New technologies and limits on in-person contact during the COVID-19 pandemic created a perfect storm for the rise of virtual veterinary care. This presented an opportunity to expand services and offer a new type of care that could reach more people. At the same time, it quickly revealed the cracks in veterinary telehealth and showed why it can never truly compare to in-person care.
Dr. Zachary Williams, owner of PVS Omaha West Maple, understands that the future of veterinary care depends on high-quality, in-person experiences. He built his practice around this idea, providing a personal level of care he simply wasn’t able to in his previous role as an associate doctor working under corporate ownership. Now, as an independent doctor-owner, he is able to cater his care to each individual and has also empowered his staff to make real connections with clients and patients. This extra level of attention has not gone unnoticed by pet parents.
PVS: At an industry level, how has the landscape of care changed over the course of your career? Have certain practices grown more common or less common?
Dr. Williams: I think COVID-19 changed a lot of things. I think that vet care, at least when I was getting at the beginning of my career, was sort of a commodity more than anything. But when COVID hit, people started spending more time around their pets and it seemed like a lot more people were forming some of those deeper connections, where an animal is more of a family member.
When I was younger, it was a lot of bring your dog in, get their shots, take them home — that’s it. Now, I see a lot more people really get into the details, asking questions like, “How do I keep my dog’s weight appropriate? How do I keep my dog’s teeth clean? When should I schedule dental cleanings?” People are taking things a lot more seriously now, in my perspective — and, honestly, it’s fantastic.
For you personally, how has the way you provide care changed since you started?
I’ve always liked to educate people as much as I can, but it’s really given me some good challenges. People would come in and I would tell them their dog needs their teeth cleaned, or what have you. But now, pet parents are asking, “What can I do to keep them clean at home? How can I prevent this in the future? How can I mitigate the risks that might come later on?” They’re asking specific questions about their pet’s breed, risks, and care.
It’s really made me delve more into what I have to know for all of the patients I see, so that I know that I’m giving people the best information possible. It’s just really broadened my scope of knowledge on a lot of different things which has helped me do more.
In virtual care, you get rid of all of the important details and you’re basically just fixing the right-now problem and leaving room for a dozen different things to come up later that you might have been able to prevent if you’d had time for a five-minute, in-person exam.
What, in your opinion, is getting left behind in the push for virtual care?
Honestly, every single detail.
One of the biggest problems we had during COVID was that people couldn’t come into the office. A staff member would greet them, talk to them briefly, and then the pet would be brought inside while the client waited in their car. There was this disconnect. People really didn’t like that they couldn’t talk to their vet or get their opinion across. But at the same time, it opened up the market for virtual care, where you still get to talk to someone, even if it’s through a screen.
Virtual care works okay for people. As a human, I can call a doctor right now and I can tell them, “Hey, I’ve had this cough for a week, it feels like this,” and the doctor can listen to me describe my symptoms and make a care decision based on that. But a dog or a cat isn’t going to tell you what’s wrong. If you don’t put your hands on the animal, you’re just not going to know 90% of the things that are going on.
In virtual care, you get rid of all of the important details and you’re basically just fixing the right-now problem and leaving room for a dozen different things to come up later that you might have been able to prevent if you’d had time for a five-minute, in-person exam.
How has owning your own practice enabled you to provide better in-person care? Do you have any specific examples/stories?
Well the answer to the first question is, honestly, no one gets to tell me what to do.
I’ve worked in corporate practices and I was a relief doctor for a long time, so I’ve seen quite a few different examples of people managing their business. I wouldn’t say there’s any one right or wrong way to do it, but I get to adapt now — like, I actually get to go into a room and discuss with pet parents what I think the best plans are, versus following some kind of formula or written plan that someone else made for me, you know, 10 years ago. It’s given me the freedom to be a doctor in what I really truly believe is the best way to do it.
It’s also given me the freedom to help people in new ways, to actually reach out and work with clients individually. Instead of saying, “Here’s what we have to do and here’s what it costs,” I can bring in a payment plan structure or find other ways to help people based on their specific situation.
I always come back to my time in corporate medicine, which was heavily structured. In that environment, you have to do things a certain way, meet the metrics they wanted you to meet. What I see now is that people prefer coming to a local vet who owns their business. As soon as I tell people I’m the owner, that this is my hospital and I’m going to work directly with them, they just look relieved.
And compared to when I was in more corporate structures, clients actually talk to me about their lives. I feel like more than just someone they have to see once a year.
What does “personal care” look like in practice for you day to day? How important is it to have an emotional connection to your clients?
I have a dog coming in — let’s call him Fluffy — that has a bad knee. And I have the time and freedom to talk with Fluffy’s parent about his lifestyle and cater the care accordingly. If they’re telling me they like to travel and Fluffy likes to go camping and lives a very active lifestyle, then I can say, okay, let’s go with this plan because it’ll give a better quality life for that level of activity.
But if it’s a dog that likes to sit on the couch 90% of the day, maybe we don’t have to be so aggressive in our care plan. We can make another plan that works better for that lifestyle.
Compare that to if I was just looking at someone through a screen, or I was just seeing people that showed up once a year and they didn’t feel comfortable talking openly, it would be a lot harder because I wouldn’t get that level of detail.
I saw another dog with really bad skin issues and the client opened up to me about her own health. She said, “My biopsies came back. It’s cancer. But you guys are taking a lot of the pressure off of me by taking such good care of my dogs and making it easy for us.” So it’s one of those things where I get to actually be a part of these people’s lives and, honestly, I really think that makes a difference in our quality of medicine.
How do you empower your staff to create a more personal client experience?
Honestly, kind of the same way: I just don’t stop them.
They get to go in the rooms and they get to talk to the clients. They get to build a personal relationship instead of just walking people through a structured regimen. My staff have a lot more freedom, and I think our reviews reflect that. Every five-star review calls out the compassion and friendliness of my staff, how they took the time, how they listened. And that’s where we all want to be in this profession.
Is that a pretty stark difference to your experience previously in the corporate world?
I would say yes. I think this is something that a lot of corporate structures might suffer from. It’s not that the doctors are bad or don’t want to have these conversations, but you get to the point where a company is managing dozens or hundreds of veterinarians across many different places. The only way that you can really rationalize that is to put a structure in place for consistent care across the board — and it really ends up getting robotic.
I think a lot of doctors in corporate medicine are honestly a bit annoyed with that process, but there are so many corporate hospitals out there and you have to do the job that you have. As an independent doctor-owner, I have a lot more freedom to bring the emotional side of care back into my practice.
What does PVS do specifically that supports your ability to provide better in-person care?
Again, the main thing is just freedom to work as I see fit. You know, there’s all the logistics and support that PVS provides, but honestly I think that’s kind of secondary. What’s most important in empowering veterinarians to provide the highest-quality care is the freedom to act how they feel is best.
Yes, PVS is a franchise model, but most people’s idea of a franchise is McDonald’s, where every one you go into is exactly the same. That’s not the case with PVS. Your vet is going to cater everything to their specific market and each specific client.
How do you balance the business need to see more patients vs. the need to provide each individual the most attention and highest-quality care?
Here’s the thing: you’re going to be late to a couple appointments. It’s just going to happen. And no pet parent wants to hear that. But maybe the reason for that is that the dog in the next room has really severe periodontal disease — we have to get those teeth fixed or we’re going to lose them.
And most people are understanding of that. They know it means that when they come back with a difficult case, I’m going to give their pet the same time and attention. So it’s just about being friendly, being open, being honest — and I think that’s the best thing you can possibly do to achieve balance.
