The Pet Nutrition Alliance (PNA) announced the annual update on its resource that helps veterinary healthcare teams make more informed decisions when recommending pet food for their patients. This new tool Dare to Ask: We Did! was created by compiling information about pet food manufacturers. With thousands of choices of pet foods, it is confusing for pet owners and the veterinary healthcare team to make informed decisions about the best pet food for an individual pet. Surveys show that practitioners are overwhelmed with the volume of food choices available and feel...

AVMA convened the seventh annual economic summit October 23-24 just outside Chicago.  Industry leaders, economics experts, educators, practitioners, and others (including yours truly!) gathered for an in-depth look at issues impacting the financial health of veterinarians and the veterinary profession.  JAVMA News in the December 15, 2019 issue contains extensive coverage of the key topics and take-aways from the summit: Why they buy: Making sense of client spending – Consumer behavior explored at AVMA Economic Summit Understanding, enticing pet owner spending – Veterinarians can take a larger portion of the...

The American Veterinary Medical Foundation (AVMF) has awarded Claire Holley, Executive Director of the North Carolina Veterinary Medical Association, with the AVMF "PAWS UP" award. The award is given to an individual or organization in recognition of exemplary actions in support of AVMF's programs and mission.  Read more >...

Goodnewsforpets.com, launched by VMAE Affiliate member Lea-Ann Germinder in 2000, is celebrating its 20th anniversary.  It combines an award-winning website and social media channels to curate news of interest and importance to pet owners, veterinary professionals and the pet industry.  It is celebrating by highlighting organizations and innovative leaders that were part of Goodnewsforpets and made a difference in veterinary medicine and the pet world; a consumer contest will be features in February....

MemberSuite has released a new infographic identifying the top six member “wants” – and the first four correlate to value proposition statements identified by the VMAE Marketing Task Force (see VMAE’s website resource Starting the Conversation).  The top four?  #1.  Relationships.  #2.  Community.  #3.  Information.  #4.  Knowledge.  You can download the infographic here....

The American Veterinary Medical Association, American Association of Veterinary Medical Colleges (AAVMC) and Zoetis teamed up to present the 2019 Veterinary Wellbeing Summit, "Putting the WE in Wellbeing,” Nov. 16-19 in Rosemont, Illinois.  Veterinary Debt Initiative (VDI) leadership was on hand to educate attendees on the wide-ranging importance of addressing educational debt— from the wellbeing of individual veterinarians to the viability of the profession itself. The VDI session “The Collaborative Approach to the Veterinary Debt Initiative,” outlined the VDI’s strategy for addressing this issue as well as multitude of debt-related...

Malinda Larkin of JAVMA News summarized the comprehensive results from the AVMA survey of the 2019 graduating class presented by Dr. Bridgette Bain, AVMA Associate Director of Analytics. Financial planner Isaiah Douglass summarized his key learnings from the AVMA Economic Summit in the Oct. 31 blog post “AVMA Economic Summit-Takeaways” and “The Veterinarian Success” podcast Episode 21, “Disability Insurance 101 & AVMA Economic Summit Review." Amy Snyder, Amanda Bates, and Andrew Rotz shared their highlights from the 2019 AVMA Economic Summit in the North Carolina State University College of Veterinary Medicine podcast Season 2, Episode 10....

The interactive graphic on The Wall Street Journal website* Nov. 20 allowed readers to visualize student debt and expected initial salary for every college or university and career, including veterinary medicine. “Fundamentally, the results for higher education, including veterinary medicine, aren’t any different than the debt-to-income ratios the AVMA has been sharing with the profession. However, to see the data presented on The Wall Street Journal website is striking,” said Dr. David Granstrom, Assistant Executive Vice President of the American Veterinary Medical Association (AVMA). The AVMA partners with the Association of American Veterinary Medical Colleges and...

Chris Arnold of National Public Radio provided the latest details Nov. 25 on a lawsuit filed by the nonprofit student loan group, Student Debt Crisis, against the Consumer Financial Protection Agency Bureau (CFPB): “The lawsuit…alleges that the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau has abandoned its obligation to oversee companies that manage student loans, in particular a troubled loan forgiveness program.” Natalia Abrams, the founder of the Student Debt Crisis said: "We are suing the Department of Education and the CFPB because they are not doing their jobs." Abrams continued, “Over the...

The Higher Education Financial Wellness Alliance (HEFWA.org) officially launches next month. HEFWA is for professionals dedicated to bringing together post-secondary organizations to inform national conversations that impact financial wellness, public policy, and educational support services. “Any alliance that generates fresh ideas for sharing information about teaching financial wellness concepts can only help the students in our profession,” said Dr. David Granstrom, Assistant Executive Vice President of the American Veterinary Medical Association (AVMA), a Veterinary Debt Initiative co-lead organization.  If interested in joining the discussion, there is a link to sign up for the...