My vet's new policy. Is this right?

My veterinarian doesn’t carry any of the new tick and flea meds like Nexgard or Bravecto. So I ordered Bravecto from 1-800 Pet Meds and they had to contact my vet for the prescription. My vet then sent me a bill for $15 for faxing the prescription to 1-800 Pet Meds. I then called my vet and talked to the gal at the desk about it. She said that so many people are doing this they decided to charge $15 for the prescription. I then asked if this is a one-time charge and she said no, I will be charged $15 every time. I didn’t say anything and burn my bridge, but this BUGS me. Is this normal? Makes me want to go back to Joe’s Pet Meds where no prescription is needed because the law is different in Australia.

I think the vets realize these medications are a pretty large income stream they are going to lose so they are trying to protect it.

My vet does the same thing but I like them and they are a good local group so it is what it is. They give my dog good care so I don’t think it’s a big deal.

Pretty soon enough people will complain and this practice will probably come to an end. The vets will get smart and just start raising prices in other areas.

Our Vet doesn’t charge for Px, and I would have a problem if they did.

In all reality, it is a service they are providing so I don’t see a problem with it. $15 is cheap for anything at a vet now days. I can’t even borrow a pen to sign the bill for that .

BigWerm wrote:

Our Vet doesn’t charge for Px, and I would have a problem if they did.

Same here. I’d look at it just like any other prescription you get – when I go to the eye doctor, I walk out the door with my new prescriptions for glasses and contacts then go order them from wherever I want.

Our vet doesn’t do that. They’ve been good about approving prescriptions. I’m willing to pay a little more to keep it local, but I can save quite a bit of money by getting my Bravecto and HeartGard elsewhere. I’d rather spend that money on a couple of birds at a game farm than being overcharged for pet meds.

Total BS! Tell them to pound sand, they are just trying to capitalize on someone else. Tell them if they want the money they can carry the product.
Send them a bill for your time to bring the dog in because they no longer do house visits…
This really irks me.

If it rubs you the wrong way also, you should really call them and let them know. I would also call other vets and ask if they do the same and give yourself some info.

BigWerm wrote:

Our Vet doesn’t charge for Px, and I would have a problem if they did.

Same here. I’d look for another vet.

I’d ask to speak to one of the Vets, and see if they will also charge you for your dogs medical records WHEN you switch to a new Vet.

About a year ago I ended up switching vets for a different reason… I was running 10 min late for an appointment and called to let them know that out of courtesy. They said I’d have to reschedule and the next available appt was about a week and a half out. My dog had got some crap in her eyes from hunting and needed some eye drops. I wasn’t going to make my dog wait and suffer so I ended up switching vets to a place that could get me in the next day. The main reason I switched was because of the principle that it wasn’t ok for me to run 10 min late to an appt but it was standard operating procedure for them run at least 10 min late (every time I had a scheduled appt with them since I had my dog, I ended up waiting in the waiting room at least 10-15 min beyond my scheduled appt time). It just rubbed me the wrong way. Moral of the story, they are in the business of providing a service and there are numerous vets providing the same service. Find one that you like and treats you right.

sticker wrote:

In all reality, it is a service they are providing so I don’t see a problem with it. $15 is cheap for anything at a vet now days. I can’t even borrow a pen to sign the bill for that .

Totally agree. The vet is taking time to write a script for the owner. Like any labor, they bill by the hour. A $15 fee works out to about 5 minutes of time at at $200 an hour.

Heck, people pay $200 an hour for marine shop time in the metro without batting an eye.

Seem reasonable to me that it would take 5 minutes to look up your dog’s records, write a script, and ship it off to another provider.

Kyhl wrote:

<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>sticker wrote:</div>
In all reality, it is a service they are providing so I don’t see a problem with it. $15 is cheap for anything at a vet now days. I can’t even borrow a pen to sign the bill for that .

Totally agree. The vet is taking time to write a script for the owner. Like any labor, they bill by the hour. A $15 fee works out to about 4 minutes of time at at $200 an hour.

Seem reasonable to me that it would take 5 minutes to look up your dog’s records, write a script, and ship it off to another provider.

They already wrote the script, they are charging $15 to send it to the place that can fill it most affordably since the Vet already had first chance to earn that sale, but marked up the price too much. Additionally, it’s not the Vet’s time but likely the secretary/front desk person who needs to fax it over, so let’s assume they make $15/hour and it takes 5 minutes to fax it, the appropriate rate would be about $0.75. I seriously question if this is even legal…

In short it’s not against the law. If you don’t think it’s reasonable then you can try to find a vet who will not charge.

There have been attempts to regulate it federally: https://www.congress.gov/bill/112th-congress/house-bill/1406/text

Currently there are some state regulations regarding it. Wisconsin doesn’t appear to have anything on the books that’s relevant. AVMA’s guidelines are that “A veterinarian shall honor a client’s request for a prescription or veterinary feed directive in lieu of dispensing, but may charge a fee for this service.”
This can be found here https://www.avma.org/KB/Policies/Pages/Principles-of-Veterinary-Medical-Ethics-of-the-AVMA.aspx

Our vet doesn’t charge for faxing an RX to another company and I would hope that they wouldn’t start doing that. If they want me to buy our pet’s meds from them directly, then they can stop jacking up their prices for meds!

