. The burnout rate is so high, so if scribing can help them, it's a gift for them.

They should be doing scribing. And not just the veterinarian, the technicians as well. Technicians have a high rate of burnout, almost as high as the veterinarians, and actually, 30% of technicians are thinking about switching job within the next two years. Think about from an HR point of view, rehiring, retraining. That's very expensive, and we don't want to see those good people leaving the practice. Same thing for early career veterinarian. They are more affected by burnout, especially women, and it's so sad to see veterinarians in our profession not enjoying what they do.

So if scribing can help them, let's do it. And it's so easy. It doesn't require any ramp-up time. You can be up and running in a few ... consultation, you get used to the system. So it's really a great way to just improve the workflow. And talking about workflow, you can start with your technician. They can get into the room. They can talk with the pet owner, collect all the subjective data. So the veterinarian, even before opening the door of the consultation room, the veterinarian could look in their phone and see what they will be stepping into.

So they can see the history of the case, so they can enter and be ready to have a more deep conversation with the pet owner because they will not repeat everything that was just discussed with the technician. They can dig deeper for a condition or something like that, and they can connect so well, so much better with the pet owner because they don't have to take those mental notes and saying, "Oh, I need to remember that and I need to put that here or on that side of my brain." It's done. So technicians love it. Veterinarians love it.

And it can also be helpful for anybody in the practice because at all time everybody has access to the information related to that patient. So think about a way to follow what's going on with the patient in the practice up to the checkout. The person that does the checkout can look at the note and say, "Okay, I see that I have that in my checkout sheet. Oh, I'm missing that treatment or that product I need to ask for. I need to bill the client for that." So it's just a good way, very easy to set into. I say easy.

I know nothing is easy, and Claire was talking about change management. I don't want it to sound like you just do that and it's done, but it can be done, so. Thank you. Thank you so much, Jacinthe. That's a great perspective and I would say a fresh perspective and so timely with everything with teams right now in day-to-day activities, they're juggling everything, and this perspective

TALENT, RECRUITMENT, AND RETENTION

is really good. Fresh to hear. So let's talk talent, because finding and keeping the right people is top of mind for so many practice leaders. So Stacey, you've placed top talent across the industry for decades. What recruiting trends are emerging that practice leaders need to pay attention to now?

Well, so there are several. So I've identified four. So four trends right now that veterinary practice leaders should be watching closely if they want to stay competitive in today's talent market. So one of the biggest shifts is the continued move toward passive candidate recruiting. In the past, veterinary practices could just post a job and expect quality candidates to come to them, and that's no longer the case and it hasn't been the case for the past few years, especially with veterinarians, veterinary technicians, practice managers, and boarded specialists who are high in demand.

So, the top talent right now is already employed. They're not actively searching for positions. So that means that practice leaders and their recruiting partners have to be proactive in reaching out to candidates who aren't open to applying but may be open to the right opportunity. And the second trend is the rising importance of having a strong employer brand, and I think Anthony may have mentioned that. But candidates are doing their research. They're looking at online reviews.

They're talking to current and former employees. They're evaluating a practice's culture before they even decide to interview. So practices that communicate their mission, their values, and what makes their work environment unique will have a competitive edge. And then, we're also seeing a growing emphasis on flexibility and wellbeing. So candidates are asking about work-life balance. They're asking about mental health support, flexible scheduling. And the younger generations in particular, they want to see a practice that prioritizes the team's wellbeing, not just their productivity.

So that's really important in our field of veterinary medicine where burnout and compassion fatigue are real concerns. And then finally, technology and remote interviewing are playing a bigger role. So practices that streamline their interview process, that use video calls effectively and make quick but thoughtful decisions tend to land the top candidates before the competition does.

Appreciate that, Stacey. It's clear that hiring is evolving fast, and your insight is so valuable for staying ahead. So to anyone listening in, if you have any questions, please go ahead and

VALUATION AND FINANCIAL RESILIENCE

put it on the chat or in the Q&A, and we'll bring it to the discussion. So let's move on. Now let's zoom out a bit and talk about valuation, a topic that can feel like a little black box for many owners. So Nick, you work directly with owners navigating this all the time. What should aspiring or current practice owners understand about the financial indicators that influence valuation?

Yeah. I'm going to start off by just saying thank you again for having me here. It's awesome to be on this board with everybody. So valuations can be a scary opportunity for an owner if they've never done one before, and there's a ton that needs to be brought up and focused on. So I've tried to break it down into three areas that I feel are the most important. But the biggest thing I think for most owners to understand is the valuation isn't just about the revenue, it's about the profitability, sustainability, and the transferability.

And so, yes, if you have a gross revenue that's very high, that does not indicate the price of what your practice is going to be. That's one financial indicator, but we're really focused on three big things, and so one of them would be your EBITDA. And so most veterinary hospitals today are valued as a multiple of EBITDA And if we haven't heard what a multiple is or you don't understand how we get a multiple, it's probably too much to describe today. But finding the right evaluator for your hospital is crucial, because there's a lot of good companies out there, a lot of great companies out there that can do this, but your EBITDA is going to be a big portion of what this is based off of. And then the number two that I was thinking about over the last couple of days was just revenue and growth trends. We're looking at, this goes to your sustainability bullet point that I put in there is, what are we doing as a practice to continue the success and the sustainability of what we're trying to do?

So valuations are generally not based off of one year. They're usually based off of three to five years of your practice's health. And so I always recommend practices get evaluation every single year. I think it's influential for us to know the value every year, if it's growing or if it's not growing, and what is causing it to grow or not grow. So revenue and growth trends are huge when we're coming into valuations. And then the third one that I picked out was owner dependence. So many of the hospitals that we work with or the industry works with are one to two or two to three doctor practices.

And I think a lot of people, as owners, and myself being an owner as well, we forget that the owner should not be the primary producer in that practice. And so understanding that if we've got two or three associate DVMs, giving them the opportunity, empowering them to be the higher producer for us is a huge opportunity for the sale of our practice. Because at the end of the day, if we sell our practice as the primary owner and we're the primary producer, we're going to hurt that practice sale. Because if that person leaves and does not commit to two years or whatever it may be, at the end of the day, that hurts us. And so focusing on your EBITDA, revenue and growth trends, and owner dependence, making sure that owner is not the highest producer are three areas that I think I would love for every hospital to understand when they're going into a sale.

And then I'm going to steal something from Claire, is just focusing on the team. I think a lot of us overlook what the team has to bring for us as owners in our sale. And so if we've got the right team built up that's empowered, our revenue's going to naturally grow, right? We've got the right team, right place, right time. And so focusing on what kind of team we're building will ultimately help grow our practice value year over year without having that burnout or that transfer of team members.

So those are the top three or four that I'd recommend people understand on how a hospital's valued. Thank you so much, Nick. I think you made a complex topic feel a lot more manageable now, so. I'm trying. All right. So let's dive into something near and dear to many of us, and that's culture. So Stacey Gentry, your background in coaching and team transformation is so relevant here. So what does culture transformation look like at the ground level

CULTURE, LEADERSHIP, AND TEAM WELL-BEING

in a veterinary clinic?

Thank you. Yes. To really work on a culture in a hospital, it starts with what Anthony actually spoke about earlier, and that's leadership in your hospital. And so really focusing in on who the leaders are. And it's funny, sometimes it'll be a practice manager, but it might also be the technician in the back that's unintentionally leading, and none of us even noticed until we start observing and paying attention. In the absence of a leader, leaders step up, whether they know it or not. And so really we need to discover who are the leaders in that hospital, and that's the first step when we start coaching with the hospital is, who are the leaders?

Who is going to be the ones to lead the culture in a hospital? And so when we're starting to transform, we want to work on those behaviors of the leaders in the hospitals. Are they transparent, right? Are they sharing the why behind decisions and changes that they're making, or is it more hidden and we don't know what's going on or why everything's a surprise every day? We want to be transparent with how we show up every day. We want to be vulnerable. Will we admit if we make a mistake? Can we turn that into a learning opportunity? Oh, my goodness, that would be cool.

