VPI Wellness Plans Join AAHA Recommended Programs

LAKEWOOD, Colo., Aug. 13 -- The American Animal Hospital Association issued the following news release:

In a move to improve pet health and help increase patient visits to veterinary hospitals, the American Animal Hospital Association (AAHA) announced it will add Veterinary Pet Insurance (VPI) as its newest Preferred Business Provider for pet wellness plans.

Effective July 1, VPI became AAHA's newest Preferred Provider for pet wellness plans. AAHA is endorsing a new group of standalone pet wellness plans by VPI called VPI Everyday Care, a program that provides three varying levels of coverage for pet owners. The VPI plans are designed to support the AAHA/AVMA Preventive Healthcare Guidelines with all plan levels covering portions of preventive care exams. All plan levels also cover diagnostic tests, which help to detect and treat diseases early on.

Studies have shown a decrease in preventive care visits to the veterinarian in recent years. AAHA is committed to helping get more pets to the veterinarian for regular check-ups to create opportunities for early detection of diseases.

"We believe the program is consistent with our core mission of improving pet health and increasing patient visits by providing pet owners with cost-effective ways to manage ongoing pet health care costs," said Michael Cavanaugh, DVM, DABVP, CEO of AAHA. "AAHA reviewed the VPI program and we believe it offers veterinarians and pet owners a wellness program option that eliminates many of the challenges of practice administered wellness plans."

Many wellness programs suffer from slow growth and struggle to find success due to the significant administrative and implementation investment for veterinary practices, which can make veterinarians and their staff reluctant to promote them.

VPI's wellness plans remove the administrative effort from the veterinarian and are portable and flexible, enabling pet owners to go to any veterinarian they choose. Pet owners pay the veterinary hospital for services at the practice's regular rates, and the pet owner then submits the bill for services to VPI for reimbursement. Reimbursement comes from VPI within 10 days of submission.

"All of the constraints that may cause wellness plans to struggle in finding success go away with the VPI program," Cavanaugh said. "In offering this program, we hope we can improve overall pet health by encouraging even more pet owners to commit to regular preventive care for their pets."

VPI is a member of the Nationwide family of companies and has been supportive of the veterinary industry since 1982. It was the first company to create and offer insurance products for America's pets as well as the first to sell its products nationwide.

[Category: Animals]

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