What You Can Do

If you’re concerned about the growing consolidation of veterinary practices in the U.S., there are practical steps you can take to better understand your local options and make informed decisions about where to take your pets.

Ownership matters, but it isn’t the only thing that matters. Excellent veterinarians work in independent and corporate practices alike. Quality of care, price, staffing, capabilities, accessibility and your relationship with the veterinary team should all factor into your decision.

Compare your local options

Find out which veterinary practices are available in your area and how they are owned. If you need help identifying Independent Vets you can visit our companion site.

Don’t assume that the closest practice, the most familiar brand or the practice you’ve always used is necessarily the best fit. Compare independent practices, locally owned groups and corporate practices based on what matters to you and your pet.

When possible, do this before you urgently need veterinary care.

Research the practice — and who owns it

A practice’s name may tell you very little about who actually owns it. Many veterinary groups retain the names and branding of practices they acquire, so a hospital that looks independent may be part of a much larger organization.

Look beyond the sign on the building and consider:

Ownership should be part of that research, rather than a substitute for it.

Not all corporate practices are the same

“Corporate” covers a wide range of ownership and operating models. It is worth understanding the organization behind a practice before drawing conclusions based on the corporate label alone.

Some veterinary groups are publicly traded companies. Others are backed by private equity, owned by veterinarians, employees, family offices or other private investors.

Their operating models can also be very different.

Some groups acquire practices but leave substantial control with local veterinarians and practice leaders. Others more closely integrate pricing, staffing, purchasing, branding, technology and management across their network. Some keep the original practice name and identity, while others operate under a common regional or national brand.

Some groups primarily acquire existing hospitals. Others build new practices, enter joint ventures with veterinarians or use partnership models in which veterinarians retain an ownership interest.

These differences matter.

If your veterinary practice is part of a larger organization, take some time to learn more about the company behind it:

Two practices described as “corporate-owned” may operate very differently.

PrivateEquityVet.org can help you identify the organization behind a practice. From there, we encourage you to learn more about that organization, how it is financed and how it operates its veterinary hospitals.

The goal isn’t simply to attach a label. It’s to give pet owners enough information to make their own informed judgment.

Ask practices directly

There is nothing unreasonable about asking a veterinary practice who owns it.

Ownership information is not always obvious from a practice’s website, signage or branding, so sometimes the simplest approach is just to ask.

Useful questions might include:

A practice that is transparent about its ownership, pricing and policies makes it easier for pet owners to make informed choices.

Look beyond the ownership label

Independent does not automatically mean inexpensive, and corporate does not automatically mean poor care.

Larger veterinary groups can bring advantages including access to capital, administrative support, employee benefits, technology, training and networks of specialty or emergency facilities.

Independent practices can offer advantages of their own, including local ownership, continuity, direct accountability and greater autonomy over how the practice is run.

And there can be considerable variation within both categories.

The individual practice still matters.

Pay attention to your actual experience. Do you trust the veterinarian? Are recommendations explained clearly? Are alternatives discussed? Are estimates understandable? Can you ask questions without feeling rushed? Does the practice retain its staff and veterinarians?

Those things may tell you more about a particular hospital than the ownership label alone.

Build your go-to list — with backups

The worst time to start researching veterinary practices is during an emergency.

Consider identifying several options in advance:

Save their phone numbers, addresses and opening hours.

Having alternatives also makes it easier to seek another opinion or change practices if your regular provider no longer meets your needs.

Compare costs where you can

Veterinary medicine doesn’t always lend itself to simple price comparison. Every animal and clinical situation is different, and the cheapest option is not necessarily the best one.

But for routine and non-emergency care, there is often an opportunity to understand costs before committing.

Ask for estimates. Find out what is included. Ask whether there are different diagnostic or treatment approaches and what the tradeoffs are. If medication is prescribed, ask whether you can obtain a written prescription and what options you have for filling it.

The goal isn’t necessarily to find the cheapest practice.

It’s to understand what you’re paying for and make a choice that works for you.

Support practices that earn your trust

Where you spend your veterinary dollars matters.

If you value a practice — independent or corporate — support it. Recommend good veterinarians to friends, leave useful reviews and tell the practice what it is doing well.

If having a locally owned veterinary practice is important to you, choosing an independent practice is one way to help sustain independent veterinary ownership in your community.

And if a practice’s ownership model, pricing, service or approach to care no longer works for you, consider your alternatives.

You can vote with your feet — and paws.

Share what you learn

One of the reasons we built PrivateEquityVet.org is that veterinary ownership can be surprisingly difficult to figure out.

Share the site with friends, family and your local community. If you find information that is missing or incorrect, let us know.

Greater awareness makes it easier for pet owners to compare their choices and encourages the veterinary industry to be more transparent about ownership.

Our Position

We do not believe that every corporate veterinary practice is bad, or that every independently owned practice is good. Great veterinarians and veterinary teams work under every type of ownership.

Nor do we believe that all corporate veterinary groups should be viewed in the same way. Their owners, financial structures, business models and approaches to operating veterinary practices vary considerably.

We do believe that the accelerating consolidation of veterinary medicine deserves closer examination.

In particular, pet owners should be able to easily understand who owns the practice caring for their animals and what role that organization plays in operating it.

This isn’t always straightforward.

State approaches to the corporate practice of veterinary medicine vary considerably. Some states restrict non-veterinarian ownership or control of veterinary practices, while others permit it or impose more limited requirements.

Even where restrictions exist, veterinary groups can sometimes use structures in which a veterinarian-owned professional entity provides veterinary services while a separate company owns or manages other parts of the business.

These arrangements can be perfectly lawful, but they can also make it difficult for an ordinary pet owner to understand who has the financial interest in — and management influence over — the practice they visit.

We think greater transparency would be good for the profession and good for pet owners.

There is already precedent for this approach.

The UK’s Competition and Markets Authority conducted a major investigation into the veterinary market after raising concerns about competition, consumer choice and the difficulty pet owners faced understanding practice ownership and comparing prices.

Among the measures resulting from that process are requirements aimed at making veterinary group ownership more visible, improving information about prices and services, increasing transparency around prescriptions and protecting veterinary professionals’ ability to exercise independent clinical judgment.

We think some of those principles are worth considering in the United States.

At a minimum, pet owners should be able to:

Transparency doesn’t require believing that one ownership model is always better than another.

It simply gives pet owners the information they need to make their own choices.

PrivateEquityVet.org exists to make one part of that information — veterinary practice ownership — easier to find.

Join the conversation on our Facebook page.

Share our map of private equity and corporate owned vet practices:

Make your voice heard

If you want to push for greater transparency, competition and accountability in veterinary medicine, consider contacting your elected representatives, state officials, regulators or local media. A short, personal message explaining why veterinary ownership and affordability matter to you can be more effective than a generic form letter. You can also use our sample letters as a starting point and adapt them to your own experience.