Are we asking for help as a leader? I was just on a call today with an owner of a veterinary hospital. I asked her when the last time she had asked for help, and she started laughing at me. So, that's important. If you need help, ask for it. It shows vulnerability. It's super important. Saying you don't know, very powerful as a leader. Consistency, very important. Being fair with your policies in your hospital as a leader, but also following through on your promises that you're making.

Accountability's a really huge topic right now with our leadership. We've kind of swung, I've noticed, the opposite way and are not holding very many of our team members accountable to things because we're trying to show up as flexible and adaptable and caring and supportive, and we've lost a little bit of our accountability at this point. So that's very huge. Empathy. Of course, I said accountability right after that. Empathy is super important. Really understanding how people are doing in your hospital. I used to do 10-minute check-ins. I'd set my watch 50 minutes after the hour. I walked my hospital to find out how people are really doing. It matters to them.

And then, of course, as a leader, it's important to invite feedback. So having some humility, asking people what they really think of your initiative, of your ideas. Regardless of your role, that's important. But I think as a leader, it shows that you care about them and that they matter, right? They matter, which is my second point, is we need to show our team they matter So whoever you are, this doesn't have to come from leadership, although it's powerful if it does. If we show our team that they matter through anything, systems that we have in place, being specific and intentional with our gratitude instead of a

thank you for the day. "Wow, the way you held that dog really helped us get that blood draw today. I super appreciate that." Wow, that's powerful for that person because that means they felt they were seen today. Somebody noticed what they did and the impact that they had on the hospital. So showing people they matter, it can be really intentional and really, really powerful. I think you can do that through your systems that you have in place, which I'll probably get into a little bit later.

But an example of that might be how your urgent care system is set up. If we accept every urgent care that comes into our building, does it show that our staff matters when we do that? And so that's another example of a system that you have that might devalue your team. So being very intentional there.

Thank you, Stacy. I really appreciate that. I think so much of what you shared goes straight to the heart of team health. So it's very important for anyone listening in. I see some questions from Ali. Ali, thank you for joining in. I do see your questions. But let me just go through this few questions, and I'll get to your questions as soon as possible, so just hang on there. So let me move to Albert. So

ONE HEALTH INNOVATION AND FUTURE DIAGNOSTICS

now for a broader perspective that blends human and animal health. So Albert, your cross-species innovation work is fascinating. How do you see the convergence of human and animal health shaping the future of veterinary diagnostics?

Yeah, thank you very much. It's a great question. It's a really big question, so I'll try to be as succinct as possible. But animal and human health, it's considered one health. They're intrinsically linked. There's environmental variables that come into play as well. But when you think about it, there's a lot of learnings to be had there. So 70% of chronic diseases are shared. So your cat may have type 2 diabetes. Well, by the way, that's pretty common in the human space as well. So there's a lot of chronic disease overlap.

There's also, when you think of infectious diseases, whether zoonotic or vector-borne type of diseases, there's about seven out of every 10 makes the leap to human, and then sometimes it goes from human to human. And so you think of things like of vertebrae to vertebrae. So an animal to human, you might have something like a raccoon that's carrying rabies. And so those rabies would be an example of a zoonotic disease. You may have malaria. So the mosquito is the vector for the malaria to the human. So there's a lot of this overlap, and there's a lot of learnings to be had. So I'll just use one example. Again, I'm responsible for One Health Group, and that's what we focus on.

And we have a little sensor that fits in the palm of your hand. It'll almost collect 4 billion samples a second. Well, that's a lot of data, right? So if we get that data on animals, and they're different species, different breeds, different disease states, right? It can be in different markets, market verticals. It may be a veterinary practice, or it may be a cattle rancher. And then you take that learnings from the animals, the learnings from the human, and you apply AI in a broad sense, as well as other sorts of applications, other sorts of algorithms that allow you now to help register and fuse disparate data.

So it doesn't just have to be sensor data. It could be lab data. It could be image data. It's pretty comprehensive age-related, so demographics data. And so you sort of register that like data or even disparate data. You fuse it, and then what are the new learnings? So the learnings could be things that are predicting events before they ever happen. And then you can take a course of action to say, "Let's make sure that event never occurs." Maybe it's a exercise, maybe it's a nutritional sort of situation. Maybe it's just a topical that the animal needs.

It could be any number of things, but you want the simplest, the most non-invasive approach. And then you can also take that information to be preventative. But more important, it's personalized for each unique subject, whether animal or human. And so when you improve on the one, it helps you improve on the other. And sometimes we don't look at that, right? We say, "Oh, this device is or this pharmaceutical's for animal only. This is for human only." But there's a lot of cross-pollination, so to speak. So I think the future is very bright. I'm very excited what I'm seeing in veterinary medicine because finally, it's not human medicine is light years ahead in innovation compared to what's going on in the veterinary practice. Now you see a lot of really neat innovations in veterinary, whether a medical device, whether stem cell, molecular genetic medicine, microbiome.

Whatever the case may be, we're starting to see a real uptake in that. And I think the future is incredibly bright. And I think the more that we can marry that sort of One Health perspective, the better, and the more we can get from that big data to improve the health and wellness of all those involved.

Thank you. Thank you so much, Albert. Yeah, and I think you basically touched on tonight's topic, which is about

LEGAL PREPAREDNESS FOR GROWTH AND TRANSITION

innovation and growth, so how things are moving forward. So great to hear. So before we close out this segment, so let's turn to one of the most critical and often underestimated areas for any practice. That is legal protection during times of change. So Mary, what legal risks are most commonly overlooked by practice owners during growth or transition?

So I had a whole list prepared and I kind of ordered them, right? And then something happened today that made me put one of them to the top that I really didn't think about as the number one thing. But what is coming to mind, because of a client issue, is to plan your exit and plan how your business is going to function during its lifespan. So I have two partners who have been in business together for a very long time. They have an operating agreement that is silent as to what happens when one wants to sell and the other does not.

So in an effort to avoid litigation, we're trying to mediate this process. So I think for me at this point, looking at these two poor people that are married together with like no ability to agree on anything, it's like a prenup. Like start out with a great partnership agreement and on day one think about how are we going to function, what do we have to agree on 100%, what can each of us do separately, and then how do we make a graceful exit? If one wants to exit, can one buy each other out? There's a whole world of things that could've been in this agreement, and instead it's silent. And they're 50/50, and their accountant who has retired is the tiebreaker.

So now I got to go dig him up somewhere, and I got to get him to come to the table, and I have to hope that it comes down on the side of this practice should be sold because they can't work together anymore. It's a nightmare. So that would be number one is like look ahead through a lens and look down the tunnel of your future and try to decide, like a marriage, how's it going to end? That would be number one. Employment and your people are so important. Make sure that you have great legal advice with respect to your employment agreements. Non-competes have pretty much become a thing of the past, but sometimes they do serve a purpose. If you're hiring a specialist or things like that, consider some legal strategies around your employment agreements and putting them in place, and still being fair to people and not locking them down.

Learn about the employment laws in your state. Don't misclassify your employees. Be very conscious of wage and hour violations. I would say, especially in the state of California, they are class action happy. They are coming after veterinary hospitals big time. Your employees, they want to work. through their breaks. They want to help people until one gets angry, and then you're served with wage and hour violations and complaints, and they're expensive. Not just on the legal side, but on the fine side, and you don't want to be there.

Discrimination, workplace harassment, train your people, have a policy, put a handbook in place. Protect yourself. That's the one thing you can do, is put those policies in place. If someone complains, you have an action plan, you have a person that people can complain to and be heard. That is so very important. That's the one thing that can take your practice down. You don't want to be the practice on, I always tell my clients, "You don't want to be on the front page of 'Today's Veterinary Business.'" Whether it's for a regulatory compliance misstep or an employee harassment misstep, that's death to your business.

Regulatory compliance, we'll talk more about it later. I agree, there are SOPs out there that are easily found and put into place, but train your people, update them regularly, and make sure they're actually complying with the SOPs. Don't wait until the DEA is at your door and say, "Are my two, two separate? Where is my controlled substances? How are they kept?" And really be conscious that state law is sometimes more restrictive than federal law. And so you have to not just look at the DEA, you have to look at state law.