I feel like faxing a prescription is the right thing to do if the vet DOES NOT carry the meds at all. If they carried them and you decided to go elsewhere, I could see a small charge, but $15?

I use Nexgard and my vet is he cheapest place I have seen it while researching.
That’s before the “buy 6 get 1 month free” deal they always run.

I wouldn’t mind it if my Vet did it.
We’ve been using him for 25 years, he takes calls from us after hours and makes house calls.
$15 would still be good value to me.

My cities vet is so expensive he could hide it elsewhere and I would be none the wiser.

get this for outrageous!! I use a vet near marion mn. as my dogs needed shots I called there office, 35 bucks for the 2 older dogs and 25 bucks for the new puppies 1 st round. so just out of curiosity I called my local vet in spring valley mn. they said 97 bucks per older dog 48 bucks for 1 st puppy shots and 75 for 2nd. Holy s#@# is this crazy?? why is it so far off from 1 to the other?

Its Obama care. This is when it started.

Wasn’t good enough so they went where it would hurt the people. Too the pets.

suzuki wrote:

My cities vet is so expensive he could hide it elsewhere and I would be none the wiser.

So true.

Like anything else let your feet do the talking and shop for a new better vet! Seems when you had your dog in for an annual examination that is when the Px was written and paid for. After that the Px should be your property…….I pretty sure I can get my personal Px’s faxed anywhere I choose and it costs me nothing except way way over priced and marginal health care. IMHO But then again Im not a dog unless you talk to my wife!

OK how about this: many vets work on commission-if that idea bugs you I would encourage you to ask next time you go. If they say ‘No” tell them you appreciate that they do not.

I appreciate all the thoughts and replies. Part of my frustration is the fact I asked about this a 3-4 months ago and everything was OK. At that time I made the decision to order from Joe’s Pet Meds and no prescription was necessary. This time I wanted to do it right and buy within the US and suddenly this $15 charge got added for the px. The flip side is this vet has gone above and beyond for us more than once and I generally like him and consider him a friend, so I sent the $15 check (a little slow) and didn’t burn my bridge. Its always something.

Now that you paid walk in and ask for the medical record for your dogs. When they ask if you want a copy just say no, I’m moving and these are going with. BTW, your vet likes you as much as you like him.

I’m going back to school to become a veterinarian…you guys make it sound like it’s straight up printing money!

Our vet is dispensing heart worm and tick medicine monthly during a no-charge office visit. Our pup is growing fast, so they want to make sure to keep the dose correct for his weight. And that right there is how you earn a long-term customer.

Our vet is dispensing heart worm and tick medicine monthly during a no-charge office visit. Our pup is growing fast, so they want to make sure to keep the dose correct for his weight. And that right there is how you earn a long-term customer.
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I have never been to the Vet and not get a bill for it. A couple times it was the minimum but it was still a charge.
One time I had a dog with a rash of some sort and the vet came out in the parking lot and looked at the dog there. Didn’t want something contagious brought into the clinic. It wasn’t. One 1 minute look and a prescription of meds and I’m on my way. $45 office visit plus med costs.

On a side note. I think a heartworm prescription is not needed in Canada. I bought my last heartworm meds from, I believe, Canada, maybe Australia, and I paid less than half the price that I would have from my vet. You can also get heartworm testing done at a big box, like Vetco, for considerably less than most clinics around the Cities. I don’t mind paying a premium for supplies from my vet but when prices are jacked up so much people are going to start looking for other options.

A person can also read up on the life cycle of heartworm and determine for themselves if vets and heartworm drug companies are being honest with us about really needing monthly prevention.

on a different note…
When you ask your vet to provide documentation of the appropriate vaccinations given to your dog to provide proof so your dog can enter into another state (which many states require) to go hunting, do they charge you for that? that is also a time consuming task that could be billed back but i don’t realize that charge. Which im thankful they don’t charge for that. i see that a prescription could be a different situation since they are probably more liable for letting that stuff get out in the open. doesn’t necessarily mean i agree with it or not.
I can understand both parties here but i’m also for not having to spend $ if i don’t have to.

I don’t see a problem with it at all. Asking someone for a service so you can buy a product somewhere else and expecting it be done for free seems unrealistic. Next time your vehicle needs work, bring it in to your dealer, tell them you want a diagnostic check done so you can take it somewhere else to get fixed. I bet that won’t be free. What am I missing? It’s their license, their CE credits every year, etc. would it make you feel better if he did it for “free” and then his hourly rate went up? Econ 101 brother, nothing is “free”.

Most vets have 1000+ customers. Let’s say even 1/10 of them buy medications online, that is alot time. It seems most vets have 5 employees on at any given time. That’s alot of payroll. They aren’t making money when noone is there. Especially in the slow times.