Turn Teleconsultation Into a Service Line in 4 Steps
By the DVM STAT clinical team · 4 min read
Specialty teleconsultation lets your practice offer board-certified expertise without adding payroll, extending appointments, or losing cases to referral. Set up correctly, it becomes a billable service line from the very first consult.
Why it works for your practice
No added payroll. Specialist access without hiring specialists or adding staff.
Cases and revenue stay in-house. Diagnostics, treatment, lab work, and rechecks remain in your hospital instead of going to referral.
Your schedule stays intact. Submission takes minutes and fits into the workflow you already have.
Your team participates in the consult. Technicians prepare and submit cases, freeing veterinarian time.
Pay-per-use pricing. No subscriptions, contracts, or minimums. You pay only when you submit a case.
Set it up in 4 steps
Identify your cases. Look for patients with multiple comorbidities, chronic conditions like murmurs, CKD, or chronic enteropathy, new diagnoses like lymphoma or diabetes, and cases where referral is not feasible or timely.
Create a free account. Register here. There are no membership fees, and you receive the full price sheet once registered. Consults range from $75-220 with most consults being $130 or less.
Connect your imaging. Link your radiology server to the DVM STAT PACS for direct DICOM sharing. We have a step-by-step tutorial which takes under 10 minutes, and full IT support if needed.
Train your team. Show staff how to submit through the portal and how to explain the service to clients (see the next post in this series).
Set your fee
Because DVM STAT pricing is fixed per consult with no hidden fees, billing is simple. There are two simple approaches:
Pass through the consult fee. Bill the client the fixed DVM STAT cost.
Charge a case management fee. Recommended. Account for the time spent preparing records, coordinating the consult, and communicating the specialist's findings to the client.
Even with a case management fee, the total is often less than a traditional referral, and care, diagnostics, and follow-up stays in your clinic.
Let clients know you offer it
Position teleconsultation as a value-add: specialist input while the pet stays with your team the client already trusts, without the cost, travel, or wait of referral. The most effective marketing channels are simple:
Client email announcement
Social media posts
Lobby and exam room flyers
Team-led conversations during appointments
To make launching teleconsultation as a new service easy, DVM STAT offers a free template kit: email and social announcements and clinic flyers, all built in Canva and customizable with your logo and colors. Ready-to-use captions and talking points are included in the Canva notes.
Ready to add a specialty service line? Download the free marketing templates below and create your free account to get your full price sheet.
Download all the marketing templates for social, email, wall flyers and email copy.
Next in this series: exactly what to say when you introduce teleconsultation to a client.