And there's about 10 other things we could talk about, but I really do think today my focus is on that lifespan of your practice and being prepared. Thank you. Thank you so much, Mary. Yeah, that was I think a great reminder, powerful reminder, because most practices just focus on growth and they just forget that they need to protect this growth as well. So

AUDIENCE QUESTIONS AND PANEL DISCUSSION

it's very important. So yeah, thank you so much for that. So, but before we move on to next segment, we do have two questions, and one question is for Anthony, that is from Ali. "So what does bringing HR to the table for culture talks and branding, recruiting, incorporation look like in a privately owned hospital around 30 to 50 employees?"

That is a great question. And first I would say if there are cultural issues within your practice, it's about first having a conversation with the leadership of the hospital. So whether it's your practice manager, your medical director, whoever it may be, having those conversations, but HR actually leading those conversations. And also looking at employees from an employee engagement side. So looking at interviews, surveys, it helps tremendously. And then looking at the value of onboarding feedback, recognition, conflict resolution, and having that mediator, that HR person really help...

navigate through some of those things. When you're looking at recruitment, and Stacey can really speak on this more than on our end, but we look at brand and how the brand ties into marketing. I'm sorry, into recruitment. So, HR just isn't about filling positions. We want to make sure that we're working with leadership to create attractive job descriptions and looking at ads, and your interview process, and how it reflects on culture, growth opportunities, wellness support, health and welfare benefits, so on and so forth.

So there's several things, just on those two topics, specifically culture and brand recruiting. But I would say having a strong person be able to mediate some of those issues and really getting down to the root cause of what's driving a failed culture, so to speak.

Thank you, Anthony. Stacey, would you like to add anything to this?

Well, I was going to say, you want to be the employer of choice. All right. You want to be the place where people want to come and work. And people know. They know, especially in a local market, they know who the employer of choices are.

Thank you, Stacey. All right, so for Claire, will you share specific communication best practices, the dos and don'ts?

Absolutely, yeah. And I'm thinking back also to something Stacey said about accountability. That is a huge word in business, and if I think about the times that a practice came to me to complain about an area leader or a regional leader, and I'm like, "What went wrong in the communication?" I'd say eight times out of 10, it was lack of clarity. So people were talking around something rather than actually talking about the thing and being proactive about what the next step is.

So I call it coach obvious versus coach productive. Coach obvious just tells you what the score is and how much time is left and what went wrong so far. Coach productive tells you what to do when you get back out on the floor. So like if we've got 30 seconds left, tell me what to do. So I would say that's probably the biggest mistake I've seen, is that when people are trying to correct and course correct, they're focused so much on what went wrong that what needs to go right isn't addressed, or they're so afraid that conflict will come out of that conversation that there's an element of condensation.

Condescending tones come in or just tiptoeing around things come in. So I would say those are probably my biggest do's and don'ts is do be very proactive about if you're solving a problem, be clear about how we're going to solve the problem together. And if you don't know how to do that and you don't know how to communicate it, practice it with somebody else first so that coaching conversation is a productive one rather than the coach obvious.

Thank you, Claire. Yeah. So much great advice. So before we step into the next segment, I want to take a brief moment to highlight something that truly aligns with the spirit of today's summit, and let me just get my screen shared. All right. So we spent the last hour hearing from brilliant minds about where veterinary care is headed from diagnostics and HR to legal strategy and operational leadership. What's clear is that thriving in this evolving landscape takes more than great medicine.

It also takes visibility, connection, and smart positioning. So with that in mind, we have a special opportunity for you who's listening in to tonight's summit. It's something we call the Tailored Strategy Launchpad, or TSL. This is a free, personalized practice growth strategy meeting created specifically for veterinary practice owners and managers. Again, no pitches, no fluff, just a chance to sit down with a marketing expert, assess where your practice currently stands online, and walk away with a and support growth goals you've set, whether that's expansion, stability, or smooth operations. Think of it as a wellness checkup, but for your marketing and your practice. So if you ever asked, you might have had these questions. Are we showing up when people in your area search for veterinary care? Are we attracting clients who align with our values and services? And finally, are we losing opportunities because of gaps in how we show up online?

So those are some questions you might have on your mind. So this strategy meeting will give you those answers and more, and you'll see a link in the chat and a QR code on the screen in just a moment. Again, these appointments are quickly getting filled up, so I would tell you to take the opportunity when you get. And we've set aside a few spots exclusively for attendees here today, and again, like I said, it tends to go fast, and so I encourage you to claim your session while they're available. So let me move on to the next segment.

All right, so to kick off this segment, let's come back to a topic that's sparking both excitement and uncertainty in vet med, and that is AI. So Dr. Walzer, with your expertise at the intersection of AI and diagnostics, what are some of the biggest misconceptions veterinary professionals have about AI in practice?

That's a great question, and I honestly just have to internalize it for a second. Because the misconceptions around AI could fill books. But I think where we're at now is the utility of AI is so high that we have to actually start finding a way to figure out what works in the clinic and what doesn't. So I think there's a couple misconceptions. I'll start with kind of- ... what AI is going to do, and then a little bit on how it works. So I think there's the misconception among people who run clinics, who are doctors, that AI is going to either replace them or take away the parts of their job they actually enjoy, which is diagnosis, thinking, working as a team to actually care for patients.

And that misconception, I think, often leads to people being hesitant to implement AI solutions at all or not trust what they do have available, whether that's AI scribing, a diagnostic service. So I think that misconception is one we can address, one, by just introducing artificial intelligence and those tools early on to vet schools, providing webinars, things like that, and actually just getting them to use it. One of my favorite things to say is the biggest boom for AI was quite literally just the scribing service being widely available. So the fact there's now 40-some plus of them available, it means that AI is kind of sitting or it can easily get into any clinic. And I really do see that as kind of the gateway where people can first interact, then see how it takes and helps offload some of their cognitive work that, again, we've talked about it already a lot, is that no one really wants to write all this documentation. So the key thing is taking this misconception that AI is here to take my job or take my skills or tell me how to practice medicine.

Instead, it's here to provide me with more insight, augment the information I have, and help me be a better doctor and actually focus more on the things that I want to focus on. I think that's really the biggest one. I think the misconceptions probably for the usage is the understanding how AI does and doesn't make mistakes. Artificial intelligence in some ways is a misnomer, right? I tend to think of it really as a giant statistical program, but that doesn't sound nearly as sexy on the front end. It's a lot harder to sell when you talk about it that way.

But when you start to understand it really is a complex set of statistics and plans, you start to understand the failure modes are actually different than how we perceive intelligence. So one thing I often see is I think of AI as a very advanced pattern-matching tool. It's capable of doing a lot of things that mimic what we would say is intelligence, but it'll make mistakes that are so obvious to you and I, but then it'll go on and have this brilliant insight that we could never really perceive because it's able to squash so much data in there. So the biggest misconception I see is there's this big push to compare it to human performance, and it actually reaches human performance in a lot of different domains, but it also makes mistakes that I think average humans wouldn't make from time to time. And that's really where you can benefit from combining human and this artificial intelligence, so to say.

And I think we're only going to keep getting better from here. So, the last misconception would be is if you're not really sure about trying it today, you might as well, because this is the worst it's ever going to be, and it's just going to keep getting better.

Thank you, Dr. Walzer. Yeah, it's such an important reminder how AI and basically integrating AI and basically how things and our understanding about AI is very important too. So let's shift gears into a human capital challenge that many leaders quietly wrestle with mergers and acquisitions. So Anthony, in your experience, what are the key HR pitfalls you see during practice mergers, acquisitions, and how can leaders avoid them?

So do we include HR in mergers and acquisitions? That tends to be the very last thing that is thought about in any type of M&A deal, and there's a light bulb moment when the conversations need to start happening with staff about the changeover, whatever changeover it may be, right? So, a couple of things. Number one, when you're looking at human resources from a mergers and acquisitions standpoint, you want to make sure that whatever the culture is or whatever the vision is at the clinic is shared with the new owners or the new owners are sharing their vision with the entire staff.

Typically, poor communication and change management happens, and so making sure that the employees don't feel blindsided during the M&A is huge, and so developing a clear communication style is important. And then compensation and benefit is huge, and making sure, especially during a due diligence process, even from a Q of E standpoint, looking at a benefits analysis to making sure that the employees are not hurt by the M&A to ensure that their compensation is either staying the same or not changing. We never want to see, and Mary will, I'm sure, talk from a legal standpoint, we never want to take away pay. So we want to ensure that's happening appropriately as well. Talking about leadership gaps in the clinics and from one practice owner who's exiting and/or maybe staying in the clinics to the new leadership coming in. And so it's very tough to adjust leadership mindsets of how things were always done to maybe what the new leadership is bringing in.

