Laura LeVan, DVM
Veterinary Dental Services - Acton, MA
"I especially like the way referring doctors are treated within Animal Intelligence - they are an integral part of the system, not an afterthought.  I've received so many comments about how professional my referral letters look I am pleased with how easy they are to generate.  Animal Intelligence is designed for referral practices and is driven by the medical records system, which is what matters most in a practice like mine."

Chris Hoolihan, DVM
Coastal Veterinary Emergency Hospital - Vista, CA
"Customization is THE reason to buy Animal Intelligence.  No other software product offered us the opportunity to design the software to do what we needed it to do.  Animal INtelligence allows a practice to look smarter, quicker and unique.  Animal Intelligence has played an integral part in helping us look better than our competition."

Johanna McMahon, Business Manager
Northwest Veterinary Specialists - Portland, OR
"The options for personalization seem endless and, thanks to the great client support staff, are achievable.  I have no doubt that Animal Intelligence has significantly increased our efficiency and will continue to support the expanding practice."

All of our clients are special to us! 

Click on a Client Spotlight link for an indepth interview with some of them...

Client Spotlight

The AA Small Animal Emergency Service is a busy practice in Lexington, Kentucky that sees as many as 40 medical emergencies in a 12-hour shift.  Prior to computerizing with Animal Intelligence (AI), every activity in the practice was done by hand and was very time consuming.  Animal Intelligence has helped the clinic to better organize information, run more efficiently, and to increase revenue.  Cheri Garfold, Assistant Administrator, says they've “turned the place around,” and now both doctors and staff spend more time on activities to benefit the practice, patients and the community.

Reporting:  Cheri needs unique revenue summaries and customer data for the clinic's 19 shareholders.  She found Animal Intelligence to be the only software on the market that is able to pull all the necessary numbers into customized reports required by her shareholders.

Medical Records:  AI’s electronic medical records greatly simplify the task of medical record entry through the use of an automated macro system.  Doctors at the clinic now keep accurate, easily-accessible electronic records that are designed to flow according to each doctor's specific method of practicing medicine.

Invoicing:  AI allows the clinic to catch missed charges by invoicing a procedure or medication directly from the medical record.  Revenue has increased significantly because items are no longer forgotten by the staff when the client is ready to pay for services.

Referral Letters:  Cheri uses the software to fax quickly-generated referral letters containing medical record information to the referring veterinarians, and the clinic has received very positive feedback.  The referring veterinarians “love it” and are very happy to get timely, complete information on a patient, as well as a better idea of how to proceed with a treatment.

Accounting:  Unlike other specialties, emergency clinics often carry high accounts receivable due to the “crisis” nature of their client's situations.  Cheri appreciates the full range of reports within AI that track such items as NSF checks, clients with extended credit, and bad debts.  Also valuable within AI is the ability to take very quick deposits.

Employees:  According to Cheri, emergency clinics can experience high turnover.  The training of new employees is an ongoing process but she feels that Animal Intelligence is user-friendly and the learning curve is minimal.  Within a week, new employees know the basics and can work effectively on day-to-day procedures.

“In conclusion, Animal Intelligence is the only software I have seen that recognizes the emergency clinic as a referral-based practice.  For the longest time, emergency clinics were used primarily to give busy doctors time off, but today the emergency practice is a specialty all its own. The labor it takes to keep an emergency clinic effectively operating is extensive but with Animal Intelligence as a tool, emergency services can now be effective AND efficient.  It simplifies tasks and allows us to respond quickly to the onslaught of cases that may come through our door at any given time.”
 
 

Oakland Veterinary Referral Services (OVRS) , serving the southeastern Michigan area for the past twelve years,  sees their practice as an extension of the general practice community by providing  state of the art specialty care.  They credit Animal Intelligence (AI) as part of this state of the art technology by allowing them to better serve the referring veterinarian community.

Referring Veterinarians:  “Referring veterinarians are an integral part of our business instead of an ‘after thought’,” explains Jim Thompson, practice manager.  The bottom line, comments Jim, is that we would not be in business if clients were not referred.  After researching five major veterinary software packages, the decision-makers at OVRS found that Animal Intelligence was the most complete software package for specialty  practices.  “We found it to be the best for complete medical records, ease of use and navigation and accounting,” states Jim.  The other software packages were developed for general practices and included a module to address the referral practices as an after thought.

Rapid Communication: “AI promotes rapid communication between the referring veterinarian and our specialists by allowing our doctors to create discharge and referral letters directly from their workstations,” explains Jim.  Additionally, the direct faxing capabilities of AI allow letters to be faxed directly to the referring hospital with the click of a button.  The labor and time saving features of AI eliminate the multiple transfer of letters and frees receptionists, technicians and equipment for other services.  These fast, efficient features assure that referring veterinarians are faxed updates even before the client and patient leave OVRS,  thus encouraging an open relationship between the practices, and building business.

