Originally published at: Elizabeth Warren targets private equity in veterinary care - Boing Boing
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From Gail Sherman…
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In completely unrelated news…
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Yeah, noticed exactly the same thing - suddenly the vet is doing unnecessary tests, and prices for procedures tripled (or more). There was some real sticker shock when I got hit with a $3000 doggy teeth cleaning. It was only reading about the private equity takeovers that I realized what had happened. I don’t know how people can afford to have pets anymore. (And given how many pets are looking for homes, post-covid, I guess many people can’t.)
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Terrifying and absolutely repulsive.
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I changed vets when this happened to my local clinic. First all of the vet techs walked out, then all of the vets I knew and trusted were quitting, then a new vet failed to find the tumor blocking my dog’s urethra until it was inoperable and she (the dog) had to be euthanized. Then I heard who now owned the clinic and got out.
Mind you, with Covid they were already having issues-with limited availability for patient visits I had wondered how they were covering expenses. Soon after lockdown an exodus of vets began. It was a great clinic for 45 years and I’m sorry to have had to leave.
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I am both sorry for your loss and impressed at the level of shade you managed here.
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Combine greed, absurd tax laws, and so much money that firms don’t know what to do with it, and you get this broken system. Croff reference human health care. And a thousand other businesses in america.
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Bigger is most definitely not better, especially when it comes to professional services. The corporate hype will declare that efficiencies of scale will drive better prices, and that well ordered systems will increase efficiency. It could of course, if the goal was both to be better and less expensive, but it ain’t. The reductions in costs will ALWAYS flow to the company bottom line, and NEVER to the customer.
The real goal is to get a stranglehold and become the sole monopolistic supplier to maximize profits. It doesn’t matter if it’s the funeral industry, the food industry, the oil industry, the cattle industry, the pet industry, the rental property industry, the health and hospital industry, the outcome will be the same. Bigger is not better.
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That we refer to so many types of businesses as industries is very telling. The overtones of mechanical, unfeeling, driven by outside forces that are somehow superior to people…
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I worked as a veterinary technician from 1988 to 2008. I saw this starting to happen at every clinic I worked at near the end of that time. I finally got out and into random management positions in various industries. Recently unemployed YET AGAIN, I applied for a vet hospital management position. I figured my extensive experience in literally every aspect of veterinary care would be a positive, but they were only interested in P&L.
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JAB needs a big fucking uppercut, followed by a haymaker when it returns from the stratosphere.
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Running this by my sister, who is a vet but also pretty right wing. But i gotta admit, my first thought was, “Oh, now do human medicine!” Private equity is killing people at a remarkable clip.
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Sure, but only because it’s still illegal to turn them into biofuel and make them productive that way.
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Kristi Noem was reported as saying, “I really don’t understand the problem here. Unlike the coastal elites, us salt-of-the-earth country folk can handle our own animal doctorin’.”
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As a veterinarian who has worked for a corporate practice previously, I can confirm all of this. When private equity comes in they always tell the clinic “Nothing will change”. Then shockingly (/s), the entire culture changes. These corporations have no respect for the staff (vets and techs alike) and view us as easily replaced cogs in the machine. They pay lip service to Quality of Life, but of course they don’t give a damn. Private equity is the bane of America.
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And as a follow-up- I once interviewed with a VCA practice. During the interview, the recruiter remarked “We have a really high performing doctor in Illinois, and we sometimes send clinicians to her to pick up tips on how to “improve their practice””. She said this as though this was a totally normal and acceptable thing. Read between the lines- we send underperforming vets to her so she tell tell them how to make more money. She was not talking about quality of medicine. And that was when they lost me. I assure you all- the vets that work for these corporations hate their corporate overlords and absolutely wish things were different. The best they can do it keep their heads down, hope that they make enough production to satisfy the voracious appetite of the company, and get on with their day.
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Is there any way for a business to get free from these lampreys?
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It seems that the only way to escape is death through bust-out, which only occurs when private equity can’t squeeze any more money out of the business. Even then, the brand name can shamble on as a zombie.
I know you’re familiar with the business model, but a primer for those who aren’t follows:
Private equity has increasingly latched onto businesses that are effectively inescapable for humans to deal with. Veterinarians were sort of a test market: no decent person wants their pet to suffer, so let’s see how much they’re willing to pay. Next up were funeral homes. Now they’re making a big push into hospitals/medical practices and old-age homes.
I have no doubt that some kind of pre- or neo-natal care play is next on the agenda, followed by charter schools as these greedy ghouls follow the path from cradle to grave.
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Followed by? Been a decade at least.
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