Ep.101 | Chewy’s Acquisition of Modern Animal: Is Vet Med Heading Toward Human Healthcare… or Can We Evolve for the Better?

Chewy’s acquisition of Modern Animal is creating a lot of conversation (and concern) in veterinary medicine.

In this episode, I discuss:

• What this acquisition actually means
• The biggest fears (corporate takeover, vertical integration, losing clients)
• Why this moment could actually help vet med evolve
• And simple, practical ways veterinary teams and leaders can respond proactively

If you’re a veterinary practice owner, leader, veterinary professional, or pet owner who wants to stay informed about where vet med is headed, this episode is for you.

Transcript:

Hi, friend.

I've been doing weekly Instagram lives lately, where I talk through common stressors in Vet Med and share simple shifts or strategies that can help you to feel less overwhelmed and more supported in vet Med and life. And I decided to start sharing them here as well, so that I am sharing more consistent podcast content.

I would love to hear from you. What challenges or frustrations are coming up for you right now? What would you like to hear more of? It doesn't just have to be in VetMed because as you know, everything is connected, so if you have an idea or a suggestion, you can reach out anytime at amelia@lifeboost.today or message me on Instagram i'm @lifeboostwithamelia.

Intro:

Welcome to the Life Boost with Amelia podcast where we're changing the narrative around what true health and success look like. They should give you energy, not drain it.

I'm your host, Dr. Amelia multi-passionate integrative health and life coach, entrepreneur, and recovered burnout veterinarian. Together, we'll explore the science behind how your brain and body work, including the unconscious mind while also connecting with what your heart needs in order to stand up to the norm of feeling stuck on a hamster wheel -working hard yet feeling exhausted and not where you want to be- and instead live a life that makes you excited to get out of bed in the morning and in love with who you see when you look in the mirror.

The reality is if you do what everyone else is doing, you're not going to feel good. Let's break the norm.

Chewy: Taking Over Vet Med or Helping Us To Evolve?

Let's talk about Chewy: Is it taking over Vet Med or is it helping or forcing us to evolve?

So this talk today is for you if you are a veterinary practice owner or leader, if you are anyone in Vet Med who wants to see our profession moving in a positive, more sustainable direction. And also if you are a pet owner who wants to stay informed about what's happening in Vet Med.

So I'm going to talk about:

• What just happened with Chewy?
• What are the big fears and concerns right now?
• How can we use this to evolve for good?
• And then simple steps that you can take personally to start moving towards that.

What Happened With Chewy

So what happened, chewy this week announced that they're going to be acquiring Modern Animal, and that's a veterinary care company.

They have 29 veterinary clinics, and in general, they have a positive reputation in Vet Med. I would say both with pet owners and the veterinary team. And this is notable because Chewy is really creating a new model or ecosystem, and they've been transparent about this plan for a while.

So they're the number one pharmacy for pets. They also have pet insurance and wellness plans. They have a telehealth platform and now they're combining with veterinary clinics. And so it's basically creating this one stop shop.

Understandably, there is some fear and judgment around this because this is disrupting things and there's some concern about the direction this is going to take us in Vet Med.

And that's really understandable. Anytime something new and unexpected, or maybe kind of expected comes up, it's normal to meet that with maybe feelings of anxiety or judgment or being reactive. And also it's important for us to notice that initial reaction and then to pause to take a deep breath, maybe a physiologic sigh, right?

Taking that two inhales in. And slowly exhaling twice the amount of time just to release some of that stress.

And then to think about, okay, this is happening:

• What are we going to do about it?
• How can we move forward in a way that is strategic and staying true to what's really important to us in VetMed, rather than worrying and getting defensive?

And these feelings that it's bringing up all of this conversation and these heightened emotions is good because the reality is, even before this happened, VetMed really is actively changing and evolving. And that's a good thing because in a lot of ways there have been many things in Vet Med that haven't been working for us for a long time, but we've been able to just keep getting away with it.

And that has to do with increasing division and distrust between pet owners and the veterinary team. There can be judgment from both sides. Burnout, of course, low retention, and we're seeing this rise in cost in veterinary care and kind of reaching plateau there.

