Our Hospital Policies
Prescriptions
By Missouri law, all the pets must receive an exam by one of our licensed veterinarians in the last 12 months in order for the veterinarian to prescribe medication to the pet. Medications cannot be prescribed to pets who do not have a valid veterinary client-patient relationship with one of Vogel Veterinary Hospital’s veterinarians. A canine patient must have a current negative heartworm test on file in order to dispense heartworm preventative. Some preventatives may require additional heartworm testing to be covered by manufacturer guarantee.
Payment Options
Vogel Veterinary Hospital tries to provide high quality care at fair prices and provide you with a detailed estimate prior to treatments for your pet. We accept cash, checks (with photo ID), Mastercard, Visa, American Express, and Discover cards. We require payment in full at the time of service.
A deposit will be required if a pet needs hospitalization and the remainder of the balance must be paid in full at the time of discharge. Unfortunately, we are unable to offer in house payment plans, but we do accept Care Credit and Scratch Pay that allow convenient monthly payment options.
Surgical Appointments
A non-refundable payment is required for all surgical procedures at the time of scheduling in order to reserve the appointment. The deposit is applied to the procedure's price. Surgery must be postponed or cancelled 3 working days before the procedure to avoid forfeiting the deposit.
Appointment Deposits
We require a deposit for all new clients scheduling appointments. The cost of the deposit will go toward the cost of the appointment. If the appointment is cancelled or rescheduled within less than 48 hours notice, the deposit is forfeited.
We require a deposit for clients scheduling multiple pets for the same appointment time. The cost of the deposit will go toward the cost of the appointment. If the appointment is cancelled or rescheduled with less than 48 hours notice, the deposit is forfeited.
Deposits will be required for all appointments if more than two cancellations with less than 48 hours notice or two no-show appointments occur. If the appointment is cancelled or rescheduled with less than 48 hours notice, the deposit is forfeited.
Third Party Prescriptions
CHANGES TO OUR PRESCRIPTION POLICIES
As of June 1st, 2024, we will be initiating changes to the way we handle prescriptions that come to us from outside pharmacies. Any faxed or emailed prescription will not be returned to that online source. You will need to call our office and notify the receptionist of what prescription product you need. If it is approved by the doctor, it will take 48 hours to prepare and be ready to be picked up at the front desk during normal business hours. If you are coming in for your annual wellness visit, please let us know when confirming your appointment in advance and we can try to have a written prescription prepared for you for the year for your flea, tick, or heartworm preventatives. We can also send you a link to the email we have on file for you to our online pharmacy. It works just like any other online source but is linked directly to our practice which enables us to provide the accuracy in prescribing that is imperative for your pet.
We have made this decision to allow our staff to be able to spend more time providing exceptional care to you and your pets rather than spend that time correcting incorrect client, patient, and medication information from faxed and emailed prescriptions. This requires staff time that would be better spent writing the proper prescriptions for medications specifically recommended by the doctor, either on paper or through our online store. Therefore, other than our online store, the only solution we have is to require a written prescription signed by our doctor and handed to you for you to submit to the pharmacy of your choosing. We cannot fax or email those prescriptions, they need to be picked up in person and sent by you to your pharmacy, again to streamline the process and save valuable staff hours to be spent caring for our sick patients. Veterinary medicine is not like human medicine in this regard. There is no online platform, other than our online pharmacy, that makes this easy for us to forward prescriptions to multiple pharmacies in a legal and accurate form. It would require countless staff hours on the phone leaving messages or waiting to speak to pharmacy staff and assuming those prescriptions are accurately taken on the pharmacy’s end.
The only exceptions to this change will be medications, preventatives, and prescription diets purchased from us on-site, medications compounded specifically for your pet, or products purchased through our online pharmacy. Through our online pharmacy, we can send you an email with the correct medication and dosing instructions. There are always discounts or “coupons” attached that help make it more cost-effective for you and they are shipped directly to your home. Plus, taking advantage of auto shipping makes it easy for you to not miss doses of those very important heartworm preventatives.
While we did not come about this decision lightly, we do appreciate your understanding regarding the changes. It is truly an effort to make sure your pet is getting the best care possible. Please feel free to reach out to one of our staff with any questions.
Thank you,
Vogel Veterinary Hospital
Learn More About
Vogel Veterinary Hospital
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