Urban Animal, a veterinary network of 3 practices located in Seattle, Washington, has recently ANNOUNCED its reorganizing as a limited cooperative association (LCA). This will enable its 110 employees to share in the governance and profits of the company. Its founder and CEO Cherri Trusheim, DVM will “gift a portion of the company to seed it, with a goal over time to become a 100 percent employee-owned worker co-op.”
This is another way its business practices run counter to the “unprecedented corporatization” of veterinary care:
ACCORDING TO CHERRI TRUSHEIM:
“This often detracts from employee culture. Corporatization also diminishes the standard of care by upselling and tying veterinary professionals’ compensation to the amount of products and services they sell. Urban Animal is different and does not pay any employee based on production.”
UPDATED: October 17, 2023
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- “With a corporation, those higher ups, the people who ultimately have the say, are so far removed from what’s really going on in the hospital, there’s a disconnect there,” Michael Light, a veterinarian at Urban Animal said (and is part of the early adopters group). “I think in a corporate world you just kind of feel like a cog in the machine that’s not necessarily well-oiled.”
The Aspen Group to acquire network of 22 Cooperative Animal Hospitals in the Phoenix Area (8.19.22)
https://www.pets.care/news/2022/08/tag-the-aspen-group-reaches-agreement-to-acquire-azpetvet/
Compensation Models for Veterinarians
https://www.pets.care/compensation-models-for-veterinarians/
- Nearly 2 out of 3 full-time associate veterinarians are paid on commission — how much revenue the doctor generates for the veterinary practice.