One of the most disappointing trends I saw in 2025 veterinary medicine was the transition of some private equity-backed practice groups from their initial, positively-framed missions to strictly “extractive” models. This change was usually marked by a drastically reduced focus on patient care, firing of medicine-focused executives, aggressive cost-cutting measures, and a push for a… Read More
Blog
Best of Dr. Andy Roark 2025
Happy holidays everyone! As the year wraps up, I thought I’d share with you the things I’ve made this year that have been popular, meaningful to me, or both. Here goes! The Path To Greatness – I’m excited about AI… and I also have concerns. Ken Niedziela, my wonderful editor at Today’s Veterinary Business, said… Read More
Making Clients Happy Is Not Our Top Priority
I saw a LinkedIn post from a veterinarian recently who was frustrated. He said that a cat in his care had accidentally received a double dose of pain medication before surgery, but had been clinically unaffected. He told the cat’s owners what had happened and now they are refusing to pay for the surgery or… Read More
Love and Endings: On Heavy Holidays in Vet Med
A note for anyone who cares about people working in veterinary medicine this holiday season One small secret of the vet profession is that the holiday season is not a particularly happy time for us. This doesn’t mean we are miserable or anything. It’s just that the holidays can be… heavy. Of course veterinary people… Read More
All the Things That Still Feel Authentic
A note for anyone who feels like the world is becoming one big sales pitch This holiday season, I’m grateful for all the things that still feel authentic. I’m talking about the bits of life that are not synthetic, digitalized, or performative; the experiences and interactions that are not designed to scale, carry advertisements, entice… Read More
The Pace of Practice
In veterinary medicine, there are two kinds of business consultants. There are those who rely primarily on firsthand knowledge, and those who rely primarily on secondhand knowledge. The secondhand knowledge people study industry trends, peer reviewed business research from inside and outside veterinary medicine, and they learn from the clients they work with to help… Read More