And so we see a lot of power struggles tend to happen. Compliance oversights happen quite often, and so looking at ensuring that you're staying in compliance when you're moving over, for example, let's say a benefits plan. It's under one EIN. It needs to go under a separate EIN for continuance. And so you want to ensure that's happening correctly. And then probably the biggest is making sure that you don't lose talent. And so ensuring that talent is happy stays the same, and you want to make sure that they're going to continue on that success, especially if you're buying a practice. And Nick mentioned multiples.

You want to make sure that you're continuing your revenue, continuing that... people are happy, that your clients are happy. So, call HR as soon as you're thinking about M&A and get them involved at least in those conversations early on so we can help navigate that with you as you're looking at some M&A, whether it's a brand-new clinic or purchasing an existing practice.

Thank you. Thank you so much, Anthony. And it's such a valuable lens on something that often gets overlooked during transitions. Some great practical advice there. So moving on, we've heard about scaling and with its technology operations. So Claire, you led operations across large organizations. So what operational lessons from corporate practice apply to smaller independent clinics?

Yeah, these are things I kind of wish I knew when I had a smaller independent practice myself, but you learn when you learn. So the larger companies structure better. So when you're designing a larger company and designing scale and growth, you're drawing departments. You're physically drawing decision-making departments, project management, accounting, and you've got it mapped out, and it's all project planned. Smaller practices tend to skip that a lot, and so the practice manager is the one bubble that has eight different tentacles coming off of it. And then when the practice manager gives up, then the doctor/owner might be the second bubble.

And they're trying to do all of those departments without actually mapping out decision-making, and I think that smaller companies can do it exactly the same way larger ones do. It might be duplicative of the same person kind of wearing a couple of hats, but if it's one bubble, then you definitely have not designed an organization. So I would say that's probably number one. The second thing that smaller companies can learn from the large ones is, I call it the distancing effect. So this is a complaint I used to get often from practices if they had an area leader that they felt never showed up. Right? Like, "Oh, I haven't seen him in a year.

I don't know where they go. They're in a different territory." Well, practice leaders do the same thing inside their own practices all the time. They get in their office, or maybe they start taking a bunch of time off when they're getting close to sale. The difference in a large company is the practice has somebody to call to complain and say, "Where'd they go? I haven't seen them in a year." In a small practice, they very rarely have somebody they can call. So that's another design component of who's going to hold the leader, the owner, the leader accountable in these circumstances.

And I think it's a good conversation for practices to have, is who's going to hold you accountable, and is there a complaint box or complaint department that's going to be listened to and take action? Because that's a material difference between large companies and small companies. And probably the third thing is medical autonomy. I actually think smaller practices do this better than large companies. Large companies de-risk a lot of things with standardization of processes and protocols, and I'm sure that's great for the AVMA policy premiums.

However, it tends to make people feel a little oppressed and not as personalized, where I think large companies could learn a lot from how small companies practice autonomy in real life. So if you're a smaller practice and you're forcing protocols on people, I guess it's the same thing, right? So the practice of medicine is extremely personal from what I've observed, and I think allowing that, there's pluses and minuses to the big and the small companies there.

Thank you, Claire. I love how you broke that down, and those are some takeaways any practice, regardless of size, can put to use. So, yeah. Again, now, let's stay on the theme of efficiency, but bring into documentation something that touches every part of care. So Jacinthe, in your experience, how does better documentation directly influence client satisfaction and care outcomes? That's a good question. In documentation and communication, there is a lot of overlap between those two topics.

But when documentation improves, everything downstream improves as well. Good documentation isn't just a good SOP note in a record. It's also a signal of quality care. People in the clinic and outside the clinic want to have good notes. They want to know what's going on with the patient. So accurate notes are a stronger continuity of care. If a doctor comes to work in the morning and another doctor has seen a patient yesterday, you really want to know what went on with this patient.

And with AI, it's very easy to have everything on file, always ready in a consistent language, easy to consult. So that's key for that. You can also send clear summaries to your pet owner. So clients want to have communication. They want to be able to understand what the doctor is saying. So just producing a summary of the visit or the discharge note that you can give them at the practice or by email, so they always have it with them, is key. So better, clear summary is better for the clients. It's a better understanding of the client, of the treatment plan, to really recruit that pet owner to be part of the treatment plan so we can have a healthier patient.

They also want to feel that they have been heard and valued. So again, if those notes are done and the doctor can really connect and establish that true relationship in the consultation room, it's a great improvement. And believe it or not, pet owners are like everybody else. Usually when we hear something, we retain a small percentage of what we hear. But when you're a pet owner and you're in a consultation room with a pet, maybe sometimes with a kid, the pet is on the table, the doctor is talking to you, the technician comes to the room, it's hard to recognize, to retain everything that is being said.

And actually, 80% of what is said can be lost, and 70% of the treatment that is recommended sometime is misunderstood by the client. So coming back with a written explanation of what was discussed, something that is clear in a language that they understand, is key for the treatment success. So this memory gap in between what the doctor thinks that he said or not what the doctor said, versus what is retained is really key, and it's so easy to fill that gap with additional information. So in a nutshell, that's how you can do it with new technologies.

Thank you, Jacinthe. Yeah. I think that connection between workflow and client trust is so important, so thank you for sharing those actionable takeaways. So, it's time to zoom in on the workforce side again in today's competitive hiring market. So Stacey Purcell, what are your thoughts on this? What makes a veterinary practice truly attractive to top talent beyond salary?

Yep, beyond salary. I love that question. So, salary is certainly important, but it's not the deciding factor for most top veterinary professionals, especially people who are mission-driven and career-focused. So what really attracts and retains high-quality talent is the overall employment experience, which leads to trust, transparency, communication, empathy, a team-oriented environment, and recognizing people's achievements. So one major factor is the practice culture, because people want to work in an environment where they do feel valued, respected, supported, and part of a team.

They're paying attention to things like how staff members interact with one another, whether leadership is listening to their feedback, and whether there's a sense of collaboration and shared purpose. So toxic or chaotic workplaces are a red flag no matter how competitive the pay might be. And then another differentiator is career development. So people want to grow, not just professionally, but also personally. So practices that invest in things like continuing education, mentorship programs, and clear paths to advancement signal that they're invested in their team for the long term. And this is especially important for the younger veterinarians who want to see a future beyond just the clinical work, such as practice leadership or even some want the ownership opportunities. And then autonomy and trust are key. So top talent wants to be able to practice the high-quality medicine and feel like their judgment is respected.

So practices that support evidence-based decision-making and empower their team tend to retain their best people. And then finally, a work-life balance and wellbeing matter more than ever. So people want to enjoy their work, but they also want time for their families, their hobbies, their health, and their personal lives. So practices that offer flexibility, reasonable expectations around hours and schedule, and then genuine concern for their employee wellness are seen as more desirable. So pay is important, but it's not the most important thing.

Exactly. Insightful as always. So I think that focus on culture and growth is something many leaders can start applying today. Thank you so much, Stacey. Again, to any of you listening again, hearing or listening to this summit, you can add your questions or your comments on the chat or in the Q&A, and we'll bring it to the discussion.

And ownership. So moving on to ownership. So ownership transitions are never simple, but they don't have to be chaotic. Nick, based on your experience coaching clinics through change, how do you approach operational coaching for clinics transitioning through acquisition or ownership change?

Good question. There are so many different scenarios for transition. And so I'm going to make Anthony smile here. When in doubt, call HR, is kind of one of my sayings. But I think everybody that's had their moment to comment already, there's so many key advisors that we can reach out to when we're buying a practice or we're working with a staff that is in the middle of being in a transition. And so I'm going to go, I'll put my Blue Heron hat on for a moment here. But when we get called to go in and help through a transition, you've got to go people first. And I don't remember who said it about clarity, but there's three rules that I go by, and it's communication, transparency, and those add to building the trust.