So we need to be changing and evolving and these kinds of big emotions and conversations can help to activate us so that we are having enough pressure to actually make positive change instead of kind of staying stuck and doing the same thing day to day.

3 big concerns with Chewy's Acquisition of Modern Animal

So what are these big concerns? There are many, but I'd say there are three big common themes that I'm seeing.

Concern #1: corporate takeover = bad for vet med

The first is that it's more corporate takeover and that is bad because they're in it for the money.

And having as a veterinarian who I've worked in over 30 different practices, especially doing relief work, I was able to work in private practices to corporate owned. And as a coach, I work with veterinarians who have been both privately owned and corporate. And I can say corporate does not determine whether it is a good or bad environment, working environment.

And the thing that really determines it is when the focus is only on the numbers and the money.

And that can happen for two big reasons:

The first reason is, and that this we do tend to see more in corporate companies, is that those making the big decisions and the leaders are not in the practice day to day, may it never have really been in that environment. And so they don't really understand the heart and the core of Vet Med. What makes it so important and that is that relationship, that connection between the veterinary team, the pet owners, and the pet, and supporting everybody's wellbeing. They're just focused on the numbers.

The other thing that could happen is operating in survival mode. And so it's like we just gotta get through the day. Maybe this scarcity mindset of like, we have to optimize the numbers day to day, but not noticing big picture how that's influencing sustainable profitability and success.

One big thing is, profitability and caring are not mutually exclusive, right?

Like it's not a bad thing as a business to want to be profitable. All veterinary practices, for the most part, that should be their goal, but it is important that we don't sacrifice caring and supporting the wellbeing of both the veterinary team and pet owners.

In order to do that, we need to be strengthening that relationship. And so with Chewy and modern animal, I would say that they have a very positive reputation in terms of really caring about their clients. And for modern animal, it seems to be both the pet owners and their veterinary team. So that I would say is a positive and it would be, it will be really interesting to see if that continues to stay true as they're building this model and moving into veterinary care.

Concern #2: vertical integration

The second concern, and this is a, the really big one, I would say when we're looking at the future of vet Med, is the concern of vertical vertical integration.

So now with Chewy, having the, the pharmacy, pet insurance, the services and the veterinary care, we're starting to see that that looks similar to what happened in human healthcare. Of now suddenly the insurance and the providers and the prescription is all in one company.

And that, as we've seen, has not been positive because that creates these conflicts of interest that the person who is paying for the services is also profiting from it. It can raise prices, it creates patients feeling stuck in this ecosystem because they can't go out of network. And for the doctors it can suddenly be limited. It can feel like there's pressure to be recommending certain services or doing things in a certain way.

So looking at that, it's really important that we're noticing that pattern and seeing where human healthcare went and as a profession saying we don't want to go in that direction.

There's a lot of things that I do think help us to be different from human healthcare and that we're in a really great point right now where we're seeing where things could head and we can be proactive in making sure we don't go that way.

One thing that I would say is really great is that both pet owners and the veterinary professionals, I don't think either of us want to turn into human healthcare. I think we can all agree that is not the the model that we want to follow.

And so when we look at where we are right now. We can see, and it's not just with Chewy, but in general we are seeing pet insurance companies being bought out by private equity and corporations. So it does seem like there is a movement of corporately owned practices also wanting to have pet insurance.

The good news is that there's a very small percentage of pet owners that have pet insurance right now. Most of what I saw was like about 4% of pet owners have it. I saw one, stat that it was 25%, which seemed like a big jump. But even if it's 25%, it still means that the majority of pet owners don't have pet insurance, which means that we are at a point where we can look at what's happening.

Veterinary prices are rising. We need to be looking at how we can make it more affordable. But right now, pet insurance is not what most pet owners are going to, and they still have options.

And so this is a really great opportunity for all of us to be talking about how can we be providing other options? Modern animal and others do have membership plans, but that's something that privately owned practices can adopt to.

So I think it's how can we be helping pet owners to feel like they have options? How can we be really transparent about pricing and make sure that they understand what's happening in the corporate world? If they're getting pet insurance, understanding, maybe they are going to be eventually tied to, certain practices.

