Petriage Expands Its Veterinary Services To Introduce Integrated Pet Curbside Check-in, 24/7 Live Triage Consultation And Simplified Billing

Leading B2B pet health tech company delivers one-stop telehealth solution for vet clinics to reduce COVID-19 stress documented in new survey of veterinarians

BELLEVUE, Wash., March 23, 2021 -- With a vast majority of veterinarians reporting they're burnt out from COVID-19-related stress, Petriage is expanding and streamlining its services to provide vet practices with the digital tools they need to prosper.

Petriage introduces integrated pet curbside check-in/check-out, 24/7 live triage consultation and simplified billing

The rapidly growing B2B pet health technology company – whose unique online pet symptom checker last month received the industry-first patent for its vet-validated teletriage tool – announced new services designed to make vet practices more efficient for practitioners, clinic staffs and pet parents, at a time when safety and convenience are top priorities. They include:

• Petriage Curbside, which simplifies the check-in and check-out processes for pet owners at curbside of a vet clinic while improving its workflow, freeing up phone lines and streamlining client communication via customizable forms and contactless payment, even for clients without a Petriage account.
• Petriage Live, an optional phone-based consultative triage service that provides trusted advice to pet owners any time from a team of dedicated licensed veterinary nurses and veterinarians, following a pet owner's use of Petriage's AI-driven symptom checker. The remote consultations mean a clinic's veterinarians no longer have to be on-call 24/7 to provide personalized service.
• A two-tier subscription platform for vet practices that consolidates Petriage's previous three-tier system and enables vets to more cost-effectively incorporate telemedicine and strengthen their relationship with pet owners.

"Our mission is to offer an integrated approach to veterinary care that gives vets more flexibility and efficiency and pet owners a one-stop destination that fulfills their pet-care needs," says Petriage CEO Joe Coury. "These additional offerings and other innovative telehealth technologies and services we're developing, including wearables and enhanced data analytics capabilities, will deepen the trust between pet owners and their vets and improve vets' quality of life and practice effectiveness, at a time when practices are under immense stress."

New Services Address Stress Reported by Over 75% of Vets in New WSVMA Study

A recent joint survey commissioned by Petriage and the Washington State Veterinary Medical Association of the state's vets found that 76% of respondents are very or extremely concerned by their team's level of stress and burn out.

"Vets' deep concern about their and their team's health isn't surprising," explains Shlomo Freiman, DVM, Petriage's chief veterinary officer and a co-founder. "The pandemic has brought a huge shift in how most run their clinics and communicate with their pet owners and also a dramatic rise in the number of pet owners."

During the pandemic, pet adoptions, especially by millennials, have surged and outpaced available shelter animals as people change the way they live their lives. Shelter Animal Counts, which tracks about 500 rescue organizations around the county, recorded a 15% rise in pet adoptions in 2020 than a year earlier. Nationally, two-of-three U.S. households included a pet in 2020 with 393.3 million pets owned, according to the 2019-2020 National Pet Owners Survey conducted by the American Pet Products Association.

COVID-19 also has impacted vets and their staffs especially hard, reflecting the close personal contact and care they give their pet owners and pets. The survey of Washington State vets found that nearly 40% of respondents or their staff members have contracted the coronavirus and 8.3% have closed their clinics at one time or another as a result. Consequently, remote teletriage services and use of curbside service have grown in popularity among vet clinics.

"Our new services, combined with our remote triage infrastructure, set Petriage further apart from competing telehealth services as a full circle-of care telehealth solution," says Allon Freiman, Petriage's chief strategy officer and a co-founder. "Our joint survey of vets with the WSVMA underscores the importance of 21st century services to vets, especially to improve their clinics' workflow."

Seventy-five percent of survey respondents said their workflow can be at least moderately improved through services Petriage already offers. These include contactless payment processing, integration with practice management software, an automated teletriage tool, appointment scheduling, customizable check-in forms, two-way messaging between vet and pet owner, and live video chat.

The survey also makes plain that a growing percentage of vets are offering remote teletriage services – nearly 32% from practically none three years ago – and providing curbside. Nearly 90% have instituted curbside with roughly 70% of them saying they expect to continue it.

Allon Freiman notes that Petriage Curbside improves a clinic's workflow, streamlines communication, frees up phone lines, enhances client relationships and increases revenue. Plus, he adds, "Just as important, it provides safety and convenience to a veterinarian's staff and clients, including convenient prescription pick-up or drop offs."

Introduces Live Consultative Triage Services, Streamlines Fee Structure to Make Pet Telehealth Accessible to More Clinics

Petriage Live delivers consultative triage services to pet owners from a trusted network of vets and veterinary nurses trained to adhere to the Code of Professional Conduct. They follow set protocols that ensure consistent and high-quality veterinary advice.

Petriage's streamlined two-tier fee system makes pet telehealth accessible to more clinics by lowering the barrier to entry. It reduced its pricing to Petriage Essential, a $49.99 monthly clinic fee for teletriage, telemonitoring, curbside and live vet or vet nurse interaction, and Petriage Premium, a $199.99 monthly fee that adds telemedicine and practice management system integration.

The previous three-tier fee system ranged in cost from $49.99 for essential service to $299.99 for premium service, with each vet clinic determining how much their clients pay for access to Petriage and its services. Most of its vet partners choose to cover Petriage's fee in the annual pet exam, so that as many clients as possible have access to the benefits of telehealth.

About Petriage

Petriage is a B2B pet health technology company that brings fully integrated telehealth services to veterinary practices and their clients. Designed by a vet specifically for veterinarians, its platform provides a unique user-friendly way for vets to communicate with clients and deliver care to pets remotely, including a proprietary patented teletriage app in which pet parents are provided a recommendation in real-time about the need and urgency to seek medical care for their pets. Learn more at petriage.com

Media Contact:

Jeff Zilka
[email protected]
(847) 421-0622

Petriage Awarded First-Ever Patent for Online AI-Driven Pet Symptom Checker, A 97%-Plus Accurate Tool for Assessing Urgency of Seeking Care

B2B Pet Health Technology Company Developing Further Telehealth Advances

BELLEVUE, Wash., Feb. 23, 2021 – Petriage, a B2B pet health technology company, announced that the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office has issued to it an industry-first patent for its unique online pet symptom checker. Driven by artificial intelligence, the vet-validated teletriage Pet Symptom Analysis tool informs pet owners with over 97%-plus accuracy of the urgency for seeking care for their ailing dog or cat, based on information about their pet’s symptoms inputted by the owner.

