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- [00:12]
A
Welcome to VetBusiness, brought to you by the Veterinary Hospital Managers association, where innovation meets expertise in the veterinary industry. Join us as we delve into the latest business trends, explore emerging technologies and share strategic insights for today's veterinary practice leaders and managers. Whether you want to enhance your practice's operations, improve client engagement or stay ahead in this dynamic field, VetBusiness is your go to resource for confidently driving your veterinary practice forward. Let's dive into today's episode. Well, welcome. I am Brian Conrad. I'm your host for BHMA's Vet Business podcast. Joining me today is Dr. Mike Mossup, the co founder of COVID Dr. Mossop is the Chief Veterinary Officer at Covet, where he leads the in house medical team. Drawing on broad medical clinical backgrounds in emergency and general practice, Mike ensures that Covet's AI powered solutions are built with veterinary professionals and real world usability in mind. Welcome Dr. Mossop. How are you?
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B
I'm doing well, Brian, thanks very much. Thanks for having me. I hope you are doing well also.
- [01:20]
A
Yeah, no, I'm excited. I know we were kind of speaking a little bit off the recording a little bit. And one of the things that you and I have in common is that we're both girl dads.
- [01:29]
B
Yeah. So as mentioned, we got one homesick today, but yeah, it's part of the life journey. So having a good time with it for sure.
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A
Yeah. And you have twins. Twins. Adam, no less. So I have a 13 year old, so yeah, you have a little bit more of a commitment than I do.
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B
Yeah, that's okay. But we're again very. Everybody's happy and healthy, so I can't complain. We've got twins plus an older one as well. So it is a busy house, that's for sure. Perfect.
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A
Well, I'm really excited because this is a topic that I'm just going to be honest with you, I don't know a whole lot about. And so we're going to be talking about kind of AI and the use of scribes in our veterinary hospitals and kind of how that all integrates with our practice management software and how it can help our staff, our doctors and the clients and the pets that we care for. So it's going to be a great time here. So thank you. So let's get off. Tell me your story. How did you become a veterinarian and what, what got you started in vet Med?
- [02:26]
B
Yeah, for sure. So it's not one of those traditional always wanted to be a veterinarian type of thing ever since I was five years old. It was more. I did a lot of camping, cottaging, time in nature as a kid and I was just really fascinated by evolution and biology. And I think I probably was heading down the path of becoming a wildlife biologist, but then realized I didn't want to write papers and write grant proposals and stuff like that. So I kind of took a more practical twist and decided that veterinary medicine was kind of a nice marriage of that kind of biology, science, evolution, and then kind of more practical skill sets. So that's kind of how I ended up where I am. And obviously I've been through a few different types of practice, from emergency to general practice. I ran my own kind of technology forward mobile business for a while and now have kind of moved over to the software side as well. But it's been fun to be part of the industry and obviously a lot of really cool things happening in it right now.
- [03:22]
A
Yeah, well, I think what's really cool about what it is you're doing is that you literally are in the trenches and you've been there and you've seen kind of that. And so at some point you took on this endeavor of working with AI and creating the scribing. I'm sure you saw that need. So kind of tell me, how did that come to fruition? And what I'm dying to know, is there a cocktail napkin out there with some notes written?
- [03:45]
B
Yeah, I mean, not quite. It's probably a loose series of emails is maybe the closest analogy. So in terms of how it happened, like to some extent. To some extent, there's like a little bit of luck and timing involved. Right. Like I was kind of exiting a previous business that was very clinical in nature, although I was getting into some software development and technology stuff there. And it was right at the same time my two co founders were getting Covid off the ground. So they have more of a technology and business background and they were basically looking for a veterinarian to kind of lend the clinical perspective. And I knew one of them through my network and through and timing worked out and basically I started being in some ways their first beta tester. Right. They're like, hey, we have this idea, it's really cool. Can you test it out and give us feedback? We went back and forth. Those are the emails I mentioned. And one thing led to another and the three of us founded the company and launched the product just a few months later. So that's kind of how one thing led to another. And again, very grateful that they were smart enough to bring a veterinarian on board at the onset. Like not just me specifically, but just the fact that they and we as a group have always put the profession kind of front and center, I think has been part of the reason for our success. And I continue to practice a little bit. Like I am actually still in the trenches a few days every month or two. And we have a bunch of other practicing vets that help us as well. And I think that's really important and I'm sure we'll touch on it a bunch today.