I just got a new dog and I did get pet insurance. And I'm also being aware of that might not be the long-term solution because personally, if that means that they're telling me where I have to go to get care or if it's combined with all these things, I'm not sure that that's what I would want personally for, my pets.

So this is an opportunity for us to really think about what do we want moving forward. And we, the veterinarians, we want to practice in a way that feels good, right? Like we do not want to be tied to corporations telling us the way that we should practice, or what services we can or cannot recommend.

Pet owners, they really want convenience. They need veterinary care to be affordable. They want good care for their pet and they wanna feel valued, right? We definitely don't wanna go towards human health where it's just these super quick visits. We want to have this time to have a connection, to have thorough physical exams, and so I think this is a great time for us to be brainstorming what can we.

Going back a little to the affordability. There are so many great options right now. I have a whole blog post that's a comprehensive guide of the different financing and payment options that we have in VetMed right now.

And it's really great to see that we are getting more and more options, and this is really an option for us just to be extra transparent with pet owners and also practicing spectrum of care, getting away from that only can we do gold standard and really celebrating when we're able to really be meeting pet owners where they are and giving options.

Concern #3: loss of clients

The third big concern is loss of clients.

Chewy has a huge I think 21 million, clients that they may have access to their shopping behavior and information. And so there is concern that as they are expanding, they're going to be going after privately owned practices clients. And there's this worry about price competition and independent practices getting pushed out.

This isn't new though because of Chewy. This is something we've been seeing for a while, and in some ways it seems like our profession, is moving more towards more private practices, independently owned practices, which is great.

The big thing is if you are creating an environment where your clients feel valued and respected, and your veterinary team feels valued, supported, and respected and you're creating the space where they feel lucky to go. It feels like a positive experience when they're there. Then even if Chewy is reaching out to them, you don't have to worry about about losing those clients because you've already established that really positive, meaningful relationship.

I will say that Chewy and modern animal do a great job creating relationships with their clients. And so that is something that we can learn from now instead of fearing it.

What can private veterinary practices learn from Chewy?

So what can we do? Chewy and modern animal have been willing to do things differently, and I think they've done a great job of really understanding clients and pet owners and what they want.

So when we look at Chewy, they have a high perceived value. Their customers feel like they are getting a good deal, and they're also really incredible at convenience, and they're doing that in a number of ways.

Deep emotional connection:

So one thing that they're really well known for is having this deep emotional connection with their customers, and that is huge for loyalty. They have lots of personal touches despite being a big company. So things like sending a handwritten happy birthday cards to the pet, or sending flowers when a client loses their pet, and that can go a long way.

And so when we look at that, we can think, okay, how can we be making our positive intention clear? That is such a huge thing right now, especially when there can be this, distrust and division between pet owners and the veterinary team.

That's because we as veterinary professionals aren't always making our positive intention clear, even though we know we are there for it because we really care. But we need to be looking at, from the client's perspective, what is their experience and how can we really show that we understand 'em and we care.

That can be, when a client is stressed or frustrated, instead of meeting it with judgment, pausing, and thinking about, okay, what has happened in their experience where our positive intention may not have been clear? What can we learn from this to create a better, more positive experience moving forward?

Enjoyable shopping experience and convenience 

Chewy also has this very enjoyable, seamless shopping experience. They have so much convenience and the autoship is huge for them. And so we can learn from that, right? They are really decreasing any friction.

So looking at for your clients where, and your veterinary team, where are the bottlenecks? Where is the friction and what can you do to change that. To make it so that there are less decisions, things are automatic.

And so that can even be looking at what is the experience like for them to schedule an appointment? That's where things like forward booking can work. Great.

I know personally, like of course we, I think we all i've experienced that at dentists, it makes a difference. Even for my massages, I try to get a monthly massage. I always make sure after that visit to schedule my next one because I know that if I leave without having scheduled that appointment, it's gonna just, I'm not gonna schedule it.

So that is thinking of that as a favor for the pet owner if you are helping to schedule that.

And then also when they want to make an appointment, right? Do they have to call and then wait for a long time and then wait for you to call back? Or could they quickly on their phone schedule?