The fast-growing company’s unique cloud-based software platform for veterinary clinics now includes the pet symptom checker and other tools that facilitate remote treatment and monitoring of a vet’s patients and integrates pets’ medical data effortlessly into vet practice management systems.

The symptom checker, which was patent-pending, was assigned U.S. Patent No. 10,930,401, entitled “Pet Evaluation and Triage System,” protecting Petriage’s innovative technology and investments for 20 years from its priority date. The patent covers technology invented by Petriage co-founders Shlomo Freiman and Allon Freiman, who are Chief Veterinary Office and Chief Strategy Officer, respectively; Data Science Adviser Casey Olives, Ph.D.; and Matt Staroscik, Principal Product Owner.

“This patent, Petriage’s first, underscores how our state-of-the-art technology is transforming vet clinics’ patient care, profitability and productivity, while improving the quality of life for vets and their staffs,” said Petriage CEO Joseph Coury. “We’re pleased that one of our core technologies has received patent protection, an important step as we continue to enhance our platform with new features.”

“The pet symptom checker 'thinks' like a veterinarian reviewing a sick pet’s complaints,” explains Dr. Freiman. “What’s more, with the machine learning component, Petriage continues to 'learn' and will have richer and richer data to draw upon with each additional use of the app.”

Petriage’s remote triage system sets the company apart from competing telehealth services as a full circle-of-care telehealth solution that also includes virtual medicine consultations and automated remote monitoring. Pet-owner clients get free 24/7 access to the pet symptom checker, which uses a sophisticated algorithm to identify pet ailments with increasing levels of urgency.

Using the app, clients can assess the need for veterinary care and remotely engage their family veterinarian using a free, downloadable app. Further, the checker has the built-in ability to allow clients to pay for consultations directly through Petriage.

Pet owner Erica Becker found it much easier communicating with her vet about her small dog’s gastrointestinal problems using Petriage to connect with her vet. “I just logged in and described my dog’s symptoms,” she says. An alert went to her vet and she got an immediate response back asking how the dog’s gums looked. She was then asked to snap a photo and upload it. She liked that she was able to type her own message in addition to being guided through a series of questions.

Petriage is developing additional telehealth technology and services, including wearables and enhanced data analytics capabilities, led by its Chief Technology Officer Gary Watson, a leading pet industry tech strategist and software architect.

About Petriage

Petriage is a B2B pet health technology company that brings fully integrated telehealth services to veterinary practices and their clients. Designed by a vet specifically for veterinarians, its platform provides a unique user-friendly way for vets to communicate with clients and deliver care to pets remotely, including a proprietary patented teletriage app in which pet parents are provided a recommendation in real-time about the need and urgency to seek medical care for their pets. Learn more at petriage.com.

Media Contact:

Jeff Zilka
[email protected]
(847) 421-0622

Fast-Growing Petriage Names New CEO, Creates Two New Leadership Positions

Petriage named Joseph Coury, a veterinary industry and business development leader, as CEO of the fast-growing B2B pet health technology company. Coury, whose appointment is immediate, succeeds Allon Freiman, a co-founder of four-year-old Petriage, who becomes chief strategy officer and continues as a member of the leadership team.

The appointment comes as Petriage accelerates an ambitious expansion program for its fully integrated telehealth tools and resources that help vets and pet parents provide the best care for their pets. Coury, 37, was previously CEO of OMNI Practice Group, a Kenmore, Wash., provider of veterinary, dental and medical-related business, real estate and consulting services. Earlier, he was senior vice president of the Veterinary Division at California Bank of Commerce, and during his career, he provided start-up and financial and other banking services to over 1,000 veterinarian clinics across the country.

In a related leadership team announcement, Wendy Hennig, Petriage's vice president of Sales and Marketing, was elevated to Chief Growth Officer. Hennig, 44, with almost 20 years of veterinary industry sales experience, has been with Petriage since May 2018 and previously was at  Patterson Veterinary Supply Co., where she held several posts.

"Petriage's board and I are delighted to have Joe join our company as CEO," said Freiman, who has known Coury for several years. "Petriage's rapid growth, spurred by our ability to tap into the surge in interest in veterinary telehealth as the result of the coronavirus pandemic, is getting us closer to accessing external sources of funding. Joe's experience as a proven team leader with deep knowledge of veterinary practice operations and economics and his superb animal health industry credentials and connections make him the right person to take the reins at this exciting time to lead Petriage through its next phase of growth."

Freiman, 32, emphasized he is not stepping away from Petriage. "Like most startup co-founders, I am committed to participating in our company's long-term success and look forward to continuing to contribute to Petriage. We have a wealth of potential opportunities in, for example, other AI-driven applications, expanding internationally and incorporating data from wearables, where Petriage's adaptable technology positions us for success."

Dan Kingston, Petriage board member, co-founder and member of Frontbridge Capital, and formerly Head of Portfolio Management for Vulcan Capital, said of Coury's appointment, "We are delighted to have attracted a proven team leader with deep veterinary industry knowledge." as Petriage's new CEO."

Kingston added, "Joe's arrival rounds out an all-star team of industry veterans, including the hiring last year of Gary Watson as the Chief Technology Officer. Together, the team will build upon Petriage's leading position in veterinary telehealth and scale its service offerings globally."

Petriage Differentiated by Its Unique Software Platform
Coury said what drew him to Petriage is the potential of its unique software platform – which remotely treats vets' patients and integrates pets' medical data effortlessly into vet practice management systems – to transform vet clinics' profitability, productivity, efficiency, return on investment and quality of life for vets and their staffs.

Petriage's suite of services includes pet teletriage, teleconsult, telemedicine and telemonitoring, enabling vets to expand their business as a "brick-and-click" practice. This lets them capture a significant portion of cases occurring after-hours that they wouldn't have been aware of and likely would result in emergency room visits. It also keeps medical records up to date by unloading all information automatically to the vet's practice management software.