Macro Training:   The feature in AI that enables the rapid communication and generation of records is the macro generator.  “While it took a bit to convince me to go to the System Administrator (Macros) training in Washington state, I wouldn’t trade it for anything,” states Jim emphatically.  “It allowed me to see what the software could really do to help our practice.  It was very beneficial to exchange ideas with peers and learn what does and doesn’t work for others in the same type of practice.  I still communicate with several of the people that I met during the training,” Jim comments.

Appointment Scheduler:  “In the past, before AI, we had written appointment books.  When someone called, we had to go find the book and then find an opening.  With AI, we can access the appointment scheduler from any workstation, including our doctor’s home workstations (via the Internet) and rapidly schedule appointments.  Multiple appointments can be made at one time without impacting workflow and resources.  This gives us a tremendous advantage by speeding up service to our clients as  well as minimizing errors,” Jim explains.

In Conclusion:  “Take me to a trade show and I would sell AI because I believe in it that much.  I don’t know what we would do without it in our practice.  No other software is able to do what AI does for us,” Jim states.

The Veterinary Medical Specialist of Houston, a referral-only specialty hospital that serves the Houston, Pasadena, Galveston, and surrounding areas. Dr. Kyle Brayley says, “Prior to getting started with Animal Intelligence Software, we were using a software program geared toward general practice. Specialty software from Animal Intelligence helped improve our practice, record keeping, invoicing, referral letters, and appointment scheduling right from the first day of use.”

Referral Letters: Dr. Brayley feels the ease in writing referral letters, the first and most obvious benefit of Animal Intelligence Software. Since Animal Intelligence pulls most of the information for the referral letter directly out of the medical record, letters are generated in only a few keystrokes. “In the past, we would spend up to two hours after work typing all the referral letters. Now, most letters can be completed and faxed within minutes of the examination or release of the patient, thus allowing the work flow to remain on schedule enabling the staff to go home on time.”

Invoices and Estimates: The ability to have procedures, treatments, medications, and a set high and low range  automatically invoiced as entry is made into the medical records, has shown to be advantageous over their old system. “With Animal Intelligence, there are fewer “missed charges” that are forgotten because the test, procedure or treatment was done two or three days earlier, simply because the charge is generated at the time the medical record is updated...” This allows the staff to give “up to the minute” information to clients who call and wish to know the progress of the patient and the charges to date.

Medical Records: Dr. Brayley says, “We researched many software packages before choosing Animal Intelligence and found it to be the best for complete patient records, ease of use, navigation, and searching, to mention a few things.” Dr. Brayley has found the medical records in Animal Intelligence to be the “heart and soul” of the program.  He understands the importance of the medical record as the backbone of invoicing, estimates, referral letters, and patient care.

Reports and Imaging: “By incorporating a full report generator into the software which allows an infinite number of specialized and personalized reports to be made, Animal Intelligence has gone beyond similar practice software available,” states Dr. Brayley. He noted the ready accessibility to images as another plus for Animal Intelligence Software.

Appointment Scheduler: “We never used the appointment book in our old software because it was too difficult to use, read, and navigate through.” The appointment scheduler in Animal Intelligence has proven to be just the opposite. The additional feature of setting the book up to handle multiple doctors and even varied schedules on a day-to-day or week-to-week basis has proven invaluable.

“In conclusion, Animal Intelligence Software is a user friendly program that is also a practice builder. Timely referral letters are as important to us as they are to the referring veterinarian. Animal Intelligence helps us get the information quickly back to the patient's regular doctor. Veterinarians are more likely to refer cases to us knowing that when they call the following day to discuss their patient, they are fully updated. Immediate generation of charges has helped us “catch” a lot of revenue that would have slipped through the cracks. We appreciate the ability to customize and change Animal Intelligence as we grow and expand, without having to purchase or retrain on new software. This allows for a smoother, easier and trouble free continuation of our practice.

Veterinary Surgical Referral Practice, a 7,800 sq. ft. facility completed in 1998, currently houses five specialty practices. Their specialist, Dr. C. W. (“Bill”) Betts has been a diplomate of the American College of Veterinary Surgeons for over 25 years. He began his private practice in the Raleigh area in 1994. At that time he purchased Veterinary Specialist System (VSS), the DOS based flagship product of Animal Intelligence Software. They have recently converted to Animal Intelligence and are “very impressed” how the conversion transpired.

Conversion to Animal Intelligence, was something Michelle was nervous about at first. Michelle Hood, Office Manager of this busy practice states, “I was most nervous about the financial obligation but had a lot of faith in the company. I can say I was not disappointed!” She thought things were well organized and the information thoroughly presented. Michelle appreciated the way the company worked with them in arranging training tailored to their clinic. “By following Animal Intelligence’s instructions implicitly, I found the overall conversion a smooth process.” Michelle was pleased to find the conversion non-time consuming, with very little involvement on her part. Information transferred from their DOS program (VSS) to Animal Intelligence was a great benefit for them.

