Client Rights and Responsibilities

At Tipp City Veterinary Hospital and Tipp to Tail Pet Resort and Spa, our mission is to help pets live their best lives through extraordinary care. We sincerely appreciate the trust you have placed in this relationship as we fulfill this mission with your pet. Like any good relationship, we believe clear and defined expectations and open communication are important. Because of this, we have created the Client Rights and Responsibilities.

Scheduling Policy

We see patients by appointment only. Walk in visits will be triaged and scheduled to the next available time or referred to a local veterinary emergency hospital. We are not an emergency hospital but may have availability for urgent medical issues with prior arrangement – please call before bringing in your pet. Please note, if we are unavailable to assist you it is because we are currently at maximum capacity providing care for other patients. We set aside daily appointments for urgent medical issues.

Appointments can be arranged by phone or text (937-667-8489), or email (info@tippvet.com). For emergency care outside of our business hours, we recommend MedVet Dayton or Care Center.

Doctors are unavailable for consultation outside of scheduled appointments and subsequent follow ups. If you would like to speak directly to a doctor about an issue, please schedule a consultation or telemedicine visit (see above). Concerns regarding policy or procedure will be handled by a medical department manager or team leader, pet resort manager or team leader, or client service department manager or team leader.

Canceling or Rescheduling Appointments

We want to be able to provide care to any patients that need it. We also understand that missed appointments can occur for a variety of reasons, often beyond your control. If you are unable to keep your appointment, please notify us by phone, text, or email at least 2 hours in advance so that we can help another patient in need. Appointments canceled within 2 hours of the scheduled time will result in needing to prepay a deposit for your next appointment. If this prepaid appointment is kept, your deposit is applied to the invoice. If this prepaid appointment is not kept, your deposit will be forfeited.

Payment Policy

Payment is required at the time services are rendered. In order to maintain our focus on patient care and customer service, and to keep costs as low as possible, we do not bill for services nor offer in-house repayment plans. In exchange, we promise to keep you informed of the costs of service in advance. Medical circumstances may change unexpectedly and we promise to keep you informed of how those changes may influence your financial obligations.

We understand that you may be juggling many different financial responsibilities. We never want money to be an issue should your pet require treatment. We are able to accept flexible payment plans from two lenders: ScratchPay and Care Credit. See www.tippvet.com/paymentoptions for more information.

Mutual Respect Policy

Questions and concerns will be handled by our team of highly qualified and knowledgeable client service representatives, licensed registered veterinary technicians (veterinary nurses), veterinary assistants, pet comfort specialists, groomers, and trainers. All team members should be treated with the same respect as that provided to our doctors. If team members are relaying advice or information, rest assured you are talking to someone who has been authorized and trained by the doctors to provide the advice or information you are receiving.

Medical Records and a Veterinary Client Patient Relationship

By law, in order to provide care for your pet we must establish a veterinary-client-patient relationship, VCPR. This is defined in the Ohio Revised Code (Section 4741.04) and Ohio Administrative code (Section 4741-1-05) to mean, among other things, that we have physically examined the patient in question within the past 365 days. This is important to note when requesting refills of prescription medication or food, asking questions regarding health status or behavior, and requesting certain services like telemedicine. We cannot provide these services if we do not have legally valid VCPR.

You are entitled to a complete and thorough copy of your pet’s medical records at any time, including transferring them to a third party for adoption of new pets, housing verification, or scheduling of lodging, daycare, training, or veterinary medical specialist appointments. Pet records will be transferred by your request on the next business day. Records transfers may only be made by the listed agent(s) on the account. Upon termination of a veterinary client patient relationship, we will transfer pets’ records to a veterinary facility of your choice.