"I've seen the difference the Petriage platform makes in helping vets manage their time and help achieve work/life balance, and no other vet telehealth solution can rival the complete circle of care it delivers," Coury maintained. Exemplifying the superior results, he said, is the 21-year-old veterinary practice of Dr. Shlomo Freiman, DVM, another of Petriage's co-founders.

Coury noted that even before establishing Petriage, Dr. Freiman used its telehealth approach to engage his clients in the care of their pets after-hours, including its proprietary teletriage app that lets pet owners assess the urgency of a dog or cat's health symptoms and deliver trusted recommendations to the vet. Coury said the telehealth platform has helped Dr. Shlomo generate more than three times the gross revenues of the typical solo practitioner and placed him among the top one-tenth of one percent of most productive veterinarians.

Remarkable Growth in 2020
Petriage has grown dramatically in 2020, through partnerships and other actions, as veterinarians become more familiar and accustomed to telehealth services. Their interest intensified with COVID-19 that has limited traditional vet-and-pet interactions and threatened their ability to stay open.

Since mid-March, Petriage has partnered with leading veterinary suppliers in the U.S., including MWI Animal Health, Miller Veterinary Supply Co. and LifeLearn Animal Health to reach clinics nationwide. It also partnered with other membership groups such as The Veterinary Cooperative and PSIvet, both leading independent veterinary purchasing and support groups, and the Washington State Veterinary Medical Association is offering Petriage's services as a new benefit to members. Other collaborations are in the works.

With a pet in an estimated 67% of U.S. homes, according to the 2019-2020 American Pet Products Association survey, Petriage anticipates accelerated growth to continue in the number of veterinarians and pets it serves, including outside the U.S. The survey indicates that 63.4 million U.S. households own a dog and 42.7 million own a cat.

Consequently, Petriage is developing further telehealth technology and services led by Gary Watson, its chief technology officer and a leading pet industry tech strategist and software architect. It also plans enhanced data analytics capabilities. Recently, it integrated all practice metric software used by vet clinics with its pet data-reporting services.

The anticipated surge in Petriage's growth has spurred the company to step up consideration of securing Series A financing to fund future expansion of additional state-of-the-art telehealth technology and services.  Previously, it has completed two funding rounds and a convertible note sale.

LifeLearn Animal Health Adds Petriage Telehealth to Its Practice Solutions

LifeLearn Animal Health today announced a new collaboration with Petriage to add the veterinary technology company’s state-of-the-art telehealth platform to LifeLearn’s suite of industry-leading Practice Solutions.

LifeLearn Animal Health today announced a new collaboration with Petriage to add the veterinary technology company’s state-of-the-art telehealth platform to LifeLearn’s suite of industry-leading Practice Solutions.

“We’re excited to partner with Petriage to further LifeLearn’s commitment to provide practices with the tools they need to optimize their operations while adapting to changing protocols,” says Dr. Mark Stephenson, LifeLearn’s Chief Veterinary Officer. “Adding Petriage to our existing suite of new and adaptive Practice Solutions broadens our resources to help practices navigate the current crisis, rebound from it and thrive in the days ahead.”

A cloud-based B2B telehealth company, Petriage provides a unique software platform, developed by a veterinarian, that comes in three incremental service levels to serve the needs and budget of any practice:

• The Basic telehealth service level provides pet owners with an advanced, patent-pending online teletriage pet Symptom Checker that can be accessed from a web browser or an easy-to-use mobile app. The Symptom Checker uses a sophisticated AI-driven algorithm to help pet owners assess the urgency for veterinary care and provide a recommendation of the appropriate next steps.
• The Essential service level adds additional telemonitoring capabilities through eCheck – Remote Monitoring for communication and re-checks after surgery or hospitalization.
• The Premium service level completes the Petriage “Circle of Care” by adding full telemedicine capabilities through eConsult - Online Consultation. It gives pet owners the ability to chat or teleconference live and remotely engage with their veterinarian and to share photos and videos.

Petriage has read and writeback capabilities to automatically sync triage, eCheck, and eConsult data with your practice management system’s medical records.

Trusted by veterinarians across North America and recommended to its members by the Washington State Veterinary Medical Association (WSVMA), Petriage is available through LifeLearn as a standalone solution. Petriage can also be added and integrated into LifeLearn WebDVM custom veterinary websites (both for existing and new WebDVM customers) for quick pet-owner access.

“We are thrilled to be joining with LifeLearn, a company dedicated as we are to advancing pet health. We look forward to working together to reach more veterinarians with the underlying message that telehealth can support their practice, both now, during COVID-19, and later when social distancing restriction are removed,” said Petriage CEO Allon Freiman.

“While this is a time of uncertainty for many practices, veterinarians can feel supported knowing they have access to robust and adaptive tools to help them stay connected with clients and serve the care and well-being of patients in these unprecedented times. We really are all in this together, and our partnership with LifeLearn reflects that.”

About Petriage

Petriage is a cloud-based B2B telehealth company that allows veterinarians to service their clients and engage them in the remote care of their patients. Its unique offering is a telemedicine service highlighted by a proprietary teletriage tool by which pet parents are provided a recommendation in real-time regarding the need/urgency to seek veterinary medical care for their pets. Petriage was founded in 2015 in Bellevue, WA by CEO Allon Freiman, Shlomo Freiman (DVM, Cornell University College of Veterinary Medicine), and Casey Olives (Ph.D., Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health).

About LifeLearn Animal Health

LifeLearn empowers veterinary practices to optimize the way they do business, attract more clients, and improve profitability with a suite of customizable online solutions, including WebDVM—custom veterinary websites; ClientEd—client education resource; Sofie—virtual DVM assistant; PetNurse—after-hours telehealth triage service; ALLYDVM—client communication + retention software.

Animal health corporations rely on LifeLearn to provide custom digital education, marketing, and communications products and services to help them market to their valued veterinary and pet-owner customers.

LifeLearn’s award-winning competencies in digital media, combined with longstanding veterinary content expertise, are just part of why LifeLearn has been named one of Canada’s Fastest-Growing Companies from 2015 to 2019.