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A
Okay, well, good. Well, like I said, I'm, you know, being honest. I'm, I'm just. This is just an area that I don't know a whole lot about. So can you give me a little kind of history lesson as far as AI goes and as it regards describing and how that all works?
- [05:30]
B
Yeah, for sure. So, I mean, at a really basic level, I'll start by saying like if there's a veterinarian out there and they've never used a scribe or a copilot or an AI assistant of any sorts of. Basically there's three steps that you need to know. Like step number one is you need to record some information. So it could be uploading a PDF, but most often it's going to be actually recording audio and it could be you and a client in a room. And that's kind of step one. Step two is you need to generate a document of some sort. And typically you'll generate using a template. I'll come back to that. And then you basically have a medical record that magically appears for you. You do a quick kind of skim, proofread maybe an edit or two, and you move it into your practice management software. And obvious the goal there is that it saves you a lot of time and we can get into some of the other benefits as well. But I guess if you want maybe one level deeper in terms of what is actually happening there, there's a couple extra steps in that when you record information, it's transcribed, right? So the first step is we arrive at this paragraph of text information and the text is usually pretty accurate, but honestly it does contain transcription errors, right? Especially if the sound quality is muddled or something like that. You know, you're looking under a dog while you're talking and the microphone's across the room. It might not be perfect. But then I mentioned that next step about generating a document and using a template and that's kind of where the magic happens a little bit. So basically we take that text based transcript and we send it to A large language model or an LLM. And people may or may not be familiar with that term, but if you've used ChatGPT or Claude from Anthropic and Google Gemini, like those are LLMs, right? These large language models. And I can maybe get into those a little bit more. But basically, when we send the audio transcript, like we send the audio transcript, we send what we call our system instruction. So these are things that Covet has written and developed. And it's kind of our secret sauce in a lot of ways. Like, the user never sees that. But then the other thing we send is this template. So a user could have multiple templates. They could have a template for their kind of basic medical record. They could have a template for a client email, they could have a template for a meeting summary. And that is something that the user controls. But people can create custom ones, they can customize ours. There's always to kind of tweak them and make them your own. And I think that's what's important is like that instruction that the user has personalized gets sent. And so it's kind of a combination of the system instructions, the that we have written, and then the template instructions that you as the user have influence over, and that combines with the transcript to create this finished document via the large language model or the LLM. So that's kind of the basic pipeline. Let me know if you want to go deeper on any of those steps. There's also like, there's some pre and post processing involved as well, you know, applying abbreviations and other settings and stuff that the user has set in their user interface. But that's basically it.
- [08:40]
A
Okay, so maybe just, let's just put this in terms in the actual veterinary hospital. So are we to the point where, like you said, there's just a microphone in the room? Because I guess I'm envisioning kind of back in the old school that the doctors talking or the attorneys talking into a little handheld recorder. And so are we past that now?
- [09:01]
B
Yeah. So, I mean, the nice thing is these systems are pretty flexible and they can work with any number of devices. Right. So there's not just one specific entry point. And different clinics will do things in a different way. But I would say for somebody who is just starting out, like, honestly, the best recording device is your smartphone. Like, virtually everybody has a modern smartphone in their pocket. And conveniently they have very high quality microphones. And so when I'm in the clinic, I basically, I'll hit record on my phone. Like, I have the App loaded up, I'll hit record before I walk into the room. When I walk into the room, I put it down on the counter. I'll kind of greet the client, I'll say hi to the patient, give a few treats. I do kind of slide in a little consent statement there. And we can get into this, like, privacy, security, all of that stuff. But I basically tell them that there's a recording device that will help me and help them in terms of giving them summary notes. And then the cell phone just sits on the counter and it records the audio. Now, there are other clinics where they might record off of, like, the desktop computer or the laptop that is already in the room. And you can do that. Sometimes the microphones on those devices aren't quite as good. So we'll send out free external microphones. You basically plug them into, like the USB set, but then you have a listening device that is permanently in the room. And again, you just. You basically access through the web browser on that desktop computer, and you can click record as soon as you walk in the room. So. And you can do both. Like, sometimes I'll start recording on one device and then finish on another. It's nice to have the cell phone because if I walk down to radiology or the doctor's office or I'm walking down the hall and I want to add information, it's right there. And you can kind of build and layer your case in multiple different recordings. So it's kind of set up in a way that's meant to be flexible to accommodate virtually any workflow.