Really looking for opportunities to make everything just so much more convenient for the pet owner.

There are so many technologies too that can help. And so this is the perfect, like anytime you're noticing bottlenecks anywhere in the journey, and also for say the CSR is feeling overwhelmed with all the tasks that they have to do, there's very likely a technology or some AI that can help to decrease some of what they're needing to do so that they have more time to really focus on the pet owners and that connection.

Excellent customer service 

Chewy does an amazing job with customer service, really pleasantly surprising customers. So for example, I've heard that if they need to return something. Usually Chewy will give them the refund and then they're like, just donate that to the animal shelter.

So that's something that feels really good. It's more convenient for them, and it creates that positive experience. And so that's something for us to as a profession, notice anytime there is a client who is upset or frustrated and being able to recognize, okay, that person is in a stress response.

That's because something is feeling stressful or overwhelming from their perspective. We don't have to take that personally, but just again, getting curious about, okay, what, what is it in their journey that has made them feel this way? Or is there something just outside in their life that is contributing to stress and what can we do to help them to feel seen and supported?

This also really goes for creating an experience like that for the veterinary team because if the veterinary team is feeling overextended or if they're in survival mode or they're not feeling respected and supported, then it's very hard to be providing great customer service for clients.

We need to first be prioritizing the wellbeing of the veterinary team, and so when I do talk about positive customer service. That does not mean letting disrespectful clients get whatever they want or fawning and doing whatever they need.

It means having clear boundaries, being able to really support the wellbeing of the veterinary team, and also helping someone who's feeling overwhelmed to feel seen, validating their feelings, and looking at how you can work together.

It's not just about when our pet owners are in the practice with us, but when they leave the door, how can we still be helping them to feel supported by us?

And that could even be things like, if they're going home with a ton of different medications, have we outlined and really helped them to think through when to be giving each one? Have we thought about how can we make this easier for them to give so that it's not causing stress.

Or doing things like educating on and being proactive about screening, about things like caregiver burden and anticipatory grief, and making sure we are helping to support pet owners in how can they have some logistics, with caregiver burden. What are things that we can do just to help them to feel supported and connected to us even when they're not here?

And even follow up or check-ins. If that is a text message, maybe that's more convenient than having to answer the phone.

Community:

Chewy also does a great job with community and so that can be a great opportunity, especially for private practices, is what can you do even when they are not in your hospital to feel connected? Can you create, is there even like a Facebook group that you can have where different pet owners can connect? How, what are you doing in your town to help everyone to feel a sense of community?

I think that's really even easier when you are a private practice.

What Private Practices Can Learn From Modern Animal

Proactive gathering feedback and turning them into opportunities

When we look at modern animal, the thing that I love most about what they are doing is they have a team of engineers and they are very proactive in listening to the veterinary team and wanting to understand what are your frustrations so that they can be creating an experience that is making their life easier.

So they've really worked hard on medical records and AI trying to make it so that the doctors can be more focused on providing care versus all of the administrative parts. And that is something that we can really learn from, every veterinary practice, to meet any frustrations or areas of stress from the veterinary team and thinking, okay, what can we do about this?

And that is something that I think sometimes veterinary practices have a hard time with because leaders are often feeling overextended. And so if you're feeling like you're always firefighting and there's just always so much to do and you're in survival mode than when the veterinary team is coming to you with complaints or even suggestions that can feel like, oh, too much, or it can feel like taking it personally and feeling like I'm trying so hard to help these people. Why aren't they they seeing that I care?

And so again, it's about shifting out of survival mode so that you are in a space where you can see that kind of feedback as a beautiful opportunity to help the veterinary team to feel more supported and to create things that are more efficient versus it feeling like another obligation or a sign that you're not doing well.

Pricing transparency

The other thing that modern animal does very well is they're very transparent about pricing. So they have on their website, you can easily go and see the price of everything. And in Vet Med that's so huge, we should all have that because number one, it's decreasing the amount of time for A CSR of having to answer calls or, having to get estimates or give prices.

And it's just simple. If pet owners want to know, it allows them to plan so there aren't surprises. If they're going in already understanding how much the visit may be, then that's more likely to create a more positive experience for everybody.