MWI Animal Health to Distribute Petriage's Unique Veterinary Telehealth Platform in North America

Will Offer Petriage's Pet Telehealth Services as Part of Veterinary 'Tool Kit' to Respond to Pressures, Concerns Created by COVID-19

April 14, 2020 By PRNewswire

As more veterinarians begin to incorporate remote care services in response to the COVID-19 coronavirus, MWI Animal Health, a leading distributor of veterinary products and services, and Petriage, a B2B provider of telehealth services to veterinary practices, today announced a strategic collaboration to offer Petriage's state-of-the art telehealth platform to veterinarians and veterinary practices in North America. 

The collaboration comes as veterinarians and pet owners strive to help limit the spread of COVID-19. Petriage's platform enables vets to treat household pets remotely while also integrating the pets' medical data effortlessly into their vet practice management systems. MWI is part of AmerisourceBergen, a global healthcare solutions leader.

"At MWI, we're focused on providing veterinary practices with the tools and resources they need in today's dynamic animal health marketplace," said Brian Topper, MWI's Animal Health Vice President of Product Strategy. "Our work with Petriage and its telehealth capabilities is timely as we continue to grapple with the impact of COVID-19 while meeting our commitment to create healthier futures for the pets and other animals our veterinary customers serve."

"We are thrilled to partner with MWI, an animal health supply chain leader that, like us, has its roots in the Northwest," said Petriage CEO Allon Freiman. "With their huge reach and consummate relationship with veterinary clinics in the U.S., Canada and the U.K., MWI's specialty sales representatives will help guide their customers to our services so we can demonstrate the benefits to them of pet telehealth."

Established in 1976 by Millard Wallace Ickes, a DVM and accomplished equestrian whose initials grace the company's name, MWI serves tens of thousands of veterinary practices and offers over 50,000 products and services. It was acquired by AmerisourceBergen in January 2015.

Petriage, founded in 2015, provides a free, proprietary teletriage app combined with premium services that enable veterinarians to engage their clients virtually after-hours in the care of their pets and to integrate pets' medical data into their vet practice management systems.

With Petriage's unique software platform, veterinarians can assess the urgency of household pets' health symptoms remotely and deliver trusted recommendations while also integrating the pets' medical data effortlessly into their vet practice management systems. Its telehealth service features a proprietary and advanced online pet symptom checker that uses a sophisticated algorithm to identify what may be ailing a dog or cat. Pet owner clients can assess the need for veterinary care and remotely engage their family veterinarian.

In today's on-demand economy, Petriage helps veterinarians expand their traditional business model by offering a personalized telehealth solution with both teletriage and telemonitoring capabilities and evolve into "brick and click" practices. This enables them to capture a significant portion of cases occurring after-hours that they would have been unaware of and likely would result in emergency room visits.

Petriage's Basic service – the simple-to-use mobile interface validated by veterinarians – assesses the urgency of a dog or cat's health symptoms and delivers trusted recommendations. Its Essential service level offers pet parents telemonitoring capabilities with their veterinarian. The Premium service level adds the ability to chat live with the vet and share photos and video for full engagement about a pet's health.

About MWI Animal Health
A part of AmerisourceBergen, MWI Animal Health is a leading distributor of veterinary products and services for treating all species of animals. We build lasting relationships with veterinarians through a deep understanding of clinic operations, competitive pressures and growth strategies. Learn more at https://www.mwiah.com/.

Incorporating telemedicine in the age of COVID-19

Tips for choosing a platform for your practice

This article was originally posted on Veterinary Practice News website.

April 1, 2020 By Shlomo Freiman DVM

With the novel coronavirus and the need for social distancing defining our existence today, veterinarians must get creative and adapt because this won’t be a one-month headache. Instead, how we reduce our direct and indirect contact with clients and their pets will serve as a defining moment for our profession. Telemedicine is one tool many veterinarians have turned to as a way to continue to assess and treat patients, while keeping staff safe.

The need is real. On March 15, the American Veterinary Medicine Association (AVMA) published guidelines regarding the use of telemedicine as a method of practicing social distancing. And just a few days ago, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) temporarily lifted some of its federal requirements for telemedicine.

Several digital platforms have emerged for assessing household pets’ health symptoms and providing other clinical data; recommending options; and enabling pet owners to alert and correspond with their veterinarian. While telemedicine isn’t meant to replace clinical exams, it does allow veterinarians to assess and treat their patients while keeping themselves, their staff, and their clients safe.

For practitioners mulling telemedicine for the first time, consider the following tips:

• Look for a telemedicine platform, of which there are several, that uses video and two-way messaging. Some of the advanced features now available include real-time chats, a sophisticated symptom checker for pet owners to assess a pet’s condition, and auto-updates of the pet’s medical record information through the clinic’s practice management software.
• Bring your staff into the loop and empower them to help you deliver virtual care. It’s essential telemedicine be compatible with your clinic workflow. Your office manager, for instance, must learn to respond to online queries as they would a telephone call or walk-in. Based on information provided by telemedicine, they can schedule appointments strategically. You may need to designate a technician to screen queries for urgency and guide clients if they need to schedule a physical visit, preferably a drop-off.
• When using a telemedicine platform, schedule dedicated telemedicine office hours that extend past your brick-and-mortar hours (i.e. early in the morning and later in the evening).
• Inform your clients about the telemedicine platform you use so they are aware of it. This strengthens client relationships and loyalty because pet owners get peace of mind knowing their veterinarian can still assess their pet’s health issues.

Hopefully, the COVID-19 pandemic will not continue for an extended period and we will all be able to welcome clients and their pets back to our clinics and hospitals. But until then, telemedicine can help deliver veterinary care while keeping staff and clients safe.

Washington State Veterinary Medical Association Offers Petriage's Veterinary Telehealth Services As New Benefit To Members

Client-Facing Telemedicine Platform Provides Way to Handle Pet Issues Remotely as Coronavirus Health Concerns Impact Vets' Practices

March 31, 2020 By PRNewswire

Petriage, a B2B provider of state-of-the-art telehealth services to veterinary practices, announced that the Washington State Veterinary Medical Association (WSVMA) will offer Petriage's client-facing veterinary telehealth services as a new benefit to its over 1,800 members who are veterinarians and veterinary students.

