The Challenge: High Standards, Perceived High Costs
Carrie Bowgren, practice manager at Lake Road Animal Hospital, knew her clinic wasn’t actually the “most expensive” in town — but their uncompromising standard of care felt that way to many clients. They never cut corners on presurgical bloodwork, pain management, or year-round parasite prevention, so price shoppers often assumed they cost more.
In a community with no population growth, Carrie needed more pet owners — both current clients and those from surrounding towns — to say “yes” to recommended care. She hoped to attract more people who valued high-quality medicine and make it more affordable for them to access it. She suspected flexible veterinary payment plans could help, but…
Why VetBilling Wasn’t Offered at First
When she first heard about VetBilling, Carrie was deeply skeptical. Past experiences with in-house payment plans had left her convinced they attracted only clients who wouldn’t pay. She refused to let VetBilling list the practice on its website, fearing an influx of financially desperate cases.
Instead, she kept it hidden, offering it only as a last resort to clients who were the least likely to succeed on a plan. Not surprisingly, nothing really changed.
The Turning Point: Making Payment Options Visible
Fast forward to about a year later, and Carrie faced a new hurdle. Dental compliance was lagging badly. No matter what they tried — discounts, promotions, giveaways — nothing motivated clients to book dentals. Most of them looked at the total price on the estimate and quietly decided it wasn’t possible, or not worth prioritizing.
That’s when Carrie decided to try something different: present every client with all three of the clinic’s payment options — VetBilling, CareCredit, and Scratchpay — up front, without making them “fail” third-party financing first. Each dental estimate came with a simple monthly payment chart showing what the total cost would look like under each option.
That visual changed everything. Clients could instantly see how the procedure could fit into their budget — reframing the cost from one overwhelming sum into smaller, predictable payments. This shift in presentation removed a significant point of hesitation and made it easier for clients to say yes.
According to Carrie, “The results stunned me. In just six months, our dental revenue jumped 30% — and most clients still paid in full at the time of service! The difference? Offering payment options up front gave clients the confidence to say yes to care.”
Why This Works, and Not Just for Lake Road
In behavioral economics, this is known as cost framing¹ ² — a concept explored by Nobel Prize–winning economist Richard Thaler and others — where breaking a total into smaller, predictable payments changes how people perceive affordability and reduces decision friction.
A related phenomenon, the payment mechanism effect³, shows that when consumers are primed with credit or payment plan options, it separates the “pain of payment” from the purchase itself — freeing them to focus on the value and benefits of what they’re buying.
In veterinary medicine, these concepts are supported by independent research: a study led by Dr. Clint Neill, PhD⁴, found that offering managed payment plans can reduce the perceived pain of payment, increasing pet owners’ willingness to proceed with recommended care.
Results: Higher Compliance, Higher Revenue
Carrie discovered that most clients self-selected the option that suited them best. Many already had an inkling whether they’d be approved for traditional financing, making VetBilling the natural choice for those who preferred an alternative.
Since partnering with VetBilling, Lake Road Animal Hospital has collected over $250,000 in additional revenue, with 94% of payment plan accounts paid in full. 41% of plans have gone to brand-new clients, and the average repayment period for all plans is five months. 16% of clients have paid off their plans early.
A New Philosophy on Access to Care
“Having options has empowered our team to find a path to treatment more often than not. We don’t have to send a distraught client away just because they can’t pay everything today. That’s huge for our team’s well-being and for keeping pets with the families who love them.”
Today, Carrie’s philosophy has changed:
“We want anyone who desires our standard of care to have it, and we’ll find a way to make it affordable. Payment plans aren’t a risk — they’re a service that helps us stay successful.”
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References
- Kahneman, D., & Tversky, A. (1984). Choices, values, and frames. American Psychologist, 39(4), 341–350. https://doi.org/10.1037/0003-066X.39.4.341
- Thaler, R. H. (1999). Mental accounting matters. Journal of Behavioral Decision Making, 12(3), 183–206. https://doi.org/10.1002/(SICI)1099-0771(199909)12:3<183::AID-BDM318>3.0.CO;2-F
- Chatterjee, P., & Rose, J. M. (2012). Do payment mechanisms change the way consumers view products? Journal of Consumer Research, 38(6), 1124–1139. https://doi.org/10.1086/661730
- Neill, C. L., & Zhang, P. (2023). Payment plans and veterinary services: Do they reduce the pain of pet owner payment? Journal of Agricultural and Resource Economics, 48(1), 26–45. https://doi.org/10.22004/ag.econ.321616
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