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A
Do some of these systems then, if we're using our smartphones, do they have then an app to where I'm able to download that recording, or am I having to transfer that to my PC or how does that all work?
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B
There is a mobile app. So if you're working on a smartphone or an iPad or a tablet or something like that, the best way to access it is through that downloaded app. But if you're looking on a desktop computer, you just access it through the web browser. Like, you go to co vet and log in and you'll be right there. The thing that's really nice is it's all synchronized, right? So, like, my basic workflow at the clinic is again, I'm hitting record on that cell phone. I'll record the visit, I'll hit pause or stop when I'm done, and then I'll walk back to the doctor's office and I will have my web browser there and everything I just did on the Phone magically appears on the web browser. So by the time I get to the office, it's already on my screen. And I have basically two windows open on that computer. One window is where my record appears, and I can kind of review it and proofread it and edit it. And then the other window is my practice management software, be it Cornerstone, ABIMark, EasyVet, whatever it is you're using. And I try and encourage people to think of kind of like a drafting software for the purpose of record writing. We consider ourselves a full AI co pilot and assistant, and we can get into that if you want, but basically that drafts the record and you then want to move it into the practice management software as like the, the permanent record. And so that's the basic workflow. But again, because everything is synchronized through the cloud, you can actually jump back and forth between devices. There's even ways you can link up with teammates and pass a case from my account to somebody else's account if they're going to continue to work on it. So again, very flexible in a lot of ways.
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A
Okay. And then obviously the recording is picking up all the client comments and possibly the dog barking and the child crying. So does it just kind of filter? Does it because it knows your specific voice? Is it kind of filtering out everything else?
- [12:51]
B
Yeah, so it doesn't actually do anything in terms of voice recognition. That is kind of a common misconception, but it does effectively get to the same endpoint. It does a really good job of parsing what is medically relevant versus what is not. What's the idle chitchat about? I don't know, their kid's birthday party from last week, or their home renovation or something like that. It basically leaves out all of that information. But I guess it's just to say, going back to that basic kind of tech stack that we kind of talked about, this is all based on a text file, right. By the time it gets to the AI, there's no audio there. It's text that's being analyzed. So we're kind of looking at who's saying what and determining their role as a result of the way that the phrasing is happening. But, you know, our instructions that are being passed specify that, you know, all of this chit chat is not super relevant to the medical record, and therefore it just gets left out. Same thing with swear words and stuff like that. So it's, it's. And I mean it, the user has some control over that. Right. Like, this is again where instructions and templates come into Play is you can really set it up the way you like. I think our default setup is pretty good right out of the box. And I think that's the easiest place for people to start, obviously, but there is some customization allowed as well.
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A
Okay, now talk to me a little bit about the rise of the companion layer across the professional fields and why it matters to our industry.
