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This is true for the veterinary world, probably other professions too. The result is that a veterinarian owns the business on paper, but the PE fund can take o
by CamelCaseName 3y ago
This is true for the veterinary world, probably other professions too.
The result is that a veterinarian owns the business on paper, but the PE fund can take over or replace them as needed.
- darth_avocado 3y agoThe veterinarian world is doomed. Increasingly PE is taking over entire neighborhoods when it come to vet hospitals. This is led to increased wait times, lower standards of care, higher cost to consumers and higher pet mortality rates. That can very well translate to human healthcare.
- rcme 3y agoBut the barriers to starting a new vet are pretty low. If existing vets are inadequate, new ones can start.
- darth_avocado 3y agoCapital is the barrier and the requirement is not low in the areas PE takes over.
- rcme 3y agoIt seems like a vet would be about as expensive as opening a restaurant, maybe 1-3x as much. That doesn't seem like the most capital intensive thing ever.
- RALaBarge 3y agoOther than the doctorate, of course.
- rcme 3y agoPresumably there is already a supply of licensed veterinarians, unless the PE vet practices are hiring unlicensed practitioners.
- darth_avocado 3y agoIt is more expensive to open a clinic than a restaurant, with the costs being anywhere from $500k-$1M. The main difference between the two is that the vet clinic has higher running costs aka salaries in the early years before the practice takes off. For restaurants, it’s relatively lower (staff salaries and produce) if the demand is lower.
- rcme 3y ago500K-1M seems about 1-3x a typical restaurant. I'd also be surprised to learn that running a vet is more expensive than a restaurant. The margins are seem like they'd be way lower in a restaurant.
- classichasclass 3y agoNo. My late father started his own solo vet practice in 1983, in that less capital intensive environment, and he still required a substantial amount of seed capital to procure and retrofit the building to meet regulations and have enough in the tank to keep it going through the initial lean business years. (There were other complications related to the specific property and title liens not relevant here.) In these days it's not much different than a solo medical practice in terms of startup costs. Later VCA and Banfield asked him every year to sell out and he never did, but he was an already established practice by then. I can see why new vets are much less likely to embark on it.
- rcme 3y agoNot sure what your point is. I'm not saying you can open a vet for free. All businesses require capital. But, as evidenced by your father, opening a new vet practice is not some totally new thing no one has ever done before. People have done it and people will continue to do it.
- pessimizer 3y ago> opening a new vet practice is not some totally new thing no one has ever done before. No one claimed no one had ever opened a vet practice. What they are claiming is that it is expensive. Nobody is accusing you of saying that someone can open a vet practice for free. What they are claiming is that it is expensive. > People have done it and people will continue to do it. Everyone knows this that independent vet practices have been opened in the past, and that some are likely to be opened in the future.