5 Key Veterinary Software Features and Top Products That Offer Them
Managing appointment scheduling, payment tracking, and other administrative tasks can distract veterinary professionals from providing quality patient care. Yet, these tasks are important to ensure the success of your clinic. Luckily, veterinary software automates scheduling, generates invoices, and maintains client data.
However, to ensure you invest in the right veterinary tool for your practice, learning about the key features can help you make informed decisions.
To help you with your search, this article highlights five key veterinary software features based on the ratings given by verified software users. We also include the highest-rated veterinary software for each feature. Read more.
1. Patient records management
The patient records management feature in veterinary software centralizes all essential information about animals under care. It includes patient details, such as medical history, vaccinations, medical notes, diagnostic results, treatments, and appointments. This feature allows veterinarians to access, update, and manage this information, ensuring accurate tracking of an animal's health over time and supporting informed decision-making.
What business problem does patient records management solve?
The patient records management feature eliminates the need for manual record-keeping, reducing the risk of errors and ensuring accuracy in data management. Centralizing medical histories, diagnoses, and treatments improves workflow efficiency, facilitating better decision-making among veterinary staff. Moreover, it enhances client communication and satisfaction by providing timely updates on their pets' health, contributing to overall operational efficiency in veterinary practices.
Ideal users of the patient records management feature
Veterinary practitioners can rely on the patient records management feature to access comprehensive medical histories, diagnoses, and treatment plans of the animals for informed decision-making. Besides, their support staff can utilize this feature to schedule appointments and maintain accurate records, enhancing workflow effectiveness.
Top 3 products with the highest ratings for patient records management
Analysis performed March 2024*
Patient records management feature rating: 4.76/5
Patient records management feature rating: 4.70/5
Patient records management feature rating: 4.57/5
2. Billing and invoicing
The billing and invoicing feature in veterinary practice management software helps manage financial transactions between veterinary practices and clients. It generates invoices detailing services provided, medication administered, and any other pertinent charges. It also tracks payments received, outstanding balances, and invoice histories for each client. Additionally, it integrates with payment processing systems to facilitate online or card-based transactions.
What business problem does billing and invoicing solve?
The billing and invoicing feature automates the invoicing process, reducing the likelihood of errors and ensuring accurate billing for services rendered. It tracks payments and outstanding balances, aiding in cash flow monitoring. Moreover, it enhances client satisfaction by providing transparent and organized billing information, facilitating smoother transactions, and fostering trust between the practice and its clients.
Ideal users of the billing and invoicing feature
Accounting personnel in veterinary clinics can leverage the billing and invoicing feature to generate accurate invoices and process payments during client interactions. They can also use it to monitor financial transactions, reconcile accounts, and manage billing discrepancies. Moreover, veterinary practice managers can use the billing and invoicing feature of the veterinary management software to monitor revenue streams and the practice's financial health.
Top 3 products with the highest ratings for billing and invoicing
Analysis performed March 2024*
Billing and invoicing feature rating: 4.41/5
Billing and invoicing feature rating: 4.36/5
Billing and invoicing feature rating: 4.19/5
3. Prescription processing
The prescription processing feature in veterinary software facilitates the creation, storage, and distribution of prescriptions for medications and treatments prescribed by veterinarians. This feature includes functionalities such as dosage calculations, medication history tracking, and prescription refills. It also integrates with pharmacy systems to expedite the fulfillment process. Additionally, it ensures compliance with regulatory requirements and enhances communication between veterinarians and pharmacies.
What business problem does prescription processing solve?
The prescription processing feature helps with the complete prescription workflow within veterinary practices, from creation to fulfillment, helping veterinary staff save time. It calculates and recommends dosage based on species, weight, and medical conditions, ensuring accuracy in dosage calculations. Moreover, veterinarians can send prescriptions directly to pharmacies through secure digital channels, eliminating the need for phone calls and reducing the likelihood of errors or delays in prescription processing.