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B
Yeah, so I think it matters not just to our industry, but there's actually kind of a lot of parallels with other industries as well. I mean, whether it's human healthcare or lawyers or architects or whatever, like a lot of professions are kind of going through the same thing. And obviously AI technology is very new. But I think, you know, when you use the word companion layer, like, to me that reads as like personal assistant. And I think this is a trend that we're seeing. It is a personal assistant to the veterinarian. And I kind of draw that distinction in that the practice management software fills a slightly different role. Like, these are not the same thing. And we've been very intentional about building in this personal assistant or companion layer area. Obviously, we need to work well with the practice management software. Like, that's kind of the heart of the practice and it's always going to be. And we want to basically integrate with them seamlessly. And we have integrations with a number of practice management software. We're building more with every passing week and month. But the difference is that whatever companion app you're using, like, it's. It's tailored to you as an individual. Right. So it kind of. It becomes part of your daily workflow. And it's probably the. The piece of software that you have the most frequent touch points with. And the nice thing is because it's tailored, specific to you, it knows your preferences, it can learn and evolve with you, but then if you leave the practice and you go somewhere else, it comes with you. Or if you happen to be a vet who locums at three or four practices, it goes with you wherever you go, versus a practice management system which is kind of tied to the practice. And when you walk out the door, it stays with the practice. And I think that's kind of the difference is, again, this is really something that you end up working with as an individual. Although again, there is a way to interact with the whole team and get the whole clinic involved. But I think that's kind of the important concept or distinction here.
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A
Sure. The whole concept of AI is relatively new, as you said. There's gotta be some challenges.
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B
Yeah.
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A
What are some of the challenges or limiting factors to date?
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B
Challenges for us as the company developing the software or challenges for people out there using it in the field? I'm happy to speak to both.
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A
Yeah, I guess, yeah. Maybe talk a little bit about both. I imagine there's some things in your head that you want to get to, you want the technology to get to, but that maybe isn't available yet or hasn't been developed. So kind of what are some of those limiting factors? But I guess then from my perspective, as I oversee a couple of hospitals and working with my doctors, what are some of those limiting factors?
- [17:05]
B
Yeah, I mean, maybe I'll start with the second part first. So just like from an individual user perspective, I mean, I think in some ways that the barrier to entry with the software is relatively low compared to other software in the past. Right. And I know that, you know, one of the challenges is I know vets are stretched thin, right? Like everybody knows there's not enough time in the day and it's just, you know, patient after patient and now there's more and more software involved, right. Like, you know, there's practice management software and there's client messaging software and now we've got an AI thing. So like that's, that's maybe one of the biggest challenges is, you know, introducing this new layer to people. But I think in some ways that challenge kind of takes care of itself, like once somebody tries it out. I think the difference here is that AI technology, the ease of use is very low and the value it conveys is very high. And so when you take that combination, it kind of becomes a no brainer and people start to adopt it very quickly as compared to switching to a new practice management software, which can be this week or months long process and a major headache for everybody involved. Another challenge we see, obviously vets have concerns about, you know, whether it's privacy and security and stuff like that. I mean, I mentioned off the top, if you're ever recording with a client, I think you know, my best advice for anybody, and this holds up in virtually any, any jurisdiction. But like if you ask the person for consent and that consent statement is on the recording, like that is your best kind of, I don't want to say defense, but like that's the best practice, I guess I would say. And I think it again holds up legally. But also just from an ethical perspective, I think it makes sense. And if it's a repeat client, often that consent statement is very short. It's like, hey, I have this AI recorder thing. If you Remember from last visit, and the client's like, yeah, yeah, that's okay. So. But it is something, I think, that was more challenging maybe when we started out a year or two ago. And I think AI is kind of becoming ubiquitous enough that most clients understand it already. Right. Like, you don't have to introduce the concept to it because their physician or their chiropractor is doing the same thing. And to some extent, I think, you know, the expectation is they're coming to a medical facility and the conversation is going to be documented in some way, shape or form. It's just being documented in a different way now. You know, some vets have concerns over environmental impact, and I think there's some real stuff going on there. And again, I'm happy to speak to that, but those are kind of from the vet side. I think the biggest challenges from us as the software developer standpoint, we've got, I don't know, a thousand small problems going on, but to some extent, you asking if there's something I wish we had or wished we could do. Honestly, we have so many ideas and so many things that we want to implement and we actually can do them. It's just a matter of finding the time to build all of them and to prioritize them. And a lot of these ideas are coming from our user base as well. Right. Like, we, you know, whether it's our own internal, internal team of veterinarians or whether it's feedback from our users, like, we pay very close attention to it and we want to make sure that the AI is not just accurate, but that, like, the workflows and the user interface are easy to use. And, you know, again, this is something that the vet is interacting with over and over again. So, like, I got to say, it's just, there's not enough hours in a day. Like if we. We could be building for months and still not get through our backlog. So that's kind of the biggest challenge. The other one that maybe comes to mind is we're now present in multiple countries and kind of localizing the app to different languages and countries is challenging, frankly, because it's not just a straightforward translation. There are cultural nuances and terminology nuances, and medicine is practiced in different ways in different countries. So that's a tricky one. And that's something that we're kind of working through on a country by country basis right now. So, yeah, those are the ones that jump to mind.