With the partnership, the WSVMA is the second state veterinary medical association after New York to formalize an alliance with a veterinary telehealth platform such as Petriage.

"As a company based in Washington state and developed by local veterinarians with veterinarians in mind, we are delighted to partner with the WSVMA. We welcome the opportunity to provide smart, data-driven technologies that improve the lives of the state's veterinarians and their clients and pets," said Petriage CEO Allon Freiman.

"The fact that Petriage facilitates remote client interactions and pet health monitoring is an added benefit during this time of rising COVID-19 concerns, which are impacting many vets' practices and diminishing their client interactions," Freiman added.

Said WSVMA President Gary Marshall, DVM, "Telehealth is expanding as a resource providing veterinarians with more avenues for providing care to their patients and their pets, and we are pleased to offer Petriage's telehealth services to our interested members."

With Petriage's unique software platform, veterinarians can assess the urgency of household pets' health symptoms remotely and deliver trusted recommendations while also integrating the pets' medical data effortlessly into their vet practice management systems. Its telehealth service features a proprietary and advanced online pet symptom checker that uses a sophisticated algorithm to identify what may be ailing a dog or cat. Pet owner clients can assess the need for veterinary care and remotely engage their family veterinarian.

In today's on-demand economy, Petriage helps veterinarians expand their traditional business model by offering a personalized telehealth solution with both teletriage and telemonitoring capabilities and evolve into "brick and click" practices. This enables them to capture a significant portion of cases occurring after-hours that they would have been unaware of and likely would result in emergency room visits.

Petriage's Basic service – the simple-to-use mobile interface validated by veterinarians – assesses the urgency of a dog or cat's health symptoms and delivers trusted recommendations. Its Essential service level offers pet parents telemonitoring capabilities with their veterinarian. The Premium service level adds the ability to chat live with the vet and share photos and video for full engagement about a pet's health.

About Washington State Veterinary Medical Association

The WSVMA, headquartered in Snoqualmie, is a non-profit statewide membership and professional organization of over 1,800 veterinarians and veterinary students and was established in 1909. Its mission is to advance the cause of veterinary medicine to better the lives of those touched by it.

Petriage featured on Good Morning America

March 26, 2020 in Good Morning America

 

 

Petriage Announces Partnership With Miller Veterinary Supply Co.

Oldest U.S. Wholesale Veterinary Distributor to Offer Unique Pet Telehealth Service To Thousands of Vet Practices Nationally

March 13, 2020 By PRNewsWire

Petriage, a B2B telehealth provider of state-of-the-art services to veterinary practices, today announced a partnership with Miller Veterinary Supply, the nation's oldest wholesale veterinary distributor serving thousands of veterinary practices across the country. The independent Fort Worth-based company, celebrating its centennial this year, has four distribution centers and offers over 30,000 products. 

The partnership strengthens Petriage's drive to gain a larger share of the pet technology market for veterinarians and household pet parents nationally. Its unique software platform enables veterinarians to treat household pets remotely after-hours and also integrate the pets' medical data effortlessly into their vet practice management systems.

"We are delighted that Miller Veterinary Supply, the nation's oldest wholesale distributor of pet supplies to veterinarians and a company celebrated for its exemplary service, credibility and trust, has selected Petriage as the telehealth platform it will offer its clients, " said Petriage CEO Allon Freiman. "We look forward to partnering with Miller to help expand our footprint with veterinarians nationwide."   

Petriage will leverage Miller Veterinary Supply's veteran dedicated account representatives to market its telehealth service, which features a proprietary and advanced online pet symptom checker that uses a sophisticated algorithm to identify what may be ailing a dog or cat. This enables veterinarians to expand their business as a "brick-and-click" practice and capture a significant portion of cases occurring after-hours that often result in emergency room visits. 

Established in 1920, Miller Veterinary Supply has been growing rapidly and expanding aggressively. It has been adding distribution centers and has them in Fairview, N.J., Braselton, Ga., and Ocala, Fla., along with its Fort Worth location.  

Petriage provides a free, proprietary teletriage app combined with premium services that enable veterinarians to engage their clients virtually after-hours in the care of their pets and integrate pets' medical data effortlessly into their vet practice management systems.

Its Basic service – the simple-to-use mobile interface validated by a team of veterinarians – assesses the urgency of a dog or cat's health symptoms and delivers trusted recommendations. Its Essential service level offers telemonitoring capabilities with a veterinarian. The Premium service level adds the ability to chat live with the vet and share photos and video for full engagement about a pet's health. Fees for the Essential and Premium service levels are usually included in a veterinarian's annual charge to a client. 

About Miller Veterinary Supply Co. 

Miller Veterinary Supply was founded in Fort Worth, Texas, in 1920, and has been instrumental in the introduction of hundreds of products over the years, and we look forward to our new venture into practice management software. www.millervet.supply.com is our web address that contains not only a full online store, but also helpful information about our products and services. Feel free to call us at 1-800-880-1920 or 1-855-645-7838 or you can email us at [email protected].

Telemedicine to the rescue

Remote tools can help blunt COVID-19's impact on veterinary practices.

March 18, 2020 By Shlomo Freiman DVM

 As a practicing veterinarian for a quarter-century, I have never experienced a time like this, when vets must be as concerned about potentially sick pet owners as we are about the clients’ sick pets. Many clients are understandably reluctant to come to the office for a face-to-face consultation during the COVID-19 pandemic. Added to that, I’m at an age considered most at risk for the contagion’s most serious effects. It’s undeniably concerning.

For these reasons, I was happy to see that the American Veterinary Medical Association’s latest guidelines for veterinarians — “What Veterinarians Need to Know” — underline the role that telemedicine can play to maintain one’s practice during this traumatic period. If ever there was a reason to employ telemedicine, this crisis has provided it.

I have long been an advocate for telemedicine and began exploring it in 2015. I quickly became so convinced of its benefits that I co-founded a veterinary telemedicine company, Petriage, in 2016. But whether you use Petriage or another telemedicine platform, investigating and applying one now is imperative.

In today’s COVID-19 environment, telemedicine platforms provide effective alternatives to in-person consultations while helping keep the veterinary team, client and patient safe. Some tools use sophisticated, machine-learning artificial intelligence to assess symptoms and present an automated triage recommendation. Clients can request interaction with the veterinarian during telemedicine hours or regular office hours.

