Hospital Policies
Open Communication
Healthy Paws has an open-door communication policy for clients and staff. If you have a question, concern, suggestion, or complaint on the care your pet received, or the client service provided by Healthy Paws staff, please let us know. Misunderstandings will happen from time to time despite our best efforts. Our aim is to resolve any misunderstandings and put in place safeguards to prevent any repeat situations. By working together and communicating openly, we will build a stronger "Healthy Paws" community.
Patient Restraint
For the protection of all clients and their pets, animals must be on a leash and properly controlled or in an appropriate pet carrier while in the reception area, exam rooms or in the parking lot. We want all of our patients to be safe and comfortable. If your pet is particularly nervous or scared or you have young children, we would be happy to settle you early in an unoccupied exam room.
Medication Requests/Refills
Prescription medications and diets can be ordered for pickup or mailing through our prescription line, email prescription box or web site. Please note that we can only fulfill requests for current hospital clients with a valid doctor-patient relationship per Massachusetts State Law. The law states that ALL PATIENTS must have been examined by the veterinarian within the past year for the relationship to be valid. Prescription medications include flea & tick preventatives, heartworm prevention, medicated shampoos, therapeutic diets, some dental products and all drugs.
Appointments
Walk-in clients are welcome, however scheduled appointments are preferred. Every attempt will be made to see patients on time for scheduled appointments and walk in patients will be at the next available opening. If a patient’s scheduled appointment has not been started within 40 minutes after the scheduled visit assuming the client was on time for the appointment, the client will receive a 10% courtesy off the bill. The exceptions to this policy would be if the client was more than 10 minutes late for appointment or if doctor and staff are attending to a patient with a life-threatening emergency in which case reception will inform all clients who can choose to wait or reschedule the appointment. Appointments can be scheduled by calling during office hours or booked on-line through our web site. Emergency cases will always receive top priority followed by patients with previously scheduled appointments. We appreciate your understanding if you have a delay in being seen because of another emergency.
Late Arrivals
Clients that arrive more than 10 minutes late for a scheduled appointment may have to wait to be seen depending on the timing of the next scheduled visit. We will try our best to see late clients and walk-in appointments on a timely basis. If you know you are running late, please call a head and we may be able to adjust things accordingly.
Payment Policy
We require full payment at the time that services are rendered. For your convenience we accept: Visa, MasterCard, Discover, American Express, cash and personal checks.
Patient Referral
We will always try our best to provide the best medical care & advice for your pet. Occasionally this could mean referral to a veterinary specialist. Board certified veterinarians are specially trained in their fields and often have advanced or specialized diagnostic & medical/surgical equipment necessary to properly treat pets with complicated medical, surgical, dental, or emergency problems. In addition, their offices are often located at 24-hour facilities for round the clock care if needed.
Emergency Services
We ask that clients call ahead to alert us that they will be bringing their pet in for emergency care, however we realize in some cases, this is not possible. All emergency patients (walk-in patients included) will be immediately assessed by a doctor or technician. Patients in critical condition will be taken to the treatment area and every attempt will be made to stabilize the patient. Depending on the situation, one of our staff members will communicate with the client on the pet’s condition and when able, a doctor will discuss diagnostic, treatment, and referral options for continued care. Patients who present with non-life-threatening conditions will be asked to stay in the waiting area or other designated area until a doctor is available to attend to the pet.
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