- [21:24]
A
Yeah. Well, I was thinking, as you were speaking, certainly when I go to my gp, I mean, that's one of the things that he does is he pulls out and records the conversation. So I would think that our clients are probably getting asked this question in other portions of services that they receive. So I would suspect that's just maybe a little hiccup or road bump. That's not going to be an issue going forward.
- [21:46]
B
Yeah, I think honestly vets are more concerned about that than the clients. No question. You still want to ask, you still want to get consent. That goes without saying, but I think vets sometimes think it's going to be a bigger barrier than it actually is. The nice thing too is even if a client doesn't want to be recorded again, Maybe it happens 1 in 100 cases or something like that. In my experience, just you don't record the client, but when they leave the room, you can speak directly, you can say, hey, we saw Fluffy. You know, this was her physical exam. These are my thoughts. And it works just as well. So like, there's different ways to use this technology. No question capturing the two way conversation as it happens is like one of the most efficient use cases, but there's different options too. Sure.
- [22:30]
A
Is human healthcare, is this technology much further advanced than what we have within the veterinary industry right now?
- [22:37]
B
Yeah. So I think I'm not as up to date on what is happening in the human space, but I think this is one kind of instance of technology where veterinary medicine is almost head to head with human medicine in a lot of cases, especially when it comes to bigger diagnostic equipment and stuff like that, partly due to cost, partly due to other reasons. I think veterinary medicine often lags behind by 10, 15 years, but I think the gap is much shorter when it comes to AI software now. There's no question there's more money and especially on the research side and quality assurance. There's more papers being published in human medicine than there are in veterinary medicine. I don't know how relevant that is to the average practitioner, but it's relevant to me as somebody involved in a software company that's trying to make sure our app is working as well as possible. Really fairly cutting edge stuff. And even on the human side, that's still being figured out. I think the other thing in human medicine they're dealing with one species and things tend to be more standardized in terms of coding and stuff like that. Whereas veterinary medicine, I think is just inherently a little messier and more varied. There aren't as many standards. So I think it means that some of the customization and stuff like that is more important in our industry because you get somebody doing equine lameness versus small animal ophthalmology versus dentistry or something like that. I guess some of those variations happens, but the species and the different styles of practice just make it so that there's a lot of different use cases. So those are kind of some of the key differences that jump out.
- [24:23]
A
Yeah, I've been in the industry for kind of over 30 years, so I was back in the day where everybody had paper records, and then we went to kind of the paper lab, and then we went to the computerized records. And so I kind of saw that transition and kind of how long that took. And I kind of feel like this whole idea of scribing and the use of AI is going to be kind of that next jump. Where do we sit today with kind of penetration? And is this widely used? Or would you say we just kind of have the pioneers right now?
