Pet Healthcare in the US: Analysis of the Market for Veterinary Specialists

Recent economic indicators suggest that revisiting key US veterinary workforce questions is warranted. This study was designed to describe the current market for veterinary specialists in companion animal practice, with focus on four specialty organizations (VSOs) and eight specialties: from the American College of Veterinary Internal Medicine, diplomates in small animal internal medicine, cardiology, neurology, and oncology; from the American College of Veterinary Surgeons, diplomates in small animal surgery; Diplomates of the American College of Veterinary Emergency and Critical Care; and from the American College of Veterinary Radiology, diplomates in diagnostic imaging and radiation oncology. On the supply side, data from the Veterinary Internship and Residency Matching Program (VIRMP) were analyzed to evaluate the overall specialist training pipeline. Results indicate that, since 2021, both the total number of applicants for advanced clinical training and the total number of matched positions have increased for both internships and residencies. The proportionate increase in both total and matched residencies was substantially greater for private practice than for academic institutions. The expected number of new employment market entrants for each of the eight veterinary specialties was estimated using data from VIRMP and the VSOs, where the proportion of third-year (or later) trainee positions included in the VIRMP varied from 67.5% to 33.9%. In turn, data on current job openings (i.e., demand) for the eight specialties were provided by six leading corporate veterinary practices that employ such specialists: BluePearl Pet Hospital, VCA Animal Hospitals, NVA/Ethos, PetVet Care Centers, MedVet, and Thrive Pet Healthcare. Across these six employers, the number of openings per expected new entrant ranged from 3.20 to 0.73. It is noted that employment market studies are limited from several perspectives: job postings are imperfect indicators of demand and candidate pools do not always provide reliable estimates of supply. However, because the estimated number of open positions across only six employers exceeds the total estimated number of available candidates by such a wide margin, it is clear that the supply of specialists entering the employment market is insufficient to fill the open positions. Although not included in this study, a relatively large proportion of academic veterinarians are board-certified specialists. Because of their critical roles, a prolonged shortage of academic specialists could well have a substantial negative, industry-wide impact on both access to care and quality of care for years to come. To address the overall specialist shortage, several actions are recommended, including broadbased research on the demand for veterinary specialists, reconsideration of existing standards for both training sites and programs, recruitment programs to attract veterinary medical students into advanced clinical training, and systems to collect comprehensive data on veterinary specialty training programs and trainees across VSOs and training institutions.