Before I started to offer paid telemedicine, I was worried that my clients would bristle at the concept. To my surprise, clients not only accepted paid telemedicine, but typically thanked me after I charged them for the service.
I’ve been wondering why I was slow to introduce paid telemedicine. The obvious answer is that I was worried clients would be upset about the cost, but the root cause of my delay was that I didn’t think my professional opinion was worth it.
Veterinarians, myself included, tend to undervalue our professional knowledge. We are comfortable monetizing our surgical skills, vaccinations and pharmaceuticals, but when it comes to our professional opinion we find it difficult to justify a fee.
My hope is that the dialogue around veterinary telemedicine pivots from a technical conversation on how to offer telemedicine into a conversation about worth. Once we as a community encourage each other to value our professional expertise, paid telemedicine will become much easier to implement.
Share on social