- [24:54]
B
No, I mean, I'd say I can't remember the exact graph. There's like a graph where you get the early adopters first, and then I think the early majority is next, and I think that's kind of where we are, so. And I guess I should say it differs by region, too. Like, you know, the North American market seems to be a little further along than some of the European countries. And, you know, I'm sure, again, things will catch up over time, but at least in North America, like, it's not to say that every vet out there is using an AI assistant or AI scribe, but I think, you know, more and more of them are with every passing week or month. I think there's probably more out there who aren't than who are, but that gap is probably getting pretty close now. And there's no question, like, there's, you know, whether it's independent vets or large groups, like, there's a lot of, I don't know, I guess, buzz around AI. Like, if somebody is not already using AI software and practice, they certainly know other people who are, and they might be considering it or thinking about it, and they're just, you know, they haven't made that leap yet. But, you know, thinking ahead, I don't know, five years or something like that, like, I mean, I'm fairly convinced that the vast majority will be using this. And I think the technology, it's just, you know, there's going to be kind of an accumulation of iterative improvements that just make the whole experience a little smoother and easier and things like that. And especially, you know, integrations between this companion layer and the practice management software, like, the more that works seamlessly together, the easier it is to use and I think the more adoption we'll see. But yeah, it's being adopted quite quickly. I mean, as far as I know, it's progressing quite a bit faster than like that shift from paper to digital, for instance. I lived through that as well.
- [26:53]
A
So, yeah, all I can think of is very emotional. It can be a very emotional, emotional change. Well, I know you had kind of a case study as we start to kind of wrap up, but I know, kind of walk me through the case study because I can think of that kind of over. That kind of shows us how it all kind of from start to finish kind of works and what it can do for a practice.
- [27:13]
B
Yeah, I mean, we've done a couple of case studies. Like the one that comes to mind is Green Acres Hospital. It's in Alberta, Canada. And basically we just measured some metrics as they adopted covet and like, we see very similar results not just with this particular clinic, but it's kind of illustrative of larger terms. But it's basically, you know, they found that the vets there saved about two hours a day. It allowed them to see an extra two or three kind of urgent care appointments. And I think, you know, there always is this question, like, if, if, if you're saving time, like, are you using it to slot in those extra appointments or are you using it to go home and eat dinner with your family? And I think in reality there's probably a bit of both. Right. If you get time back, it's up to you in terms of how you use it. And I think it's going to be different for different clinics. We did a different case study with a strictly emergency hospital. And I think that's interesting because an emergency, you don't have this structured appointment book. It's basically as soon as you finish one case, you get on to the next. And I think over six months they were seeing an extra 1.2 or 1.3 emergency visits per vet per shift. So kind of a 10, 10 to 15% kind of productivity increase when there's no sort of overarching schedule or structure. So it really does mean you're moving through things more efficiently. And I think even though there's good return on investment and time savings and all of that, to me, the part that's maybe not talked about quite as much, but I think it just makes practicing easier, frankly, it makes it a little bit less stressful. Veterinarians are under really significant cognitive Burdens, they're keeping track of multiple patients at the same time, they're jumping from room to room and switching from. The typical cliche is you've got the euthanasia in one room and then the puppy visit in the other, and you're switching on a dime. But then they're having to also remember this information and write it down and deal with phone calls and staying late. And I think just having an assistant do much of this work in the background just. It takes away some of that burden. And it's hard to know how to phrase it, but to me, it just makes practice a little bit lighter. And it means you can kind of focus more on what you're supposed to be doing. Instead of typing furiously, you can kind of face your client and speak to them face to face, eye to eye, and maybe take a few extra moments to go slower and more methodically with the anxious pattern. And lots of little fringe benefits like that in addition to the time saving as well.
- [30:00]
A
Yeah, I was in a doctor meeting yesterday, and I can't remember if any. I don't recall any of the doctors saying, I just love medical records. So probably not. Yeah. And I think too, what I would think, too, is that this almost creates a little bit more of a complete medical record. And so for our associate doctors that are out there that are working with multiple associate doctors that are having to read each other's records and seeing their patients, et cetera, I would think that would benefit. That would only benefit it to making it, again, lighter work and a more enjoyable work environment.