In real-time, telemedicine tools enable clients to upload photos and video via instant messaging. This keeps the veterinarian in the loop, ensuring continuous care and avoiding unnecessary ER visits, strengthening the client relationship, and driving business back to the brick-and-mortar hospital. A well-designed telemedicine platform can streamline practice workflow by sending medical information directly to an office management system.

Obviously, telemedicine’s advantage in today’s COVID-19 world is that it’s available remotely and can help the veterinarian continue to provide pet care without an office visit and at the same time triage patients that must come in.

What’s notable from my practice’s data is that only about 5% of teletriage cases are genuine emergencies. The rest can be handled during business hours and don’t require a visit to an emergency clinic. Even during office hours, the teletriage tool helps to prescreen cases and control workflow in busy practices. For this reason, well before the appearance of the novel coronavirus in the United States, all my active patients were enrolled on the telehealth platform.

Many observers have said telemedicine will become standard in the veterinary industry. The coronavirus crisis is the proverbial wakeup call.

Petriage Names Leading Pet Industry Technology Architect As CTO

Appointment Comes as Telehealth Service for Vets Readies to Assist More Practices Nationally

BELLEVUE, Wash., Oct. 3, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Petriage, a B2B telehealth provider of state-of-the art services to veterinary practices, today announced it has named Gary Watson, a leading pet industry technology strategist and software architect, to the new position of chief technology officer. He will assist the company as it prepares to expand the number of veterinarian practices it serves nationally with its unique software platform for remotely treating household pets and integrating their medical data effortlessly into vet practice management systems.

Watson, who joins a team of medical, data and IT specialists at Petriage, brings 15 years of experience developing complex applications for pet-related service businesses, including seven years as CTO and vice president of technology at Vets First Choice, now Covetrus, and five years as chief software architect at IDEXX Laboratories. Most recently, the 49-year-old Watson was vice president of product engineering at PetDesk Inc. He joins Petriage in October.

As the use of telemedicine in veterinary medicine grows and Petriage's software app attracts more veterinarians and pet parents, Watson's technology and software expertise and experience comes at an opportune time for the company, founded in 2015.

Striving to carve a bigger share of the pet technology market for vets and household pet parents, Petriage is moving to significantly expand the number of veterinarians and their practices it assists through additional partnerships. Today, the Seattle-area company primarily serves the Pacific Northwest. To realize its growth plans, Petriage recognizes it must continue to enhance its current software applications and develop new technology for growing segments of the market, including wearable technology.

Petriage CEO Allon Freiman said, "With his solid knowledge and industry reputation, Gary will help us further penetrate the pet technology market and provide software applications that improve patient outcomes, drive revenue to vet practices and better integrate with vets' practice management system. He knows what we aspire to do, sees the potential and is deeply inspiring to work with."

"I am incredibly excited to join the Petriage team," said Watson. "Having spent over 15 years focused on helping veterinarians use data to meet the ever-growing challenges they face, I am eager to help Petriage deliver its powerful, fully integrated solution. Petriage allows pet owners to provide better care for their pets without forcing vets to implement a daunting set of process changes. These are exciting advantages, and I look forward to helping Petriage scale nationally."

The global pet tech market was valued at over $4.5 billion in 2018 and is expected to increase at a 24% compound annual growth rate by 2025, with the North American market accounting for over 55%, estimates Global Market Insights, a research firm focusing on high-tech industries.  The global pet wearable market was estimated at $1.4 billion last year, according to a second research firm, Grandview Research. It is growing as pet owners become increasingly aware of the benefits of incorporating animal health data and as vets' use of artificial intelligence and remote-enabled medical diagnosis and treatment accelerates.

Petriage's telehealth service features a proprietary teletriage app  that enables vets to engage their clients in the care of their pets after-hours. For pet parents, signing up for a free Petriage account to build their pet's health profile and access the free teletriage tool is easy. Petriage's basic service – the simple-to-use mobile interface validated by a team of veterinarians – assesses the urgency of a dog or cat's health symptoms and delivers trusted recommendations. Its Essential service level offers telemonitoring capabilities with a veterinarian. The Premium service level adds the ability to chat live with the vet and share photos and video for full engagement about a pet's health. Fees for the Essential and Premium service levels are usually included in a veterinarian's annual charge to a client.

For veterinarians, Petriage's virtual telehealth service enables them to expand their business as a "brick-and-click" practice and capture a significant portion of cases occurring after-hours that they would have been unaware of and likely would result in emergency room visits. Petriage also keeps medical records up to date by uploading all information automatically to the vet's practice management software.

About Petriage

Petriage is a cloud-based B2B telehealth company that allows veterinarians to service their clients and engage them in the remote care of their patients. Its unique offering is a telemedicine service highlighted by a proprietary teletriage tool, in which pet parents are provided a recommendation in real-time regarding the need/urgency to seek medical care for their pets. The company was founded in 2015, in Bellevue Wash., by CEO Allon Freiman, Dr. Shlomo Freiman DVM Cornell, Casey Olives, PhD Harvard. Learn more at petriage.com.

SOURCE Petriage

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https://petriage.com/

Petriage Announces Agreement to Be Exclusive Provider of Veterinary Telemedicine Services to PSIvet, Leading Group Purchasing Organization

BELLEVUE, Wash., July 17, 2019 – Petriage, a cloud-based B2B telemedicine service for veterinarians, today announced an agreement with PSIvet, the nation’s largest veterinary group purchasing organization, to be the exclusive provider of telemedicine services to its over 5,000 independent veterinary practice members. PSIvet, based in St. Petersburg, Fla., is a unit of Covetrus Inc. (NASDAQ: CVET), and its members are gathering in Dallas next weekend (July 25-28) for the annual PSIvet Business Symposium.  

As the use of telemedicine to enhance the practice of veterinary medicine and improve pet care grows, Petriage offers a unique telemedicine platform that enables vets to engage their clients in the care of their pet patients remotely after-hours.  Petriage’s software offering delivers pet owners with a real-time recommendation regarding the urgency and need of their pet’s symptoms and enables them to seek medical care from their vet. 