And so if we as veterinary industry experts do not go in or as business owners do not go in and build that trust of our staff first, and that starts with HR or legal or AI, new things that we can bring in, they're scared. I can't tell you how many practices we've been into that the employees at that hospital have not been told a thing. And so I understand why, but I also think that we can all do a better job of bringing that transparency to them and making them a part of it. So I like to go and ask them what their goals are. Where do they see their careers with this hospital?

And if we can give them a voice, I really think that's important. So me as an operational coach, going into a practice that's being sold or in a transition, there's questions we can ask. And I think asking the right questions at the right time will bring a lot of peace to our staff members. But also having the action items set up appropriately behind us with everybody that's on this call speaking tonight, each one of us has an opportunity to bring value to those team members and make a Make it a smoother transition. As a partner in a few practices myself, been very blessed to buy into a couple now, invest.

It's the same rules of thumb. Am I going out there to meet the team? Am I being transparent about what my goals are as an owner? Am I building the trust with the team? Because nine times out of 10, all they want to do is tell us what they think they could bring to the table. Right? What cool things for AI could we bring onto the table? And if we don't listen, and if we don't make them feel like they're the number one person or the number one reason we're doing this, we lose them.

And so in total, I think just bringing that communication, making them know we're people, we're going to make mistakes. I will be very honest. We've made a lot of mistakes, but you learn from your mistakes as a person working with these teams. And just telling them, "We're not going to be perfect, but we want to hear your voice. We want to know what new things you want to bring to the table. And here's the transparency behind it of what we're thinking of doing right away." And so I think giving them a clear explanation of the sale, what's going to happen, and not telling them something that we don't believe is huge.

And so I also want to end with, I recognize there's some sales that we cannot do that on. But 90% of the time, I believe we could be better to the employees that are staying there and not just focused on the person selling or buying into the practice. So communication, transparency, all builds the trust, and those are my three top things that I would tell anybody we have to focus harder on in a sale and a transition.

Thank you so much, Nick. Yeah, so amazing advice about having transparency and communication when you're going to transition. Thanks for that. So, alright. So we know team well-being and performance often feel like opposing forces, but they don't have to be. So Stacey Gentry, you coach leaders through this all the time. How can operational leaders support team well-being while driving performance? You just said it, right? Well-being and performance aren't at odds with each other, and they're actually interdependent. I really think that the high-performing teams that I see, they really only show up if those team members feel safe, they feel supported, they feel listened to, they feel heard in the hospital. And that's when they perform.

That's when they then give their best. You can't really trade one for the other. We need to actually work on our systems and build systems where performance comes from well-being, where we've taken care of them, and now they're going to perform for us. And looking at it in that way, if we can build our systems and do things like clarify roles, for example. There's so many hospitals I pop into and I'm visiting, and I can't even tell who's doing lab today and who... Some of them I don't even know who the CSR is. It's very difficult.

And if I can't see it coming in from the outside, do these team members know what's expected of them today? Mm-hmm. Or are they kind of just reaching for and reacting to every situation in front of them? How tiring is that to constantly be reacting all day long to everything that happens in front of you? Ugh, icky. And so, I would instead urge us to clarify who's doing what in the hospital. What does that look like for them? What do we expect of them that day? Not to put them in a box, but to set some form of predictability for them so that it protects their well-being.

Not that they can't take a career path and grow and learn through training and setting those goals, but we have to protect their well-being while we do so. So clarifying role is super important. Reducing chaos. Sometimes I see the leaders in the hospital being very reactionary, and if they are coming out of an exam room, doc's coming out of an exam room, and he grabs the first person he sees to draw blood on that dog, but it wasn't that technician's patient, we created chaos in the hospital. So we've got to have systems in place that reduce that chaos. The leaders are part of that. They can't have their own rules that they're following and then ask everybody else to follow a different set.

We've all got to be on the same page. And again, going back to predictability, we have to give the team some control over their work, some form of autonomy. It cannot be always about the client. I know I harped on that earlier, so I shouldn't over-harp, but we have to consider what control we can give them. Little pieces. You don't have to give them everything, but what little piece can they control today can be really helpful for their well-being. I think Mary said it. We need to protect their breaks.

They need lunch breaks. They're going to say they don't. She's right. They need lunch breaks. When they're on PTO, we can't call them and ask them about a case yesterday. They're out. When they go home for the night, we're done talking to them for tonight. We need to give them that break and peace of mind that work stays at work. Sometimes I think the veterinary field, it's almost become acceptable to overlap, which is just hurtful to our well-being. And we also need to reduce inefficiencies that burn people out.

One of the big things that I see that burns people out is assumptions. We didn't seek clarity. We don't really know the whole story. It's kind of like that seagull management where we swoop in, we have just this little piece we know, and we try to deal with it, and then we swoop out. But we didn't really know the whole story. We didn't know ... how to handle that situation, and it's so overwhelming to our team when, as leaders, we do that seagull approach where we swoop in and swoop out and didn't know everything that was going on.

And so when we, as leaders, make those assumptions, we actually hurt our team. And so I think there's a lot of examples I could give as what we could do here. But overall, if your team knows what's expected, why it matters, and we respect them as people, their limitations, their time off, things like that, they perform better, and they stay longer. So I think that helps. Wellbeing isn't just about feeling good. It's about intentionally designing structures that protect your team's energy.

That's perfect, amazing. And I would say it's an honest perspective and such a grounded and thoughtful answer. Thank you so much, Stacy. So let's look ahead a bit. Innovation is evolving fast, and clinicians are feeling the pressure. So Albert, from your vantage point, what are the most

FUTURE-FOCUSED PANEL QUESTIONS

promising technological innovations that could reduce clinician workload in the next three to five years?

Yeah. Thank you for the question. So, I think there's a lot of activity that's happening in the telemedicine, telehealth space, remote patient monitoring, and simpler devices, for instance, that don't require specialized training and will allow actionable data to be collected in-clinic as well as remotely. So you can imagine if an animal has surgery and then they can go home and their recovery can be monitored not only by the primary caretaker, but also any alerts or triggers that are of a serious nature can be sent to whoever is in that call list to say, "Hey," they're the first fund, or it may be the pet parent that says, "Okay, I see something's going awry. Now I need to call the pet parent." So I think there's some really interesting things that are happening, and I think in a way that is simplifying the work, reducing cost, increasing efficiencies through a lot of these new types of innovation, and allowing the veterinarian or the specialists to focus on where they bring the greatest value and really take on the tough and challenging sort of situations.

And then you can have the vet tech or others, and I'm not meaning to make it sound demeaning or anything in any way, but they could focus on the things that might be more of a routine nature. The other thing I like is there's some solutions that you can see. Again, I'll focus on device, not that there's not plenty of fine things in the pharmaceutical space or biotech space or so forth. The reason I like device is when you think about it, a pharmaceutical doesn't work for every animal that's out there, right? There's a certain hit rate, and it's going to be depending upon that particular animal, their genetic composition, how well they respond to it or they don't respond to it. The reason I like device is typically they are much broader in where they'll work with.

So, you can imagine if you're collecting data when they're triaging them for an animal coming into the emergency department, or whether the device is being used in a surgery suite by an anesthesiologist, or whether it's just for collecting general health and wellness data or actually going home with the animal, maybe to monitor weight management or chronic disease. You're really getting what should be actionable and comprehensive data that will allow the practice to potentially see more patients, be, again, more efficient in how they do that and how they can leverage their resources. And also what I like is the shrinking of the technology. Space is always a premium, and now you can see where some of this new technology is being reduced in size, but yet going up, being increased in efficiency and what it can provide. So I think that the future is quite bright. And back to my previous comment on the first question, there's a lot more activity that is going on in the innovation space that I think is going to help put more power into the practitioner's hands and into the caretaker's hand.

It's a cowboy riding the range looking at cattle, for instance. You can put a lot more power in their hands versus a cowboy trying to look at 10,000 cows in a particular area to see, okay, which one's not behaving correctly or only monitoring their health every two or three months. Now you could get near real-time sorts of information. So I'm very excited about the breadth and depth of where some of this new technology is going to lead the industry in the broadest sense. Again, not just in clinic with companion animals, but you could be an egg-laying chicken rancher and also leverage the technology to the advantage of the animal as well as to the caretaker.