- [30:33]
B
Yeah, exactly. And I mean, the promise is that a. It's going to be, you know, fast, faster, more efficient records, but also more complete and more accurate. And like, we do, you know, we get the comment, we talk to people of all age groups and stuff like that, but I think some of the testimonials we get that I like the most are like, you know, it's vets who have been in practice like 20, 30 years, and, you know, by that time their records have probably gotten pretty. Pretty short. Right. I think it gets shorter over time, but we get comments like, my records are better than they have ever been, or this is the first time I'm going home on time for dinner with my family, and this happens over and over again. So I think it does help. And for that vet out there who really does love medical records, I think there's a layer of geeking out that you can do with AI. So again, it comes back to templates and customization. But, you know, Your, your average user doesn't need to go down this road again. Like the, the standards and the default, I think work quite well, but when people get really into it, like, what they start doing is building custom templates and really tweaking the settings and like pushing the box and, and being creative in terms of what it can do. And there's, you know, I, I think between that and, and, you know, there is this kind of layer of soft skills as well that you learn as you use it, where it's like, okay, you have to remember if you, if you don't say it out loud, it doesn't like the AI doesn't know about it. Right. So you do have to kind of verbalize as you go, whether it's in front of the client or afterwards. And people just get very proficient right between tweaking their template and doing this. And the nice thing is then they get this, you know, the record always comes out kind of to their liking and to their specifications. So, yeah, again, a lot of ways to kind of get more and more involved over time.
- [32:20]
A
Yeah, well, definitely have come a long ways from the ink stamp and the different body quadrants and the check marks. Right? Yeah.
- [32:28]
B
Yeah.
- [32:29]
A
Well, Dr. Mossop, do you have anything else you'd like to share with our leaders listening in today? I mean, what do the next five years look like? What are you excited about?
- [32:37]
B
Yeah, well, like I said, I mean, the next five years, I think it's going to be again, like these incremental efficiency improvements that just make the whole experience a little smoother, especially as it relates to integration with the practice management software. We've talked a lot about kind of the scribing or the documentation, but one thing that we're getting into more and more is kind of clinical support tools or decision support tools. So there's no question we recognize that the veterinarian is still the ultimate decision maker and always will be. But it's basically like we're building textbook level reference material. So it's kind of at your fingertips and easily accessible and has all the background from your visit because it's heard the audio recordings. You don't need to go searching for, hey, I've got a five year old dog and it's male neutered. And this is the breed. And here are the clinical signs and here are the lab tests. It's all just there automatically. So, you know, kind of going deeper on those kind of clinical tools I think is the one thing that's coming up next. And then I guess if you were kind of asking about, like, I don't know, a message to kind of end on or something like that. I guess I just say if somebody hasn't tried this out and is a little reluctant or unsure, like, honestly, the best way to experience it is just to try it. There's free trials, so there's no harm in trying to. I guess that would be my advice, at least for me personally. The way I learn best, it's not so much listening to a lecture or seeing a video. It's actually trying something and getting it in my hands and being able to make changes and see the results and experiment and fiddle a little bit. And I think, again, people get very used to it. If anything, we have people who tend to get in touch. They've been using it for two weeks and they're like, oh, I love this. It's great. It's saved me time. I feel like there's a lot more I can do and I want some pointers in that direction. And we're happy to give those pointers, but yeah, that would be my recommendation, is just to give it a try or to reach out if they want some help getting started.
- [34:33]
A
Okay, well, thank you, Dr. Mossup. I really appreciate your time and hoping your daughter feels better. I know she's home from school today.
- [34:40]
B
Thanks a lot.
- [34:41]
A
But it's been a great pleasure to speak with you. From understanding the technology to real life examples of how this all works, the roadblocks and the future success that is yet to come, it's very exciting. So thank you.
- [34:54]
B
Yeah, well, you're welcome, Brian. And thanks very much for having me on. It was fun. I enjoyed it.
- [34:59]
A
Until next time for Dr. Mike Mossop, I am Brian Conrad. I look forward to speaking with you next month on what is impacting managers in the veterinary industry. Have a great day. Thank you for tuning into VHM VHMA's vet business podcast. We hope today's insights inspire you to push the boundaries of veterinary practice management. Subscribe, review and follow VHMA for more episodes. Until next time, drive your practice forward and create a brighter future for veterinary care.