Veterinary teams are under more pressure than ever. Teams are managing high caseloads, complex workflows, and growing client expectations—all while trying to protect precious time for patient care. Yet much of the work that fills a day isn’t clinical, it’s operational: sending the same emails, creating the same tasks, and following the same steps over and over again.
That reality led us to build Automations, a new feature in Instinct EMR designed to eliminate repetitive work and ensure critical steps are completed reliably every time.
Instinct Academy recently hosted a live webinar on Automations. One of our product leaders walked through why the feature was built and how it works, plus a real-world customer shared the impact it’s already having in practice.
Why Automations Matter in Veterinary Practice
When our team visits clinics and practices, one theme comes up again and again: practices are overwhelmed because there’s simply too much to remember.
Our Senior Product Manager, Keli Kelemen, described watching cases come through a busy practice and seeing the mental load on staff.
“Every single patient needs the same care from the team, and every single patient comes with all these little things that you all have to remember and follow up on,” Keli said. “That creates a huge opportunity for missteps. The reason why we created Automations is to really help with this.”
Those steps—sending pre-op instructions, creating follow-up tasks, charting, communicating with clients—often take just a few minutes. But multiply that across dozens of patients and busy shifts, and it adds up quickly. More importantly, those steps rely on memory, where inconsistency and error can creep in.
We built Automations to support teams in the ways they need. By letting the system handle routine operational tasks, practices can create more consistent workflows, reduce errors, and free up staff time.
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Who Automations Is Built For
One of the guiding principles behind Automations was simplicity. Practice administrators and managers need powerful tools—but they also need tools that are easy to understand and maintain. Automations is designed to support the work of every role in the practice. Technicians, CSRs, and doctors gain time, consistency, and fewer interruptions to patient care. Practice leadership benefits from smoother operations, better compliance, and fewer missed steps.
Practice administrators and practice managers typically own setup and configuration, defining workflows once and refining them over time as needs change.
Customize Automations in Instinct EMR Without Complexity
Every practice has different workflows and protocols. Automations puts practice administrators and practice managers in control—you decide which workflows get automated, when they run, and how they’re configured.
The setup is straightforward: choose a trigger (like a patient being marked for surgery), add any conditions if needed (such as specific treatment types), and define what happens next (send an email, create a task, create a document). No coding required.
Define a workflow once and the system handles it consistently. Need to adjust as protocols evolve? Update it anytime. The power stays with the people who know your workflows best.
Everyday Examples of Automations in Action
What are some real-world examples of how practices are already using Automations to streamline daily work?
One common example is pre-operative instructions. Instead of manually emailing pet owners before every surgery, an automation can send a standardized message as soon as a patient is marked “On the Way” (OTW) for surgery. The email can include fasting instructions, check-in expectations, directions, and contact information—ensuring every client receives the same information at the right time.
Another example is follow-up after a patient is discharged. When a patient is checked out, Automations can create a follow-up task for the care team—such as a 24-hour callback. This helps ensure consistency of care and reduces the risk of missed follow-ups.
Automations can also support more sensitive workflows, like creating a reminder to send a sympathy card after a euthanasia appointment. Rather than relying on memory or reports, the task is created automatically—preserving an important client touchpoint while reducing emotional and mental strain on staff.
“Automations gives back more time to your staff members and brings consistency to your workflows so you don’t have to worry,” Keli said. “You have peace of mind that the system took care of it.”
What Veterinary Practices Are Already Seeing with Automations in Instinct EMR
Although Automations is still new, early adoption data already shows a meaningful impact. In just over a month since launch:
- 50+ practices are actively using Automations
- 24,000+ automations have run
- 1,100+ hours have been returned to patient care—equivalent to about 47 full 24-hour days
One large nonprofit animal hospital saved 12 hours in a single day by automating its workflow to email drug handouts to clients.
Customer Spotlight: Pismo Beach Veterinary Clinic
Elaine Hortillosa, RVT, is the Technical Staff Supervisor at Pismo Beach Veterinary Clinic, a locally owned, AAHA-accredited practice that was among the first to adopt Automations.
“We’re all about efficiency because we have a large volume and we’re actually a very small clinic,” Elaine said. “So we do a lot of things to try and maximize our efficiency.”
Her team initially turned to Automations to address missed callbacks and inefficiencies that were causing staff stress and negatively impacting the client experience. Today, the practice uses Automations across callbacks, client communications, and administrative tasks. That includes follow-ups for spay/neuter procedures, vaccine check-ins, medication handouts, contagious appointment instructions, lab-related tasks, and microchip verification.
The results have been clear:
“We have fewer missed callbacks … so [Automations] makes our customer service better,” Elaine said. “It definitely saves time on auditing and it saves time for the CSRs. Previously, I would have to create a report of all the microchips and stuff once a month.”
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Ready to Get Started?
Automations is available now in Instinct EMR. If you’re already using our software and want help identifying what to automate first, our team is here to help. If you’re considering a new system, Automations is one more way Instinct EMR supports efficient, consistent, and compassionate patient care.
Talk to our team to learn how Automations can work for your practice.
