Veterinary Practice Partners calls its 200-hospital co-ownership network a partnership community

Veterinary Practice Partners, founded in 2011, announced on October 16th that it is the profession's first Veterinary Partnership Community. The company made the announcement at its annual Homecoming meeting in Charlotte, North Carolina, and said it now works with more than 330 doctor co-owners at more than 200 veterinary hospitals in 35 states.

VPP said the network also includes more than 700 doctors and more than 3,600 team members.

Doctors co-own more than 200 hospitals in the VPP network

VPP describes a Veterinary Partnership Community as a group of hospitals whose doctors and, increasingly, practice managers hold co-ownership. Each hospital keeps its local identity, and the group is tied together by a shared mission, values and culture. The company said the model is not a corporate aggregator or consolidator.

VPP also supplies shared support. Its leaders told dvm360 in 2023 that the company handles human resources and recruiting, marketing, technology and finance, and dvm360 reported VPP's pledge to leave medicine in the hands of doctors.

The community side is a peer network for sharing best practices and career mentorship, run through in-person events, trainings and advisory groups. Doctors can open a new hospital with VPP, buy into an existing VPP practice, or partner with VPP to purchase a hospital.

Dr. Audra O'Keefe is the example VPP chose. She graduated from veterinary school in 2018, worked in emergency medicine, and served as a medical director for a corporate aggregator, according to VPP. She then partnered with the company to open Dogwood Trails Animal Hospital in Bentonville, Arkansas, a new market for VPP. The hospital opened in fall 2024 and has grown to about 3,000 clients.

"I didn't want another job. I wanted to build something and own a hospital I could be proud of," O'Keefe said.

VPP has more than doubled its hospital count since 2021

When Audax Private Equity announced a strategic investment in December 2021, VPP had more than 85 practices in more than 20 states. By October 2023 it counted 140 co-owned locations in 27 states, up from 90 in June 2022, according to the dvm360 report. By our math, the hospital count has more than doubled in under five years, and the state count has grown from more than 20 to 35.

For context, Brakke Consulting put consolidator ownership of U.S. general practices at about 30% in 2023, in figures cited by CARE for Pets.

VPP is one of several groups that offer ownership to doctors. CityVet says its more than 80 clinics, which sit in 16 metro areas, are owned by their veterinarians. GoodVets, which builds hospitals with veterinarians who keep an equity stake, announced in September that it will buy WellHaven Pet Health's hospitals and grow from 75 locations to 116.

For associate veterinarians, the three routes VPP lists give a defined set of options to compare with the ownership models at CityVet and GoodVets. For rival groups recruiting the same doctors, the Homecoming announcement puts VPP's pitch in plain words: local identity, co-ownership and a peer network.

Doctor-led new hospitals remain one of VPP's three routes

VPP said members connect through in-person events, trainings and advisory groups, and that doctors can open a new hospital with the company. Dogwood Trails shows that route in practice. It opened in fall 2024 in a new market for VPP and has grown to about 3,000 clients.

The Charlotte meeting put a name on a model VPP has run since 2011.

Source: Veterinary Practice Partners via Business Wire