Thank you. Thank you so much, Albert. Yeah, I would say it's a really exciting vision about the future and how things are going to be evolving. So to close out this segment, let's turn to the legal guardrails that keep practices protected. So Mary, you help clients navigate these waters every day. So how can practices proactively prepare for DEA audits or regulatory compliance issues? Okay. So this could take days- Mm-hmm ... but I'm going to pretty much break it down to what I hear a lot is, "I never learned it. I didn't know."

It's your obligation. Your DEA, your registration is a privilege. It is not a right. Those controlled substances are your personal inventory. I don't care who paid for them. They are your responsibility. You cannot walk out of the clinic. You can't abandon them when you quit. You have to properly dispose of them, reverse distribute them, transfer them pursuant to DEA regulations. There are plenty of seminars and people much more skilled than I who deal with the DEA every single day. I am crisis management. I am when there's a diversion. I am when the DEA is knocking on your door and asking for your 222s and your drug logs and your biannual inventories, and you don't have them.

So I would say, number one, get educated. Your ignorance is no excuse. They do not care, and fines right now are averaging around $15,000 for each offense, and they're about to go up. That's the new scoop. They're going up a lot. So it's very expensive to not be prepared, so be prepared. One thing I will say that a lot of people don't give a lot of attention to is physical security. Where's the safe? Is it attached to the floor? Where's the keys? Where's the combo? Who has authority?

And another big gap which can help you in an audit situation is did you do a background check or did you get an affidavit that they do not have a problem with controlled substances, have never been arrested? If you're going to give someone access to controlled substances, you are, in lieu of a background check, able to rely on that affidavit to some extent. Right? That is one thing. And be really conscious. Have cameras on the safes. Check to make sure they're working. Right?

How long is the storage? How far do you have to go back? People who are diverting in your hospital don't just do it one time. There's a course and a conduct, a pattern there. So you want to have those cameras. You want-- Invest in backup, invest in storage of that data because it can save you. Your obligation as the owner of a practice isn't to make sure no one diverts. Right? It isn't to make sure that no one doesn't misuse your controlled substances. It is to report it timely, to investigate and then report.

That is the biggest pushback I get as a lawyer when they call me. I'm like, "Okay, we need to file a report. We can say we're still investigating. We don't have all the information." But you have 24 hours from the time you discover a diversion to report that diversion. That's the only thing that will get you in trouble, is your failure to report. You didn't steal the drugs. You didn't use the drugs. You're in a bad situation, and someone else put you there. Don't make it worse by not taking the next right step, which is to report it. And people are afraid, and I get why, but that is the biggest issue.

Take the good advice and report it, and then I'm there to help you through it, but you've got to take that first step. The other things that people don't do is check your doctor's licenses and registrations. Make sure they're current. Be proactive. Diary ahead for them. You don't need a lapsed registration or a license if a DEA agent comes in. That's easy to do and so often forgotten. Continually train your staff. Have fake audits, right? Do the practice audit. Have a set of procedures. Who is in charge if a DEA agent walks in? Have a plan in place for who they talk to. Be able to put them in a separate room.

Make sure your records only go back two years. Why would you hand over five years' worth of records if you only have to hand over two? Right? They're going to take them from you, but only give them what they're supposed to have. And then always, always remember, it's not just federal, it's state, and a lot of states have more stringent requirements and additional reporting requirements beyond the DEA. So I would just say preparation, reporting, and then call a legal professional.

Call a DEA regulatory expert. Don't bury your head in the sand and say, "Oh, vets never get in trouble." They do. Mm-hmm. It's a big part of my practice. It's not my favorite part of practice because people are in crisis, and how you handle that and how you react to it with your staff is so important. So a little preparation goes a long way.

Exactly. Exactly. Amazing. Thank you, Mary. I think that proactive mindset is exactly what today's- Is Lester- I think Lester got frozen. Yes. Did we lose him? I don't know. Frozen? Maybe there was a timestamp on his bridge- ... the conference. Well, who wants to go next? No, I'm kidding.

I think actually that this conference is recorded, and it's still going on, so- Yeah ... maybe we give him a minute or two, and then we take the lead. I think so. Can someone remind me the duration? We got us 30 minutes. We've got another half hour, another 25, 26 minutes.

Okay. I just saw something popping in my screen saying that I'm now the

TECHNICAL PAUSE AND CONTINUED DISCUSSION

host. You get that?

Thank you. No, but did you get that?

Yeah. I suppose when it kicked, it has to have one computer to host the chat, and you were elected the leader now. I like it. That's my lucky day. But if we still have only 30 minutes, I think we will have to speed up a little bit because there were three other questions coming from the pre-triage that was done, and we've covered only two in an hour and plus. So maybe if we want to cover the two next question, we should try to be concise, just to be respectful of time.

So talking about time, let's... Oh, I think he's coming back. Lester, are you with us? So sorry about that. Yes, so sorry about that. As we speak technology, as we speak-... sometimes gets a bit spotty, so sorry about that. So yeah. So what I was mentioning was there's this thing that we created from the Veterinary Business Institute, which is called the Tailored Strategy Launchpad, which is a free one-on-one session designed to help you take insights from today and turn them into action from your own practice, which is what's important, taking these actionable strategies into action. So it's not just a generic download or a passive webinar that we're going to have.

It's a live consultation where our team takes a look at your practice's online visibility, your local listings, and your digital footprint, and then builds a custom roadmap based on your unique goals. So maybe you're thinking about growth. Maybe it's operational clarity that you are looking for. Maybe it's marketing cleanup or simply attracting more ideal clients. So wherever you are, this is designed to meet you where you are, and if you've already booked, that's great, fantastic. You've taken the next step.

And if you haven't yet, now is the great time. There's a link in the chat. You can go ahead and book that. And just between us and all the attendees, everyone who books tonight will get an extra benefit out of this meeting. So with that said, I'm going to move on to the final round of questions, and that is I'm going to go with Dr. Walzer. So, Dr. Walzer, you've given us such a grounded view of what's possible with AI, but let's zoom in on something that really impacts adoption, and that is trust.

What role does data quality and clinical validation play in building trust in AI tools?

Yeah. So that's a great question, and I think we could sum it up in just one word, which is pretty much everything. If your teams don't trust the data and the product itself, they're not going to use it, and who could blame them? So I think validation can come in many different ways. What we think of it as is verifying it against clinical experts, that kind of piece, making sure we have data that goes into these systems that are representative of all of the patients we're going to apply it to, so don't just pick one subset of one set of dogs in California and expect this to work across every dog on the planet.

I think one of the things you want to look at there is does the organization or the provider of the product have access to data to actually validate it? Do they have a track record of delivering products or a plan and a published method? Do they share anything about how they develop their system, or is it completely a black box? We're working in pharma and technology, so there's always going to be those proprietary pieces that people don't share. But I think it's important that you can look at a few different things.

One, do they have veterinary experts on their team?

I think so often you find that it's not hard to put something out that looks good but doesn't have a lot behind it and a lot of data actually backing it up. One of the things I always like to say is if I can't talk to a veterinarian or a veterinary technician who actually works in the group, I'm always a little bit skeptical. And it's not because I don't trust other people to want to do the best. It's because so often, and myself included, I'll be talking to a specialist, and they see things in a different way than I do, and it's usually much more correct, quite frankly, than I ever am. So I think having that medical piece there and data quality is just one of those things that's all the way through and through going to be important.

And I'll keep it short so we can get through all these other questions.

ONBOARDING, SUSTAINABLE GROWTH, AND WORKFORCE TRENDS

Thank you. Thank you, Dr. Walzer. Yeah, that's an important reminder that data alone isn't enough. It's also how we validate and communicate that builds confidence. So, yeah. So now moving on, now shifting gears a bit, something every team navigates at some point, that is onboarding. And Anthony, in today's climate, what does an empathetic yet effective onboarding process look like?

That's a great question, and I would say it starts really as soon as the recruitment process starts, right? So from that initial contact, I call it pre-boarding with a purpose, so to speak. But once you get them into the door and get them hired, having a welcome package or a personalized email to the team is huge Having a schedule, an onboarding schedule, address code, and really having them understand the overall mission and vision of the practice. Having a good first impression, so making sure they have a clean workspace if they have to have a workspace.