Petriage enables veterinarians to capture a significant portion of cases occurring after-hours that they would have been unaware of and likely would result in emergency room visits. The service also helps strengthen client relationships and loyalty because pet owners know they gain more effective and continuous vet care through online monitoring. Petriage integrates with veterinarians’ practice management software to upload all information automatically and keep medical records up to date, among other benefits.   

“We’re honored to be chosen by PSIvet as the exclusive telemedicine provider for its more than 5,000 independent veterinarian members. Our platform will help keep them more-engaged in the care of their clients’ pets while providing critical features that enable more efficient after-hours care and practice management,” said Petriage CEO Allon Freiman. 

“Telehealth is increasingly important to our members, and Petriage’s distinctive capabilities will them grow their businesses as well as broaden the range of services we offer our members,” says PSIvet Director of Business Development Dan Jones. DVM. He noted Petriage’s use of medical imaging and diagnostic technologies and the ability to send pets’ medical information remotely and directly to the vet. 

As the largest veterinary group purchasing organization with over $1 billion in buying power, PSIvet offers goods and services at negotiated prices as well as proprietary education and training resources. 

About Petriage

Petriage is a cloud-based B2B telemedicine service that allows veterinarians to service their clients and engage them in the remote care of their patients. Its unique offering is a telemedicine service highlighted by a proprietary teletriage tool, in which pet owners are provided a recommendation in real-time regarding the need/urgency to seek medical care for their pets. The company was founded in 2015, in Bellevue Wash., by CEO Allon Freiman, Dr. Shlomo Freiman DVM Cornell, Casey Olives, PhD Harvard. Learn more at petriage.com.

Jeff Zilka
Petriage
(847) 421-0622
[email protected]
 

Telemedicine from the frontline: A practicing veterinarian’s perspective

To survive, we must adapt, otherwise pet parents will rely on Dr. Google, rather than wait to consult their family veterinarian

May 3, 2019 By Shlomo Freiman, DVM

Over the last decade, countless interactions with clients and patients have convinced me veterinarians must embrace telemedicine, both to remain relevant as care providers in an increasingly digital world and to compete successfully in today’s on-demand economy.

Given the change in generational demographics, today’s clients view their pets as family members and insist on immediate gratification. To survive, we must adapt, otherwise pet parents will rely on Dr. Google, rather than wait to consult their family veterinarian for advice and guidance. It was an incident with a friend and client that convinced me veterinarians, as well as pet owners and patients, can benefit enormously from the integration of telemedicine.

A tale of teletriage

Four years ago, I received an evening call from a family friend whose dog Bodhi, a mixed breed, two-year-old neutered male Labrador, suffered what seemed to be a mild seizure. While my friend was in transit to a nearby emergency animal hospital, I advised him the episode wasn’t as serious as he feared and he could wait until the next morning to bring Bodhi to my practice.

That experience of utilizing the most basic form of telemedicine—the telephone—sparked the idea of bringing the benefits of a more sophisticated telehealth solution to my practice, one that would enable me to provide the same high-level care to all my clients and patients. Since then, we have implemented an integrated teletriage platform that helps clients assess the urgency of care 24-7. The platform’s AI symptom-analysis tool informs the client and notifies me of the pet’s status. Following the algorithmic recommendation, clients can request to interact with me during set telemedicine hours.

In real time, my existing clients can upload text, pictures, and video via instant messaging within the app. This keeps me in the loop, ensuring continuous care and avoiding unnecessary ER visits. Perhaps most importantly, it strengthens my client relationships and drives business back to the brick-and-mortar hospital (Figure 1).

I’ve now featured telemedicine at my practice for almost three years. Operating under the belief telemedicine is part of standard care, we include a line item for telemedicine on the invoice of all patients’ annual exam, just as we have separate line items for data storage, file review for prescription refill, etc. As such, we nominally increased the fee of our annual exam to cover the platform’s cost.

I’ve found telemedicine has streamlined practice workflow, which improves my own work/life balance. Because I can advise clients remotely “in their living room,” I capture a significant portion of cases I otherwise would have been unaware of and would likely result in emergency room visits. The data at my practice suggests only about five percent of teletriage cases are genuine emergencies. Additionally, my team, who I rely on to assist in monitoring triage interactions, are further empowered, happier, and committed to our patients’ care beyond office hours. Further, I’ve seen better patient outcomes, as well as dramatic improvement in my relationship with clients and the financial well-being of my practice.

I share my experience because many veterinarians, especially those with longtime practices, remain suspicious of the internet as a source of reliable information. In fact, some view it as a threat to their business. Additionally, they worry about various issues related to integrating telemedicine into their practices. I, too, was initially wary of telemedicine. Like most veterinarians, I was concerned about further incursions into my personal time—I’ve seen what happens when I give my cell phone number and email address to clients.

However, disregarding client needs is not a viable option. The days in which we turn the signs on our front door to “Closed” and expect our clients to wait until morning for advice and guidance are over. This perception is supported by the findings of the Bayer Veterinary Care Usage Studies, which found the internet is the first option for information for 48 percent of pet owners when their animal is sick or injured. It is important to note this accounted for a 23 percent increase between 2010 and 2014, and has likely risen in the years since the study was last published.

The benefits of telemedicine

From talking with colleagues, I’ve learned their chief anxiety is over how to integrate telemedicine into their practice. My experience with my client Matt’s pet, Buddy—a 13-year-old mixed dachshund and longtime patient (with an ornery personality)—illuminates how a telemedicine platform can be integrated into an active veterinary practice.

One morning before our office had opened, but during our telemedicine hours, I received notification of an “urgent” recommendation made by the symptom-analysis algorithm for a chief complaint of coughing.

Chatting with Matt using the telemedicine platform’s online consulting feature, I learned he believed Buddy had contracted kennel cough from boarding a few days earlier, but was otherwise fine. I asked Matt to submit a short video of Buddy’s breathing, and to count his dog’s resting respiratory rate. A few minutes later, I was able to view the short video and learn Buddy had a regular rate and rhythm (RRR) of about 35 per minute. I suspected Buddy was slightly dyspneic.

