At Upstate Veterinary Specialties (UVS), a single patient visit could require work in several different programs. Staff moved between systems for documentation and communication, while treatment planning included Excel sheets printed and highlighted by hand. Keeping information current meant repeated manual entry.
Switching to Instinct EMR brought those care and communication tasks together. An approved estimate could become a treatment sheet, completed treatments could populate the invoice, and the medical record could develop as the team delivered care. Work that had spanned five or six programs could now happen in one place.
In a recent webinar hosted by the New York State Veterinary Medical Society in partnership with Instinct Science, Todd Bishop, DVM, DACVIM (N), Practice Owner and CEO, and Ciera Earl, LVT, VTS (ECC), Director of Operations, explained how the change addressed the repeated tasks that slowed their team down.
Treatment Plans Required Duplicate Setup
The problem. Once the client approved an estimate, the team still needed to get that plan into a form the technician could use. At UVS, the older workflow included printing and manually highlighting Excel treatment sheets every day. Preparing those separate documents added work around the care itself.
The Instinct EMR solution. The approved estimate can become the digital treatment sheet. Earl described a process that lets staff review the estimate, collect an electronic signature, and take a deposit in the exam room. The diagnostics and treatments then carry into the technician’s workflow.
“When we take the dog to the treatment room, then that treatment sheet is literally ready to go for that technician,” said Ciera. “That dog can literally be handed off to that technician. The estimate can be translated right into a treatment sheet with those diagnostics and treatment plans ready to be initiated by the technician.”
Separate Billing Tasks Created Missed Charges & Checkout Delays
The problem. Completing a treatment and entering its charge were two separate steps. If a technician was pulled into another task before updating the invoice, the front desk could be left waiting for an answer while the client waited to leave. Earl also described the frustration of finding missed charges during a later audit.
The Instinct EMR solution. Completing a billable treatment on the digital treatment sheet adds the charge directly to the invoice. Billing follows the care being documented, connecting the clinical team’s work with what the front desk needs to complete checkout.
“It just comes back to time savings and efficiencies,” Ciera said. “I think the one thing with charge capture is it creates a sense of continual workflow between the different teams. So when the technician is completing those treatments, it’s just part of their workflow, right? They just complete the treatment, it goes right to the invoice, and then by the time that is finished, the invoice goes to the front, to the CRS [Client Relations Specialist] that’s checking that client out.”
Patient Updates Depended on Finding the Right Person
The problem. In a large building with multiple departments, getting an update on a patient’s status could require locating a colleague. Staff needed to establish where the patient was, if the estimate had been signed, and if the treatment plan was ready before moving to the next step.
The Instinct EMR solution. Team members can see the patient’s location and progress in the same chart. Front desk staff can follow the case, and clinical staff can check the plan and completed treatments. Current information is also accessible outside the hospital when a clinician needs to review a case.
“Having the visibility to see, ‘Okay, I know this, this patient is in the ICU treatment room, and I know the estimate has been signed, and I know the doctor’s got a treatment plan done, all of those things,’” said Ciera. “So you don’t have to go find that person, communicate with that staff member, or try to figure out where we’re at in the process. So I think visibility across the entire hospital and across the entire team is important so that really anybody on that patient’s care team can look at that chart at any given time and know what’s going on.”
Clinical Checks Relied on Memory & Manual Processes
The problem. Dr. Bishop described an earlier approach that depended more heavily on memory, handwritten instructions, and manual processes. Looking up drug information could mean returning to a desk or pulling a reference book from a shelf. Verbal orders and transcribed instructions added opportunities for miscommunication.
The Instinct EMR solution. Plumb’s drug information, dosing calculators, and dose warnings are available within the treatment workflow. Veterinarians enter orders on the treatment sheet, and technicians and assistants document their completion there. During the webinar, Eric Roberts, LVT, demonstrated a warning appearing when he entered a dose outside the configured range.
“It provides over- and underdosing warnings,” said Dr. Bishop. “It provides easy access to drug-drug interactions, expected adverse events right at your fingertips, all built in. So that’s huge.”
Records Had to Be Reassembled After Care
The problem. When documentation lived across paper charts and separate programs, assembling the patient’s story required more searching and repeated entry. In a referral hospital, that information also needed to become a clear record for the primary care veterinarian and the client.
The Instinct EMR solution. Treatments, prescriptions, diagnostic results, procedures, and communications accumulate within the patient record as work happens. UVS also uses Instinct EMR’s templates and snippets to make records more consistent without recreating familiar content for every case.
“As the treatments are completed, as medications are prescribed, as tests are reviewed, as procedures are performed, as data comes in, it’s all accumulating right in here,” Dr. Bishop said. “You’re building the medical record one click or one step at a time. You don’t need to go back at the end of the day to reenter these sorts of things. And so this type of integration of information is super important to complete or construct that medical record.”
The Switch Had to Fit a Hospital That Operates Around the Clock
The problem. UVS needed to train staff and change established routines in a 24-hour hospital. Leadership had to consider the financial investment, the disruption to familiar workflows, and the practical challenge of reaching employees across different shifts.
The Instinct EMR solution. Dr. Bishop said Instinct EMR’s intuitive design and ability to accommodate the practice’s complexity helped make the change feel manageable. UVS broke training into groups, planned overlap between teams, and developed super users who could help colleagues on the floor. Roberts also highlighted Instinct’s 24/7/365 chat support for software questions.
Less Duplicate Work & More Time for Patient Care
For other practices considering a switch, both speakers recommended starting with the tasks that repeatedly slow the team down. Identifying those problems gives the practice specific workflows to evaluate during a demo and clear priorities for training.
For UVS, switching to Instinct EMR meant fewer manual steps between treatment planning, patient care, billing, and documentation. For other practices considering a switch, Dr. Bishop recommended starting with the challenges their own teams face rather than focusing solely on software features.
“Don’t look at the features of the technology,” Dr. Bishop said. “What are you trying to solve in your individual practice? What’s gonna make your team’s days easier? Ask them, where are there bottlenecks?”