Making sure that they are welcoming with the team. Everybody loves food. It's always good to have a little welcome lunch and/or party. Having a structured, and this is where I really highlight, a 30, 60, 90-day roadmap, an onboarding plan. Having it clear and concise, because long-term, if they end up being a poor performer, if they're not performing well in the job, having something to have them be accountable for is huge. And so, making sure that you have a clear understanding when somebody starts.

Frequent check-ins and feedback is important as well, throughout the entire process of that 30, 60, 90-day check-in. And then, really one of the things that I highlight is, and we talk about this frequently, but is normalizing mental wellness. And so prioritizing that and ensuring that stepping into a new clinic or a new work environment, understanding that there's mental health resources available. And if you don't, something to really look at for your practice. Understanding boundaries, clear communication, don't be afraid to ask for help, and so they can be successful at their role. And it really helps long-term for retention and success in the clinic.

Thank you. Thank you so much, Anthony. I think you led a master class in balancing heart with structure. So especially in labor market that's constantly evolving. Thank you so much for that. Absolutely. So let's talk growth and more importantly, sustainable growth. So Claire, as someone who's helped scale across networks, how can veterinary entrepreneurs maintain culture while growing rapidly?

Yeah, I'd say first and foremost, entrepreneurs, anybody central to the central structure of a business needs to understand they're significantly outnumbered. The employees will always outnumber the owners and their leaders. So I think sometimes when leaders grow a company, they can get really excited about things their employees are not excited about, like the financials and look how many pets we saw, look how much money we made. And that creates a lot of confusion in a culture because rarely does that financial success result in a reinvestment in the team. So making that too central to your culture can be a really big foundational mistake, because their investment's not the same as yours.

And I think it's important for any entrepreneur to recognize that for many of your team, it is a job, and it is what's paying for their rent and their groceries, and they don't have the same investment you do, and they won't get the same return at a sale. So I would say financial speak is a really important component. After that, I'm happy with what's happened with the industry and the level of expertise that's grown. However, we're getting way too over-formalized. Have fun, for goodness sakes, loosen up.

Have the SOPs and have your filing cabinet, but we don't need to be so buttoned up all the time. Have a good time. Of course, not the kind of good time that gets Mary involved, but a good time. Have fun. Do crafts. But invite me. But invite Mary, but not for the crafts reason. So I think that's central to culture. A culture is what you experience together, and if you focus on the negative and the burnout and all the bad things we feel in a day, that's what you're going to focus on, and that's what your culture becomes.

And if you focus on just money, don't be surprised when people ask you for a raise all the time. So I think, yeah. So that's really for entrepreneurs. It's just see things through everybody else's eyes and not your own, because you are way outnumbered. So cater to the needs of others. Amazing. Thank you so much, Claire. That's such a powerful insight. So as we look towards the future of workflows, Jacinthe, I love your perspective. How do you see AI or tech-enabled scribing evolving in the next few years of veterinary teams?

As we all know, AI will impact way more than scribing, and we're just seeing the beginning. So when it comes to scribing, it will become more integrated. It will adapt to the style of the veterinarian to really be more representative of the veterinarian voice, a tone of voice, and what the veterinarian likes. I think Dr. Wellisler, Welleser, I'm sorry, said already that it will not replace the role of the veterinarian. In fact, what we want is to clean up this manual work around the veterinarian and shrink it dramatically so the veterinarian can concentrate on what they want to do, which is caring for their patient.

But we will see much more than scribing, obviously. We already touched on diagnostic and pathology. All of those areas will be greatly improved and changed by the AI companies like Vetology, Signal, Pet, Redimal, others, Zoetis Vetscan. They are already doing a great job helping veterinarians in their decision-making. And we will also have more predictive tools to help prevent disease. So that will be very interesting to Albert here on the call with us. The decision at the point of care, the differential diagnosis, helping with that, the treatment plan.

Making sure that there are no drugs interaction that could be dangerous for the pet. All of that can be greatly- provided by AI in helping the veterinarian. We will also most likely see more AI personalized preventive care. Companies like Wisdom and other companies do have genetic information, so there will be a blend of those breed-specific risk profile. The genetic background will be there by screening the data. The AI could read through that data, to a lot of data, in seconds. Lifestyle will be included, plus the record of the specific pet.

So think about it. From now on, a veterinarian can send you a message that is tailored to your specific pet, the risk, the condition, everything is known from the pet. So think about a way to fight against the internet and Mr. Google. Now the veterinarian will have this information that the internet will not have. So that could be the revenge of the veterinarian over some of those big internet company. So a lot to come, and a lot of it will be fun.

Amazing. Thank you, Jacinthe. I think you just gave us a peek into what's next coming in the future. So zoom out and I would say let's think long term. So Stacey Purcell, succession planning has become a real challenge for practices. How should practices approach succession planning given the growing generational gap in the workforce?

Well, great question, and I was just thinking about Mary's example early on about starting early when you're first forming your business. But succession planning has become more critical than ever in the veterinary profession, and we're seeing a significant number of baby boomer practice owners retiring, while at the same time, many of the younger veterinarians are entering the field with different expectations around work, leadership, and ownership. And so this generational gap, it presents both a challenge and an opportunity. So the key is to start early. So often practice owners wait until they're ready to retire to think about a succession plan. But ideally, succession planning should begin five to 10 years in advance or even earlier. So this allows time to identify potential successors, to develop them into leadership roles and create a transition plan that works for everyone.

And then practices have to be intentional about mentoring and leadership development. So not every talented veterinarian is prepared to take on the responsibilities of ownership or management. So it takes time to cultivate those skills, such as financial literacy, team leadership, strategic thinking, and then creating formal or informal mentorship pipelines can help bridge that gap. It's also important to recognize that younger veterinarians may not have the same financial resources or appetite for risk as previous generations. And so flexible ownership structures such as phased buy-ins or partnerships can make succession planning more realistic and appealing. And then ultimately, effective succession planning is about preserving the culture and the quality of the practice while adapting to the needs and values of the next generation. So practices that engage in open, transparent conversations and plan collaboratively will be far more successful in making that transition.

Thank you. Thank you so much, Stacey. Yeah, I think succession is more than just retirement. It's

PRACTICE DESIGN, LEADERSHIP BURNOUT, AND PARTNERSHIPS

much more than retirement conversation, like you just said. So, moving on. Nick, this one's for you. Startups and acquisitions come with plenty of opportunity and pitfalls. What are the most common mistakes you see during the startup or acquisition phase of a veterinary clinic?

Good question. I think this is a list that could go on and on, and so I tried to sum it up to just a couple, but so many veterinarians that want to be owners will try to do it themselves, and they get three to five months down the road, and then they're stuck. And so I think my number one is don't be afraid to ask for help. Build your list of key advisors that you believe you need or ask for help on who they should be, and start from the beginning. We're building today with a startup practice, you can get 950,000 or a million dollar loan to do this, and it's such a small price to pay for those key advisors to be a part of your team from the beginning.

When you look at the overall length, when you think about transition planning with what Stacey just touched on, that fee that you pay up front to start your business, to get you going, to build that to where you can transition out is so cheap in the long run. So that'd be my number one is don't be afraid to ask for help. Get a team on your side. Surround yourself with the right people. And then my number two is going to be more on the personal level of a startup and acquisition. We have to understand our own personal finances.

If we come into it, we've got $300,000 of school loans, two brand new vehicles we have debt on, credit card debt, and we just bought a house, and we have $5,000 in our account, it's very hard for us to start from that point to build your personal wealth to something you can sustain as a business owner. So we do a lot of coaching on the personal side to make sure you're comfortable there, get you into a good spot to be comfortable running a business. And so in closing, I think there's a big differentiator between the wants versus needs in a practice when you're starting. I want granite countertops, but you don't need them, right? I want the ultrasound, but I'm not going to use it, but I need the X-ray.

And so there's working through with people like that on the wants versus needs, and then surrounding yourself with the power of three. Interview three lenders, interview three consultants, interview three attorneys. Don't be afraid to reach out and interview people because you have to find your right team, not what Nick Biermeier tells you is your right team, but what's your right team. So that's what I'd go with to keep it kind of short and sweet, but those are the biggest opportunities/mistakes we see made as a startup or in acquisition hospitals. Perfect advice. Thank you so much. Insightful as always. Thank you so much, Nick.