This interaction confirmed the algorithm’s recommendation of “urgent” and the need to see Buddy that day. But Matt, expecting a very busy workday, wanted to take a wait-and-see approach, especially since Buddy was OK otherwise. He agreed, however, to keep me updated via the app and sent me another video a few hours later. By late morning, the new video showed the dyspnea was getting worse and the dog’s RRR had increased to 40 per minute.

That afternoon, Matt brought Buddy into the office; the physical exam revealed a new I/VI systolic heart murmur. Chest radiographs indicated mild-to-moderate pneumonia was the cause of Buddy’s cough. Later, an echocardiogram determined the murmur to be an incidental finding due to early-stage B1 mitral valve-related heart disease. After two days of hospitalization and intravenous antibiotics, Buddy went home happy and a little less cantankerous.

Using Buddy’s case as an example, here are the key reasons telemedicine has made a significant positive difference in my practice and in my own work/life balance. In addition to benefiting our clients and their pets, a telehealth platform can:

• Provide an adequate assessment of a pet’s situation after-hours by facilitating the gathering of symptoms and other clinical data while maintaining veterinarian-client-patient-relationship (VCPR) compliance. Telemedicine isn’t meant to replace clinical exams, but rather is a tool that helps you practice better medicine.
• Strengthen client relationships and loyalty to the veterinarian because pet owners get peace of mind knowing they can get a better and quicker assessment of their animal’s health issue(s) and gain more effective continuous veterinary care through online monitoring.
• Funnel cases to veterinarians’ brick-and-mortar hospitals, while reducing cases lost to after-hours ERs. With 75 percent of symptom analysis cases at my practice resulting in office visits, telemedicine has boosted my bottom line, while improving patient outcomes.
• Allow veterinarians to be there for their clients without being on call 24-7, enhancing work/life balance. I can customize the telemedicine hours my staff and I are available for consultation (usually a few hours before and after regular office hours). In fact, we’ve found 87 percent of symptom-analysis cases occur between 6 a.m. and 9 p.m.
• Help improve practice workflow and efficiency by allowing strategic scheduling of appointments based on information provided by telemedicine. No more last-minute calls from clients whose cat hasn’t been eating for a week.
• Keep medical records up to date by automatically uploading all information to the practice management software, unlike information gathered via phone calls, texts, and emails.
• Reduce the burden placed on front-desk staff, as well as potential conflict with clients regarding the urgency of care, by using teletriage for pre-appointment screening.

Looking at the evidence of my own practice and considering the experience of other early adopters, I am convinced telemedicine will become the standard of care in the veterinary industry. It is imperative veterinarians provide clients with innovative solutions solidifying our role as primary care providers. In a world in which the largest hospitality brand (Airbnb) owns no hotels and the largest taxi company (Uber) operates through the use of private vehicles, veterinarians must proactively embrace technology and innovation. To stay competitive, they must evolve their traditional business model and become “brick-and-click” veterinarians.

Shlomo Freiman, DVM, a graduate of Cornell University College of Veterinary Medicine and a practicing veterinarian for almost 25 years, operates Animal Hospital of Factoria, Wash. He is cofounder of the telemedicine app, Petriage. Dr. Freiman can be reached via email at [email protected].

WELLHAVEN PET HEALTH ANNOUNCES NEW VETERINARY TELEMEDICINE PARTNERSHIP WITH PETRIAGE

VANCOUVER, Wash. and SEATTLE, Jan. 8, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- WellHaven Pet Health, a leading veterinary health management company committed to happy vets and healthy pets, today announced a new veterinary telemedicine partnership with Petriage. WellHaven will implement Petriage's veterinary telemedicine platform in all 40 of its current hospitals and has plans to expand to 150 hospitals within three years. 

Petriage offers a cloud-based B2B telemedicine platform that allows veterinarians to service their clients and engage them in the remote care of their pet patients. The company's unique offering provides pet owners with a real-time recommendation regarding the urgency and need of their pet's symptoms and enables them to seek medical care for their pet from their vet.

Petriage For Vets from Petriage on Vimeo

Thomas Reuss, Managing Partner, WellHaven Pet Health, said, "The use of telemedicine to augment the practice of veterinary medicine, specifically the use of medical imaging and diagnostic technologies, is a first step toward improving patient care and the wellbeing of our veterinarians.  We want to meet our clients where they are, and this partnership with Petriage supports that while helping us 'play from the front' in this space."

"WellHaven's partnership with Petriage is an important step forward in veterinary telemedicine.  Our platform's ability to provide pet-owners with vet-validated information while keeping their personal vet informed of their pet's medical needs has proven itself in beta testing, and we look forward to applying it at scale in clinical settings," said Allon Freiman, Petriage CEO.

About WellHaven Pet Health

WellHaven Pet Health founded in July 2017 and based in Vancouver, WA has a simple motto for managing a corporate veterinary practice, "Happy Vets/Healthy Pets."

WellHaven Pet Health helps veterinarians and their teams succeed both personally and professionally. We value our owner veterinarians and encourage them to stay. Our focus on personal growth, practice support and life balance provide the framing of the relationship we want to have with our doctor leaders. For those who wish to exit practice management, we support them with a smooth transition plan focused on both the owner and the hospital team. We provide leader doctors an opportunity to share in the rewards of practice ownership without the risks associated. We are committed as servant leaders to ensure the success of our doctors, our hospital teams, and our profession. wellhavenpethealth.com

About Petriage

Petriage is a cloud-based B2B telemedicine service, which allows veterinarians to service their clients and engage them in the remote care of their patients. The Company's unique offering is a telemedicine service highlighted by a proprietary symptom analysis tool, in which pet owners are provided a recommendation in real-time regarding the need/urgency to seek medical care for their pets. The company was founded in 2015, in Bellevue Washington, by CEO Allon Freiman, Dr. Shlomo Freiman DVM Cornell, Casey Olives, PhD Harvard. Learn more at petriage.com.

Tom Reuss, Managing Partner
WellHaven Pet Health WellHaven Pet Health
(503) 706-2820
[email protected]

Jeff Zilka
Petriage
(847) 421-0622
[email protected]

"This startup is raising funds to build a telehealth service — for the family pet"

Read about the genesis of Petriage in Geekwire.

https://www.geekwire.com/2017/startup-raising-funds-build-telehealth-service-family-pet/