A new Penn Foster/Harris Poll report lands at a useful moment for independent veterinary practices: the access-to-care conversation is getting louder, but the answer does not always have to be another doctor hire.

Released October 22, the survey found that 36% of pet owners said they delayed or skipped veterinary care, while 28% said they had waited three weeks or more for an appointment or could not get one at all. At the same time, 55% of credentialed veterinary technicians said their clinical skills are underused, and 76% said current staffing structures limit appointment capacity. The report is vendor-commissioned and modest in size — 509 pet owners and 206 veterinary technicians — so it should not be treated as the final word. But it does put numbers around something many independent practices already feel in the building every day. (prnewswire.com)

This is a management issue, not just a labor-market issue

The easiest story to tell is “there aren’t enough people.” That is partly true. The Bureau of Labor Statistics projects employment for veterinary technologists and technicians to grow 9% from 2025 to 2035, with about 13,400 openings each year on average. The same BLS profile lists median annual pay at $47,380 in May 2025 and notes that technicians commonly work in private clinics and animal hospitals, often in physically and emotionally demanding roles. (bls.gov)

But the newer survey points to a different question for practice owners: if you cannot hire your way out of capacity pressure, are you using the team you already have as well as you could?

That matters especially for independents. Corporate groups can spread recruiting, training, and workflow experiments across many locations. A privately owned practice usually has fewer layers and less capital — but also less bureaucracy. You can review your appointment types this month, rewrite delegation protocols, and explain the change to your clients without waiting for a regional rollout.

Technician appointments are not a shortcut

Penn Foster’s practical follow-up suggests dedicated technician appointments for services that fit state scope-of-practice rules and practice protocols, such as suture removals, bandage changes, weight checks, blood draws, certain booster visits under an established treatment plan, and follow-ups for established patients. The point is not to move medical decision-making away from the veterinarian. The point is to stop using doctor time for work that a credentialed team member is trained and legally allowed to do. (partners.pennfoster.edu)

AAHA’s technician utilization guidelines make the same case more broadly: credentialed technicians are often not used to the full extent of their education and experience, and better utilization can support team longevity, trust, patient care, efficiency, access, and financial sustainability. AAHA also notes that practices where veterinarians rarely perform tasks credentialed technicians can and should do show an average revenue increase of 36%. (aaha.org)

For an independent hospital, that number should not be read as a promise. It should be read as a prompt. If your doctors are routinely doing nail trims, blood draws, lab setup, routine client education, or basic follow-up tasks because “that’s how we’ve always done it,” the schedule may be hiding capacity you already pay for.

Retention is part of the math

There is another reason to take this seriously: underuse is a retention problem. A 2026 JAVMA article argued that workforce shortages and turnover among credentialed veterinary technicians create real operational and financial costs, and that informal “sink-or-swim” onboarding can contribute to early-career distress and underutilization. The article points to structured onboarding, mentorship, competency-based progression, and resilience support as practical ideas practices can adapt. (pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov)

That aligns with AAHA’s broader capacity framing. In an October 2026 Trends piece, AAHA cautioned that simply adding more appointments to an already strained day does not expand access; it pushes more volume through a system that is not built to hold it. The better path is strengthening workforce, operations, and financial planning before asking the schedule to carry more weight. (aaha.org)

A practical starting point for owners

Start with one whiteboard exercise, not a reorganization. Pick a typical day and list every task a veterinarian performed that did not require a veterinarian. Then mark which of those tasks could legally and safely move to a credentialed technician with a written protocol, training, and a clear escalation rule.

Next, pilot one technician appointment block per week. Keep it narrow. Measure no-shows, client acceptance, doctor time saved, revenue per hour, medical record quality, and technician feedback. If the pilot works, expand slowly. If it does not, fix the protocol before blaming the concept.

Finally, pay attention to language. Clients need to know what a credentialed technician is, why that team member is qualified, and when the veterinarian is supervising the plan. Team members need the same clarity internally. “Assistant,” “technician,” and “credentialed technician” should not be interchangeable if the practice wants credentials to matter.

The independent advantage here is local trust. Clients who know your doctors are often willing to know your technicians, too — if you introduce them as skilled professionals, not as backup help. The next capacity gain may not come from a new hire or a new building. It may come from letting your best-trained team members do the work they came into veterinary medicine to do.