1Department of Population Medicine, Ontario Veterinary College, Guelph, ON, Canada.
2Veterinary Integrative Biosciences, College of Veterinary Medicine and Biomedical Sciences, Texas A&M University, College Station, TX.
J Am Vet Med Assoc. 2022 Sep 7;260(14):1844-1852. doi: 10.2460/javma.22.06.0268.
To determine the prevalence and nature of cost conversations occurring during veterinarian-client-patient interactions within companion animal practice.
60 randomly selected, practicing veterinarians working in 55 practices across southern Ontario, Canada, and 909 of their clients, sampled by convenience.
A cross-sectional descriptive study including 917 video-recorded appointments. Associations between veterinarian, client, or appointment-level factors and occurrence of a cost conversation were evaluated using multi-level logistic regression.
215 of 917 (23.4%) videos included a discussion of cost between the veterinarian and client. Cost conversations involving veterinarians primarily focused on conveying the price in relation to the time or service being offered (74.0% [159/215]), whereas the benefit to the future health and wellness of the patient was conveyed in 14.4% (31/215) of veterinarians' cost conversations. Costs were most frequently discussed by veterinarians in relation to diagnostic testing (44.2% [96/215]). The odds of a cost discussion occurring were greater during problem appointments versus wellness (P = .011) or recheck (P = .029) appointments, for feline versus canine patients (P = .037), as appointment duration increased (P < .001), and as a client's number of visits in the past year decreased (P = .049).
Discussing cost of care in veterinary practice continues to be relatively uncommon. Opportunities exist for veterinary professionals to frame their communication of the cost of veterinary care in relation to the benefits offered to the future health and wellbeing of the veterinary patient.
确定在伴侣动物实践中兽医-客户-患者互动过程中发生的成本对话的流行率和性质。
加拿大安大略省南部 55 个实践中随机选择的 60 名执业兽医和 909 名客户，采用方便抽样法进行抽样。
包括 917 个视频记录预约的横断面描述性研究。使用多水平逻辑回归评估兽医、客户或预约水平因素与成本对话发生之间的关联。
917 个视频中有 215 个（23.4%）包含兽医和客户之间关于成本的讨论。涉及兽医的成本对话主要集中在传达与提供的时间或服务相关的价格（74.0%[159/215]），而未来健康和福祉对患者的益处则传达在 14.4%（31/215）的兽医成本对话中。兽医最常讨论的是与诊断测试相关的成本（44.2%[96/215]）。与健康（P=.011）或复查（P=.029）预约相比，问题预约发生成本讨论的可能性更大，猫科动物患者比犬科动物患者（P=.037），预约时间延长（P <.001），过去一年中客户就诊次数减少（P=.049）。
在兽医实践中讨论护理费用仍然相对少见。兽医专业人员有机会将他们传达兽医护理费用的沟通与未来兽医患者的健康和福祉提供的利益联系起来。
