Practice Management

A three-clinic vet group with 12 staff using ezyVet or Provet Cloud pays $2,200–4,000/month in seat licenses. Add SMS clinic reminders ($0.10 each), controlled-drug dispensing logs (ACVB requires paper backups costing time), missing integration with pathology labs, and loose vaccination tracking, and you're bleeding $30,000+/year on software that doesn't match your compliance needs. A custom system — pet records with full history, automated vaccination reminders, surgery scheduling with recovery notes, drug-dispensing logs meeting ACVB standards, owner SMS notifications — costs $30–40k upfront. You own it forever. Payback: 16–20 months. Year three onwards: you've saved $80k+.

Why ezyVet and Provet Cloud Drain Practice Margin

ezyVet's model: $180/mo base + $150–200/seat × staff count + $0.10 per SMS reminder + setup fees. A 12-person vet practice (vets, nurses, receptionists, admin) across 3 clinics runs: base $180/mo per clinic = $540/mo, 12 seats @ $175 = $2,100/mo, SMS reminders @ $0.10 × 600/month = $60/mo. That's $2,700/month = $32,400/year. Provet Cloud is steeper: $200/mo base + $180–250/seat + per-module unlocks (advanced imaging, lab integration, controlled-drug tracking all cost extra). Neither handles ACVB controlled-drug compliance properly — you're still manually logging dangerous drugs in a physical register because software records alone don't meet regulations. Missing features mean staff context-switch between platforms: ezyVet for appointments, Excel for drug logs, email for vax reminders, WhatsApp for client updates.

Real cost for a 3-clinic, 12-person practice:

• Base subscription (per clinic): $180/mo × 3 = $540/mo ($6,480/yr)
• Per-seat licenses: $175/mo × 12 = $2,100/mo ($25,200/yr)
• SMS reminders: $0.10 × 600/month = $60/mo ($720/yr)
• Pathology lab integration (workaround): $150/mo ($1,800/yr)
• Advanced imaging module (Provet): $200/mo extra ($2,400/yr)
• Manual controlled-drug log maintenance: 5 hrs/week @ $30/hr ($7,800/yr)
• Total: ~$44,400/year

Custom system: build once ($35k), deploy to all 3 clinics, own forever. Vax reminders are automated rules triggered 7 days before expiry — SMS via Twilio @ $0.01/msg. Drug dispensing logs are atomic: every vial/tablet pulled is recorded with vet, timestamp, patient, dose, reason. ACVB compliance is baked in — logs export to PDF for audits. Pet records are rich: full treatment history, imaging notes, lab results integrated directly (vet pulls a pathology result, it links to the pet's record). Year one: $35k build + hosting ($400/yr) + SMS (Twilio @ $0.01/msg, ~$40/mo). Year two: just $400/yr hosting + $480/yr SMS. A 12-person, 3-clinic practice breaks even by month 17. Year three onwards, you've pocketed $44k+/year in SaaS savings.

What Custom Replaces: Six Core Modules

1. Pet Records With Full Medical History

Every visit, every treatment, every medication is threaded into one pet record. Vet opens a dog's file: vaccinations (completed, due, overdue), surgeries with notes, medications prescribed, allergies flagged, imaging attachments, lab results. A colour-coded timeline shows what happened when. ezyVet buries this in tabs. Custom design threads history visually — vet sees at a glance the pet is overdue for DHPP, allergic to amoxicillin, and had a previous herniation. No hunting. Faster diagnoses. Better outcomes.

2. Automated Vaccination Reminders

Pet's annual rabies expires 30 June? System sends owner an SMS 7 days prior: "Fluffy's rabies due soon — book now." No receptionist manually building reminder lists. Rules vary: puppy series (4-week intervals), annual boosters, 3-year rabies. Custom logic hooks to your pet records — configure once, runs forever. ezyVet charges $0.10/SMS. You pay $0.01/SMS via Twilio and own the integration.

3. Surgery Scheduling With Recovery Notes

Receptionist books a desexing: 10 am, 45 minutes, includes pre-op bloodwork + post-op painkillers + E-collar. Calendar shows operating theatre availability, vet schedules, recovery pen slots. Vet completes surgery, adds recovery notes ("no sutures, tight closure, monitor appetite 48hrs"). Notes auto-email to owner with post-op care instructions. Custom system shows discharge checklist: antibiotics, collar type, activity limits, recheck date. ezyVet offers booking but recovery workflow is fragmented. Custom knits it together.