Ideal users of the prescription processing feature
Veterinary professionals and pharmacy personnel are the primary users of the prescription processing feature. Veterinarians utilize it to prescribe medications accurately based on patient needs and medical history. Pharmacy personnel receive prescriptions electronically, ensuring efficient fulfillment and dispensing of medications.
Top 3 products with the highest ratings for prescription processing
Analysis performed March 2024*
Prescription processing feature rating: 4.58/5
Prescription processing feature rating: 4.51/5
Prescription processing feature rating: 4.31/5
4. Appointment scheduling
The appointment scheduling feature in veterinary practice management software facilitates the organization and management of client appointments within veterinary practices. It allows the staff to schedule appointments for various services, such as examinations, vaccinations, or surgeries, based on the availability of veterinarians and clinic resources. Most veterinary tools support integration with calendar systems to let veterinarians track their schedules. They can also share the calendar link with the clients to facilitate self-scheduling based on the vet’s availability.
What business problem does appointment scheduling solve?
The appointment scheduling feature eliminates the need for manual appointment booking methods, such as spreadsheets or handwritten notes, reducing errors and scheduling conflicts. It acts as a centralized platform for appointment management and optimizes the allocation of veterinary staff and resources.
Ideal users of the appointment scheduling feature
Veterinary receptionists can use the appointment scheduling feature to book and manage appointments per the client’s requests and the veterinarian’s availability. Veterinarians can leverage this feature to track their upcoming appointments and plan their day. Moreover, clients can check the slots’ availability and conveniently book their appointments, enhancing their overall experience.
Top 3 products with the highest ratings for appointment scheduling
Analysis performed March 2024*
Appointment scheduling feature rating: 4.85/5
Appointment scheduling feature rating: 4.84/5
Appointment scheduling feature rating: 4.68/5
5. Confirmation and reminders
The confirmation and reminders feature in veterinary software automates the process of confirming appointments and sending reminders to clients. It sends confirmation messages when appointments are scheduled, ensuring clients know about their upcoming visits. Additionally, it sends appointment reminders via email or text messages closer to the appointment time, reducing the likelihood of no-shows and missed appointments. This process allows veterinary practices to maintain a consistent schedule, minimize disruptions, and optimize resource utilization.
What business problem do confirmation and reminders solve?
The confirmation and reminders feature typically helps with reducing no-shows and missed appointments. It ensures that clients receive confirmation about their appointments at the time of booking. It also reminds the clients when their appointment date approaches so they don’t miss their slot. This process helps improve attendance and ensures a consistent schedule for veterinary practices.
Ideal users of the confirmation and reminders feature
Veterinary staff can leverage the confirmation and reminders feature to create automated workflows, enabling the tool to send confirmations and reminders based on preset criteria automatically. They have the flexibility to customize the workflow, ensuring that a confirmation message is promptly sent once an appointment is made and reminders are sent out a day before the scheduled appointment.
Top 3 products with the highest ratings for confirmation and reminders
Analysis performed March 2024*
Confirmation and reminders feature rating: 4.70/5
Confirmation and reminders feature rating: 4.30/5
Confirmation and reminders feature rating: 3.95/5
Methodology
Key features: To identify the key features of this article, we asked users to rate, on a scale of “low importance” to “critical,” how important different features are for veterinary software. The features showcased are those that the highest percentage of reviewers rated as “highly important” or “critical” over the past two years (as of March 11, 2024).
Feature eligibility: To be included in the set of features considered, a given feature had to have at least 200 user ratings within the past two years (as of March 11, 2024), of which at least 20% must indicate the feature is “critical.” Eligible features were determined from two sources:
Our research team’s review of public information about veterinary software usage, definitions, and associated features.
Reviewers’ indication of the features they use for veterinary.
Product selection: To identify the top-rated products per feature, we evaluated user ratings for products that offer each feature. For a given product, reviewers rate each feature on a scale of one to five stars. A given product had to have at least 20 user ratings (between March 2022-24) for the feature in question to be considered.
*We selected products for this article based on their average ratings between March 2022 - March 2024, which may differ from their current overall average ratings.