So that's a simple thing that you could do as well. And they have these membership options too. Depending on the level of care, if pet owners want that 24 7 virtual care that they offer, then that's something that they can plan for and that may be even a better option for some clients compared to things like pet insurance, of course they do different things, but this is an opportunity for us to really be getting creative about how to rethink the experience.

Creating an environment that feels calming and supportive 

And modern animals also really thoughtful even about their design. So they've thought about the psychology, even the design of like, how can we help pet owners to feel calm, supported. How can we create a really positive experience?

And you don't have to have expensive designs to start noticing and thinking about what are the little things that we can do to make clients more comfortable? Even thinking about, okay, if they're sitting and waiting, are the chairs that they're in comfortable? What are the sounds? What are they seeing? How can we signal safety for them?

How to use this as motivation to create positive change in vet med

So in summary, let's just think first, how can you use this evolution in Vet Med as motivation to create positive change in your veterinary practice?

And any time you are experiencing a challenge or something that feels overwhelming. Then think about the three C's, compassion, curiosity, and connection. I have it on my shirt today.

Compassion: 

So compassion that has to start with you. Noticing if you are operating in survival mode. If you are in a stress response. So with this news, does it make you feel irritable or defensive or to worry or to feel anxious and noticing. Okay.

Have you been operating in survival mode? And also what is in your stress balloon? So I think about stress in the body is like air in a balloon, right? We are designed just like a balloon is designed to have air, but the more air it holds, the tensor it gets, and eventually even a little stressor or pressure from the outside can cause it to pop.

And that's the same with our bodies, right? We are designed to have stress, but if you're carrying around so much stress and not having a pop-off valve for it, then news like chewy acquiring modern animal may feel a lot harder to swallow compared to if your stress balloon was empty.

And so really thinking about what are the specific things in my life that have been contributing to stress and what can I do to put my oxygen mask on first and really support myself so that you can be leading in a proactive, strategic way versus more of a reactive or fear-based way.

Curiosity:

And then curiosity, looking at where is their stress, overwhelm or frustration along the journey for the veterinary team day-to-day, for you, and for the pet owners. And really looking at how can I use this as an opportunity to make an adjustment that's going to benefit that whole ecosystem? How can we be more efficient? Where are the bottlenecks? How can we use these challenges as opportunities?

Connection:

And then connection. So we want to stay true to what makes that med great. Right? And that really is the connection between the veterinary team, the pet owners, and the pet. And I think we can all agree. We do not want to go in the direction where we are disconnected from that.

At least with Chewy and modern animal so far, they have shown that they really do care about the experience, and that is very different from the human healthcare model.

So how can we be moving forward in always strengthening that connection, supporting the wellbeing of that whole ecosystem rather than getting lost in the numbers.

Also, staying true to your values. This is gonna be so huge as pet owners do have the option to go to alternative practices. The more you can be really clear on your values and communicate that with your clients and your ideal possible clients. The more of a bond you are going to have. And that's also true for your veterinary team.

Really getting clear on what are your values? How do the individual values of your team members connect to your value that is going to help with that loyalty and bond. And also thinking about how can you strengthen the connection with your clients and the veterinary team.

Three ways you can help move forward in a positive way today

So what can you do?

I have three ways that you can help to move forward in a really positive way in VetMed.

1. Help to increase demand for practices that are leading by example with the unicorn vet hospital list 

So the first thing is a project that I have that I need your help with. So I want to create a list of what I call unicorn vet hospitals. And I think this is more important now than ever as our profession is evolving.

So what this would be is a list of veterinary practices that really stand out as unicorns because they are prioritizing the heart of what matters in Vet Med, and that is the wellbeing of the veterinary team, the pet owners, and the pet.

This is the kind of place where pet owners feel lucky to go, and the veterinary team feels lucky to work. It's not about perfection. It really is about having a growth mindset and looking at challenges as opportunities.

And so my vision and reason for creating this is because I think it needs to be easy for veterinary professionals to find the practices that they can trust are prioritizing the right things. Creating an environment where they can practice in a way that feels good and is sustainable.