User Friendly: Veterinary Surgical Referral Practice had used VSS at its full capacity. When they started using Animal Intelligence they found it to be much more “intuitive” and “user friendly” for the lay person. Their staff “took” to it quickly with little training. Michelle states, “I can tell the software developers thought about the practicality of the applications, as they are utilized in a real practice. For example, when you are in the appointment scheduler and need to get to the client screen, you are able to click on a button that will immediately open to the client screen. Another time saver is the Master Scheduler.” The receptionists like the way they can see the whole week at a glance to find that open spot saving them wasted minutes of searching.

Report Generator: Michelle compares this feature with the one in VSS, “Flexible, customizable, runs reports very quickly with less steps involved, once it is set up.” When she needed assistance in setting things up the way she wanted, Animal Intelligence offered and supplied the help she needed.

Medical Records: Do you have a doctor who resists change or just feels he or she does not have time to learn a new way of doing something, especially when it involves a computer? Michelle smiles as she comments, “With creative macro administration it is possible to make even the most computer cynical doctor a good user of the program.” The doctor just needs to go to the Medical Record tabsheet, click on the Add button and do what the macros ask.

Imaging & Invoicing: Dr. Betts does radiographic consultants for other hospitals in their area. In the Records tabsheet you can click the Image button to open the Image Viewer dialog. In that dialog you can import or create a picture. “AI allows you to have a patient and a patient record linked to a hospital giving the ability to invoice the hospital without having a client involved.” Should the patient come in for surgery the patient information, along with access to the image information, can be directly transferred to the client with a click of a button, allowing the information to reside in both areas. This gives your clinic the choice to invoice the client or the referring hospital.

In Conclusion: Michelle states, “The enhanced imaging capabilities, increased efficiency with daily tasks, flexible reporting capabilities and streamlined medical record entries of Animal Intelligence Software are benefiting our doctor and entire staff.”

Northwest Veterinary Specialists is a referral-based, multi-specialty hospital in Clackamas, Oregon serving the Portland metropolitan and surrounding areas.  NWVS currently offers services in internal medicine, ophthalmology, neurology, dermatology, orthopedic, and soft tissue surgery.   Johanna McMahon, business manager,  says that working in a 10,000 sq. ft. hospital can pose communication challenges between 30+ staff and doctors.  Animal Intelligence (AI) allows them to enter information into patient and client records from any of their 20 workstations, ensuring that clients are always given up-to-date information regarding their pets.

Estimates/Invoices:  Every client that comes to NWVS for a consultation receives a detailed estimate of the recommended treatment options.  The doctors find this definitely helps clients comprehend what will be happening to their pet and how much it will cost. Johanna says that, thanks to AI’s inventory linking ability, they have created over 80 standard estimates for routinely performed procedures and surgeries.  While the doctor is discussing the treatment with the owner in the exam room, the technician can pull up an estimate, customize it slightly, and be back in the time it takes to print it out.  The clients really seem to appreciate having this information ahead of time.  After the procedure, the estimate can be transferred to an invoice by hitting one key.  This saves a great deal of time and presents an organized and efficient image to the client. 

Reporting:  Johanna appreciates the extensive customization options in AI which has allowed them to tailor standard reports to get the exact information they need.  Especially helpful for them is the ability to create a new report that compiles data shown in several different reports.  She says that letting the computer do the groundwork is a big bonus. 

Appointment Scheduler:  NWVS usually has at least 5-6 doctors receiving as many as 70 clients on a single day.  The appointment scheduler in Animal Intelligence allows their busy receptionists to quickly navigate through each doctor's appointment book and assist the clients in a speedy manner. The search function and week-at-a-glance are especially helpful when trying to book recheck appointments. 

Inventory:  As a multi-specialty clinic, NWVS is always trying new products or trying to track down old ones. The user-friendly inventory system enables them to enter a new product into the system quickly or adjust the new price of an existing product. Johanna says that “All the history and vendor information is especially helpful when trying to track down that elusive product we ordered twice last year and need by tomorrow!”  The ability to link reminders to inventory codes is also a big time saver. The system will automatically generate a reminder, for example, to call a client one week after a suture removal. 

Support:  Johanna says, “We have been very pleased with the level of professionalism we've received from the Animal Intelligence technical support staff. My impression is that they all work well as a team and are there to satisfy the needs of their clients.  They seem very forward thinking - they have been receptive to ideas for improving the system and they listen to feedback on how a new feature applies to a working practice.”

In conclusion, “This year promises to be an exciting one as we are finally going to use the electronic medical records system to its full capacity.  Even those computer phobic doctors were impressed by how much time they will save using computer-generated referral letters.  When we opened in April 1999 we had no idea we would grow this quickly.  I am certain AI has contributed to our success by simplifying the daily tasks required to operate effectively.  I am confident AI will continue to support and enhance this practice.”