Prescription chaos doesn't have to be your normal

Managing prescriptions shouldn't feel like a second job — but for many veterinary practices, it does. Between handwritten faxes, multiple pharmacy portals and frustrated clients waiting on refills, prescription workflows can quietly eat up hours every week.

We sat down with Karen McDonough, a registered veterinary technician at Hillview Veterinary Clinic in Franklin, Indiana, and Lee Anne McDonald, a customer service representative at Placerville Veterinary Clinic in Placerville, California, to hear how their teams tackled the problem.

What did prescription management look like before you made a change?

Karen: It was a lot of manual work. We handled handwritten faxes from online pharmacies like Chewy and 1-800-PetMeds. I'd go through every fax, handwrite the script, stamp the doctor's name on it and fax it back. Our machine was so slow it could take twenty minutes just to send them at the end of the day.

Lee Anne: We had a different headache — too many portals. We were logging into five or six platforms every day, trying to remember all the passwords. If we weren't fast enough, clients would get upset because their prescriptions weren't arriving on time. Monday mornings were the worst.

How did you first hear about a consolidated approach?

Karen: I was walking through the exhibit hall at VMX and stopped in my tracks when I saw the Furscription booth. I didn't know anything like it existed — a single platform that could pull prescriptions from all those different sources into one place. It was clear right away that it would save us a huge amount of time.

Lee Anne: Same for us. When it was introduced to our team, we thought, 'This sounds too good to be true.' But the concept of practice-controlled pricing and direct delivery to clients just made sense. It felt like a win-win.

What was the transition like for your teams?

Lee Anne: Like any new system, there was a learning curve. We honestly thought it would take weeks to integrate, but the setup was straightforward. Once everyone got the hang of it, it became second nature.

Karen: We had to manually enter clients and their information at the start, which took some effort. A few team members weren't thrilled at first, but once the system was fully running, they saw the difference immediately. The support team was fantastic, too — anytime we had a question, we could call and get help right away.

What does your workflow look like now?

Lee Anne: Completely different. Monday mornings used to mean hours of managing prescriptions across multiple portals. Now it's maybe forty-five minutes to an hour. That freed-up time goes straight back to patient care and client interactions.

Karen: We went from twenty-minute fax waits and handwritten scripts to everything streamlined in one place. We also have a digital log now, which is huge. When a client calls saying Chewy hasn't received their prescription, I can pull it up and show proof it was sent. No more guessing.

What would you say to practices still on the fence about changing their process?

Karen: Don't wait. If you're still handwriting faxes or juggling portals, you're spending time on something that doesn't need to be that hard. The transition is easier than you think.

Lee Anne: I'd say the same. We were nervous about the change, but the payoff was almost immediate. Our team has more time, our clients are happier and we actually feel in control of our prescription workflow now.