Join me this episode as I sit down with Lynsey Mohr, CVPM and veterinary practice manager at Rehoboth Beach Animal Hospital, to explore how she helped transform a traditional GP clinic into a structured urgent care model! This is a topic that immediately caught my attention after meeting Lynsey at a conference and seeing firsthand how many hospitals, including my own, struggle with unpredictable emergency demand on top of already packed GP schedules. Lynsey walks us through the moment when the idea sparked during a roundtable discussion at an HMA conference, where conversations with ER and urgent care managers revealed that her practice was actually already treating urgent cases without a system designed to support it!

Throughout our conversation, Lynsey explains how she and her team identified a major gap in their community, where the nearest emergency and urgent care options were an hour or more away, forcing their clinic to take on cases that couldn't wait. I am personally stricken by how intentionally she approached the rollout in phases - testing demand, expanding hours, and building trust with both her team and neighboring clinics before fully launching. Listen in as she shares how urgent care quickly revealed strong demand, how scheduling conflicts helped make her aware of the need for a more structured triage system, and how introducing a virtual waiting room changed how they controlled the flow of patients.

Lynsey puts so much emphasis on team buy-in, communication, and reducing burnout by rotating doctors between GP and urgent care days instead of placing extra chaos on top of existing schedules. She also shares the impact of the model, including increased efficiency, improved patient outcomes, and financial growth.

We also candidly discuss the emotional side of change in veterinary medicine including the hesitation, the exhaustion, and the eventual shift toward a system that feels more sustainable for both teams and patients. By the end of our conversation, I am really left thinking about how many practices are already doing urgent care work without realizing it and how rethinking structure (rather than effort) can completely change the experience for teams, clients, and patients alike! I hope that you enjoy my discussion with Lynsey Mohr, CVPM! Show Notes: [0:34] - Today's sponsor is Instinct Science! [2:31] - How did the idea of urgent care come to Lynsey? [4:53] - Lynsey reflects on having identified urgent care needs driven by local emergency gaps. [6:45] - Lynsey's team launched urgent care in phases after realizing GP overload and client frustration. [9:05] - After strong demand, Lynsey expanded urgent care and assigned rotating doctor days in order to reduce GP chaos. [12:51] - Hear how Lynsey's team adopted the model and she launched full community outreach that gained unexpected media attention. [15:42] - Restructuring urgent care can reduce stress and help staff better manage emotional workload. [18:38] - Lynsey explains how manual same-day booking created rush-hour chaos. [20:15] - Hear about how Lynsey realized that scheduling needed triage-based intake, leading me to explore virtual waiting room systems. [22:20] - Hear how Lynsey implemented a virtual waiting room with triage, drastically improving efficiency. [25:17] - Urgent care can improve staff control and client flow! [26:28] - Lynsey credits team collaboration, trust, and rotation schedules for successfully maintaining the urgent care system. [29:28] - Hear about how establishing urgent care increased revenue, enabled equipment upgrades, and helped support pay raises. [32:36] - Even just partial implementation of these ideas can improve any veterinary practice! [33:13] - Lynsey encourages managers to embrace change by identifying service gaps and responding appropriately to community demand. [35:57] - We wrap up the episode reflecting on urgent care growth, professional collaboration, and ongoing veterinary innovation! Thank you for listening. Remember you are not in this alone. Visit our website for more resources. Links and Resources: