NYSVMS Pulse Report
The year in New York veterinary medicine
We’ve been tracking the trends shaping New York veterinary medicine since the pandemic. Here’s what changed between Q3 2025 and Q3 2026 — the same quarter, one year apart — in your own words.
The short version
What holds up, and what to watch
- Burnout rose. Staff-reported stress went from 3.04 to 3.54 out of 5 — the one sentiment change big enough to clear the margin of error.
- Revenue sentiment cooled. Practices reporting growth fell from 35% to 13% (and those reporting any decline rose from 30% to 43%) — a drop too large to be chance.
- Cost and workforce dominate what you want addressed. Rising veterinary costs (60%) and LVT shortages (56%) top the list, as they have in every wave.
- Technology is climbing. Any record-keeping tech rose from 19% to 32% and AI scribes from 13% to 22% — a real move, though at this sample size read it as a clear direction rather than an exact figure.
- Most other shifts are directional. Staffing shortages, capacity, and the individual issue percentages ticked around a little but stay within the margin. Watch them, don’t bank on them.
Sentiment & pressure
How the work feels right now
Questions asked identically in both quarters on a 0–5 scale, ordered by the size of the year-over-year change. A higher score means members reported more of that condition.
The economy
Revenue sentiment cooled
Share of respondents in each category. The shift from Q3 2025 to Q3 2026 is hard to miss — the “revenue up” block shrank by roughly a third and the decline blocks grew.
n=52
n=67
An outside check
How this squares with independent data
Vetwatch tracks actual transactions from veterinary practices across the country. Their New York numbers for 2026 point the same way our members do — and New York is holding up a little better than the country as a whole.
Source: Vetwatch (vetwatch.com), New York, year-to-date 2026 (updated late July 2026). National figures shown for comparison.
Your priorities
What members most want addressed
Percent selecting each issue (multiple selections allowed), ordered by the Q3 2026 share. The chip shows the year-over-year change.
▲ +4 pts
▼ -2 pts
▼ -11 pts
▲ +5 pts
▲ +2 pts
▼ -4 pts
▲ +1 pts
▼ -4 pts
▲ +9 pts
Technology
Record-keeping & AI
Share using any record-keeping tech, and the subset on latest-generation AI scribe apps.
Payments
Credit-card surcharging
Percent answering “Yes.” Still a minority practice, but nearly doubled in a year.
New this year
Questions we added in Q3 2026
The Q3 2026 Practice Pulse added four questions with no Q3 2025 equivalent. (Two 2025 items were retired: H5N1 impact — low and falling at 0.4/5 — and “experience with Buoy’s Law.”)
NEWSupport-staff compensation change
Near-term operational plans
AI / new tech adopted beyond record-keeping
In members’ own words
The comments behind the numbers
Every wave invites open comments. These are anonymized and lightly edited for length — individual responses stay confidential. They cluster around a few themes.
The LVT squeeze
“I’m an LVT who recently quit. The staffing shortage was so bad we were drowning — staying over an hour late, no lunch break several days a week. I was burnt out and simply couldn’t do it anymore. It is not worth it for the minimal pay. LVTs need a substantial pay increase if clinics want the shortage to get better.”— a licensed veterinary technician who left the field
“Technicians do not make enough money across the board to survive alone. Many of us have second and third jobs outside our full-time tech positions. We pour our hearts out for this job, but we are exhausted trying to survive ourselves.”
Hiring is stuck
“I’m a one-doctor private practice stuck at one doctor, because no one will answer any of my ads for DVMs or LVTs. I have the business to be a three-doctor practice, but there’s no one to hire.”
“We’ve been trying to hire a DVM since February and LVTs since May. Hiring sites are horrible. We’re going to have to cut services one day a week in September because we don’t have a surgeon available.”
Prices up, visits down
“Transactions are down by 200 visits for the year according to my software. Our average transaction is up because we’ve raised prices, so we’re making about the same revenue — but this will be unsustainable at some point. Fewer clients are seeking care or able to afford it.”
“The price increases are making it nearly impossible to provide preventative medicine. We barely had any surgeries in July because people can’t afford it — they’re seeking lower-cost options or not having procedures done.”
Access, and staying connected
“There are virtually no ER facilities in rural America. Even in NYS, clients have to drive an hour from most anywhere outside a metro area to get ER care — and in a real emergency, that almost always ends in heartbreak.”
“Lack of in-person meetings from local NYSVMS — feeling disconnected and isolated.”
Add your voice
The Pulse Report is only as good as your responses
These numbers come straight from NYSVMS members. The Practice Pulse survey is open now — a few minutes of your time shapes how we advocate for the profession, and the more of you who weigh in, the sharper the picture gets.
Take the Survey