You bet. So let's bring it back to the human side of leadership. Stacey, how do you coach new leaders or managers who are overwhelmed by burnout themselves? That's such a big conversation, but when I was thinking about this question, I was thinking about how a lot of the people I coached, if they are experiencing burnout, they don't really know. They use words like, "I'm overwhelmed, I'm frustrated, I'm angry," often. "I'm thinking of quitting. I can't do this anymore." And so I think the first thing is acknowledging that's what it is for them and empathizing with them.

We've all been there, where we're experiencing all of these emotions and feeling very overwhelmed as to how to move forward. And then I try to shift it back to, why do you do what you do? What made you get into this field? Because we all have a purpose or a mission that drove us to be in the veterinary field that I love it because it feels so good to help animals. And if we can tie it back to why they got into this field in the first place, usually we have a starting place to work together.

I also want to understand that because they might not be in the right seat on the bus. They might be an inventory manager, who I talked to today, that doesn't actually like inventory. She's doing it out of a sense of responsibility to her owner, the owner of the hospital, and has no drive to do inventory. She actually loves being a technician. That's what she went to school for, but she's doing it out of a sense-- And now she's burnt out and she wants to quit. So sad because we're doing these-- So what drove us to become burnt out might be that we're not even in the right seat on the bus. So we need to look at that and make sure if we are in the right seat on that bus and we're where we should be, it's time to focus on what's draining their energy.

We need to look into that and try to work through, do they need to shift from a doer to a delegator? Do they need to switch from a fixer to a facilitator? What's draining their energy unnecessarily? I do want to say, though, that there's not really a simple fix when someone's feeling this way, and we can work on solutions together. But sometimes we need to take a step back and have them work on their self-awareness, their emotional intelligence a little bit, and also understand where this is coming from, because they might need to seek help.

And so I always bring that up as another option is maybe there's some therapy that needs to be involved in this, because burnout does not always come from work. There's other things that can trigger that. Exactly. Thank you so much, Stacey. So, Albert, we talked a lot about innovation, but let's talk ethics. How do you ensure ethical development and deployment of emerging veterinary health technologies?

Yeah. Thank you for the question. So, really at every step, from concept all the way into commercialization and beyond, as it's in the market, we engage with animal health professionals. We engage with caretakers. We collaborate with other companies that are in the space but maybe are offering something that is complementary in order to have that really big picture. Because I'm a scientist and a technologist, and no veterinarian's going to believe my clinical results or the tests that we do. So, we make sure that we engage those who know the business. They're dealing with the pain points every day and know what's important to them, right? They're the ones.

So you can come up with a great tech, great solution, but it might be looking for what's the problem that needs to be solved. So we want to know what are their pain points. The other thing that we try to do is, as part of the team, we try to make sure that give the team freedom to incubate, freedom to innovate, and bring people with disparate sort of educational backgrounds, experiences, so forth, to bear on the problem, just like we do with the customer base. We look across multiple market verticals. We look at multiple use cases, and that can help ensure uptake of the solution because you're releasing a solution that they've really validated and that they've used and perhaps published on and so forth.

So, we definitely look to engage with those who are living this every single day at every step of our development process. Thank you. Thank you so much, Albert. You bet. And finally, to close out in this segment, let's talk legal clarity. Mary, what do veterinary professionals need to understand when entering partnership agreements?

So we don't have a lot of time, so I figure I'll just sum it up. It has to be in writing. It should address financial and operational aspects of your business, how your partnership works, who's bringing what to the table, who is the decision-maker, who is the ultimate decision-maker if you can't agree.

Exit strategy, buyout provisions, tax and financial provisions, insurance. Does there need to be keyman insurance in the event of death or disability? Plan. It's a plan for you. It's an emergency exit plan. It's also an operational and efficient plan that's entered into at a time when people are on good terms. And so it's going to guide you through a lot of crises over the course of your partnership, and you should revisit that plan every couple of years and make sure it's still working and adjust it accordingly. It should also have provisions in there about how you bring in a new partner and how you exit a partner and how that works, there's a lot of fighting that doesn't need to happen if you can agree upfront.

So it's like a prenup for a marriage, and you should plan accordingly with proper legal consultation. And I do say the rule of three is important. It's not the first lawyer you talk to. You need to talk to a bunch of people, financial planners, insurance agents, lawyers. Put together a team that works for you and be smart about it.

Exactly. Thank you so much, Mary, for that insight. A great way to put a bow onto this entire discussion in this summit. So I just realized the time and tonight, time was flying and just give me a second and let me get my screen shared. Yes, I'd love to keep going, but I want to be very mindful of everyone's time, and tonight has been awesome. And so many comprehensive answers, valuable takeaways, and practical insights. Thank you all so much.

CLOSING REMARKS AND COMPLIMENTARY STRATEGY SESSION

As we step into the final stretch of today's session, let's take a quick moment to reflect on what we just experienced. We covered a lot of ground, I would say, from AI and compliance to leadership, burnout, and client communication. Across every segment, one thing has been crystal clear, running a modern veterinary practice today requires more than clinical excellence. So it demands clarity, strategy, and visibility, and especially when it comes to online visibility. So that's why I want to bring your attention back to something we mentioned earlier, something that's already gotten a great deal of excitement from attendees which have been here tonight. Again, for your staying with us throughout the session for this two hours, I would say a big thank you to all of you, and again, I want to touch on the Tailored Strategy Launchpad, which is a completely free session, a one-on-one session created as a gift from Narain Al-Raqaia, the founder of the Veterinary Business Institute and the CEO of Echo Marketing.

Narain has spent over 15 years helping practices like yours grow ethically, sustainably, and smartly through high impact marketing that works. So, and leading these sessions, you might be having question, who is going to do this session? So it's none other than Lila Stone. If you can see from the screen, a name many of you might already know. She's a veterinary marketing consultant, a trusted advisor to practices of all sizes, and someone who blends the digital knowhow with a real-world understanding of how veterinary teams operate day to day. So, again, this is not just a casual chat or a generic worksheet. Lila and her team will go a deep dive before your call even happens.

They'll audit your website, your Google visibility, online reviews, and even your competitors, which is very important. And then they'll walk you through personalized action plan for how to attract better fit clients, strengthen your digital footprint, and build consistent long-term growth. And if any part of you has ever thought, "I'm not sure if our marketing is doing anything," "Our website doesn't reflect the quality we provide," or even the question, "We need more new patients or more new clients, but we don't know where to start." So again, this is for you if you have those questions. And just for booking today, you'll just get the digital visibility booster toolkit during the meeting. Again, this is all completely free.

A curated bundle of checklists, templates, and tools designed to help you put everything into action immediately. So there's a QR code on the screen, and there's a link in the chat. You can go ahead and book that session. And, again, let's be real. What's the risk? The risk is just 45 minutes of your time, and the upside is that it's a complete new direction for your marketing and your growth. So with that said, I'm just going to leave that with you for you to decide, and you can go ahead and grab your spot, and you'll thank yourself later. So,

with that said, just hold on. Okay, so our time has come to an end, and it has been awesome. First of all, thank you to our expert panelists, Dr. Emil Walser, Anthony LaPolla, Claire Perkins, Jason Tamarro, Stacy Purcell, Nick Baumeyer, Stacey Gentry, and Albert Di Rienzo, and Mary Mondoy. You all were amazing. So much insight, best practices, actionable content, and very tangible passion for what you do and how you do it and who you are and why you matter. So if I were to sum it up, I'd say collectively, you made the complex simple, the hidden visible, and the difficult easy.

Secondly, thank you to all of our attendees and the privilege of your time and participation. Without you, we don't grow together. Without you, we don't set each other up for success. So a reminder to like and share and review us on your favorite social media and stay connected with our panelists if you like a deeper conversation like this. Until next time, and on behalf of our panelists, thank you and keep striving for excellence and making a positive impact in the lives of your patients and your pet parents.

Thank you again for being with us tonight. We'll see you at the next Veterinary Business Summit. Until then, take care and good night. Thank you. Thanks, everyone. Thank you. Thanks, everyone. Thanks. Bye, everyone. Bye-bye.