4. Controlled-Drug Dispensing Logs (ACVB Compliance)

ACVB (Australian Veterinary Chemicals Board) requires controlled drugs to be logged: vet name, drug name, strength, qty dispensed, patient ID, reason, timestamp. Your system records every pull: "Dr Smith, 10ml Tramadol 50mg/5ml, to Fluffy (ID#4521), pain post-op, 2026-06-13 14:23". Every entry is atomic, timestamped, vet-attributed. Logs export to PDF for quarterly audits. ACVB is satisfied. Paper registers are gone. ezyVet lacks this — you're still maintaining a physical log book as backup, which defeats the purpose. Custom systems make compliance automatic.

5. Lab Integration and Result Routing

Vet orders bloodwork. Lab results arrive via email or API. Custom system auto-parses results, links them to the pet's record, flags abnormalities, alerts the vet. Owner SMS: "Buddy's bloodwork is back — all normal, we'll discuss at recheck." No manual filing. No results lost in inboxes. ezyVet integrates some labs; custom systems integrate ALL your suppliers — local pathologies, interstate labs, whatever you use. Zero friction.

6. Multi-Clinic Reporting and Resource Planning

Practice principal sees: revenue by clinic, surgeries completed (volume + avg margin), medication dispensed vs purchased (pharmacy margin), vaccination conversion rate (how many due reminders turn into bookings?), vet productivity (consults/day). Slice by vet, nurse, procedure type. Schedule theatre time, identify bottlenecks. ezyVet gives basic reports; custom systems feed data into dashboards for real operational insight. You make better staffing and inventory decisions.

The ROI Math: 3-Clinic, 12-Person Practice

Item	Year 1	Year 2+
Custom build (one-time)	$35,000	$0
Hosting (Netlify/Vercel + Postgres)	$400	$400
SMS (Twilio @ $0.01/msg × 600/mo)	$480	$480
Total Custom	$35,880	$880
ezyVet (est.)	$44,400	$44,400
Annual Savings	$8,520	$43,520

Year one breaks even by month 20. Year two: $43k in savings. Expand to 4 clinics and you save $58k+/year — the build cost stays the same, the ezyVet seat licenses don't.

Six FAQs

Will vets and nurses use custom software or default back to ezyVet?

If it's faster and fits their workflow, they will. Vets pull a pet record and see the full history at a glance. Nurses run post-op checklists without flipping between screens. Receptionists book without hunting for theatre slots. If your custom system is leaner than ezyVet, adoption is automatic. Staff incentives are built-in.

What if the system goes down during a consultation?

Hosting on Netlify or Vercel means 99.95%+ uptime. Downtime is rare. If it happens, staff have paper backups (they always do) — vets take notes, enter records after restoration. Modern systems are resilient enough that a single outage won't derail a clinic. ezyVet claims similar uptime but charges you for that reliability.

How do we migrate pet records from ezyVet?

ezyVet exports pet records, medical history, appointment logs as CSV. A custom system imports that data in a few hours — map columns, validate microchip numbers, seed the database. No pet lost. Switching back later is equally frictionless.

Does ACVB controlled-drug compliance actually work?

Yes. Every drug pull is logged (vet name, drug, dose, patient, timestamp, reason) in real-time. No manual register. Logs export to PDF for ACVB audits quarterly. Compliance is automatic, auditable, and tamper-proof. ezyVet doesn't offer this — you're legally required to maintain a separate paper register anyway.

What if we add a fourth clinic later?

Onboard 5 more staff, zero licensing cost. Custom systems scale at marginal cost — hosting grows $10–20/mo, Twilio SMS maybe $5/mo. ezyVet charges you $540/mo base + 5 new seats @ $175 = $1,435/mo extra. Custom software is built for multi-site expansion.

Who maintains it — bugs, updates, security patches?

Three models: (1) you hire a developer 6 hrs/month ($800–1.2k/mo part-time maintenance), (2) vendor SLA for $300–400/mo uptime + patches, (3) you run it as-is and live with occasional slowness. Most practices pick option 2. Still $43k/year cheaper than ezyVet by year three.

The Bottom Line

ezyVet is the default because every vet clinic knows it. But a 3-clinic, 12-person group doesn't need SaaS seat licensing. They need pet records with rich history, 7-day vax reminders, surgery scheduling with recovery notes, ACVB-compliant drug logs, lab result routing, and owner SMS updates. Custom software costs $35k upfront and $880/year to run. ezyVet costs $44,400/year, forever, and locks you in. Year two, your custom system is $43k ahead. Year five, you've saved $215k. You control vax schedules, drug compliance, and clinic reporting. No per-seat licensing. No SMS fees. No fragmented workflows.

Ready to replace ezyVet with practice software built for multi-site vets? Check Aidxn's packages for practice management, or book a 20-min call to map your current workflow and ROI timeline.