And it can be hard to know what practices are truly doing that. And it's also important that pet owners can easily find those as well. I don't think corporate necessarily means good or bad, but I do think that pet owners should know if it is private or corporate. And so in this list if they are private or corporate owned in case that matters to the pet owner.

I'm doing this because if we make it easy for vet professionals and pet owners to find those practices that really are trying to do a good job in vet med, then we increase the demand for that. Those are the practices that are going to easily be able to hire their ideal candidates and team and pet owners are able to find them, and that's how we can be helping to move the profession in the direction we want.

And in order to find these unicorn hospitals, there needs to be some kind of way that we are vetting that. So I have a free workplace satisfaction and wellbeing survey that's available to any veterinary practices, and this allows you to easily take the pulse of your team.

It is about a 15 minute survey that's very holistic and it allows you to give every member of the veterinary team a safe, confidential way of providing honest feedback. It's an easy way of finding early warning signs and very quickly identifying what are the biggest frustrations, stressors and bottlenecks, so that you can start thinking strategically about how to address those.

And you get a report from me, and then you can make changes and then repeat that. That is allowing so that any veterinary practice that is motivated to create change. I'm making it as easy as possible for you.

So if you know a veterinary practice that comes to mind that you feel like is really leading by example, and you think they belong on that list, comment or send me a DM saying Unicorn hospitals, and I'll send you the list.

I'm going to be turning this into a podcast episode too, so I'll also leave that in the show notes.

2. The Simple Leadership Strategy To Reduce Overwhelm And Recession Proof Veterinary Practices 

The second option is that I have an on demand training called the Simple Leadership Strategy to reduce overwhelm and recession-proof Your veterinary practice.

That is outlining my Opal approach, which is a simple way to get to the heart of everything that we've talked about today. It is the type of thing that you can have every single member of the team listen to and adopt in your veterinary practice.

And it helps to turn practice stressors into strategic solutions. And it helps to create a culture where everybody's coming with ideas instead of just frustrations and complaints.

And again, it's helping with both for you to identify early warning signs, frustrations from pet owners. And then also within yourself and the veterinary team, so that you are creating an environment where the baseline stress level is low.

And that ultimately is so key when we are looking at how can we create sustainable experiences for both the veterinary team and pet owners. A sense of feeling safe and supported is crucial, and this is helping you to create that kind of environment.

So comment simple leadership strategy if you want the link. And I'll be leaving the link in the show notes when this turns into a podcast episode.

3. Aligned Success Reboot

The third option is my Aligned Success Reboot.

So if you are wanting personal in-depth support in shifting out of survival mode and being able to optimize your health while also thriving in your career and being a leader who is able to think strategically versus reactively, then that's available for you.

Again, we always think about what are you carrying in your stress balloon. This is an opportunity to address those and to help to make sure you are doing vet med in a way that feels fulfilling and sustainable.

So it's for you if you wanna thrive in your career without the hustle and overwhelm. If you wanna feel great in your body without healthy habits that feel like a chore, and if you want more time and energy for you without the guilt.

Comment, align, success reboot, if you want more details on that, I'll also leave it in the show notes.

Share your thoughts!

I would love to hear from you now.

The most important thing is that we are all talking about this. This really is an opportunity for us to think about the direction we want to go in Vet Med, to identify what hasn't been working, and how can we make sure that we stay true to what matters most in Vet Med instead of going and turning into human healthcare.

So I'd love to hear if you have other fears or concerns that I didn't talk about today. I'm happy to do a follow up.

Leave a comment or email me at amelia@lifeboost.today. I'd love to hear from you. Thanks

Resources mentioned:

• Managing Veterinary Care Costs: A Complete Guide To Payment Options for Pet Owners & Vet Practices: https://www.lifeboost.today/blog/113087-financing-veterinary-care
• Workplace satisfaction and well-being survey for the unicorn vet hospital list: https://www.lifeboost.today/unicornhospitalsurvey
• The Simple Leadership Strategy to Reduce Overwhelm and Recession-Proof Your Veterinary Practice: https://www.lifeboost.today/thriveinvetmed
• Aligned Success Reboot: https://www.lifeboost.today/aligned-success-reboot