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HAH Policies | Updated January 2024

Payment

  • Payment is expected at the time of service. We accept cash, credit card, and personal checks (that pass our cross-check system). We also accept payment using CareCredit. Medical care plans can be provided that outline the proposed total costs of each veterinary visit before services are rendered upon request. We do NOT offer payment plans, promissory notes, or held checks.
  • We collect prepayment of the low-end of the medical care plan range for any procedure/hospitalization expected to be in excess of $500. At the time of patient discharge, we will either refund (or additionally charge the remaining balance due) as appropriate, depending on the final invoice amount. The only exception to this policy is the $500 prepayment collected for dentistry procedures, regardless of the total expected cost

Scheduling

  • We require 24-hrs notice for cancellation of appointments, including medical, surgical, and grooming. If we are not notified or are notified with less than 24-hrs notice, we reserve the right to charge a fee of $25. If repetitive “no-shows” occur, we reserve the right to collect the entire exam or grooming fee as a prepayment at the time of scheduling.
  • We operate as a combined general practice and urgent care center. As such, and despite our best efforts to keep appointment times, there may be instances where your exact appointment time cannot be honored. If the delay is expected to be more than 20 minutes, a staff member will notify you and ask your preference for continuing to wait or rescheduling.
  • Additionally, when an urgent appointment is scheduled, you will be given an arrival time. This time is NOT a guarantee of time seen, but instead helps us to space out the urgent care same-day-sick appointments in a way that minimizes bottlenecking in waiting, exam, and treatment rooms. Please understand that, as with human urgent care centers, patients will be triaged and treated accordingly. It is possible that a stable pet with a non-life-threatening ailment may have up to a 2-3 hour wait. We try to minimize this wait time as much as possible, but it can vary from day to day, depending on the caseload.

Contact Info and Medical Records

  • We require that clients keep us updated on contact addresses, phone numbers, and emails. In the event that this information is not up-to-date and client communication cannot be achieved, we are not responsible for missed appointments, reminders, or changes to medical care plans. We will make all attempts to rectify incorrect contact information, but this is ultimately the client’s responsibility.
  • Medical records will only be released to named account holders or to authorized parties that said account holders had notified us of, either verbally or in writing. In the event of an account holder’s death, a death certificate shall be presented, and a transfer of account ownership performed.
  • Treatment of pets will require the named account holder’s authorization. In the event that said account holder is not available to authorize treatment, a written release to do so or witnessed verbal consent will be required before care can proceed. If euthanasia is being pursued, only the account holder can provide consent, with the exception being presentation of valid death certificate for named account holder.

Pharmacy

  • We require annual examinations performed by one of our doctors before we can dispense or refill all prescription medications. This is non-negotiable, as it is a legal requirement both for our doctors to continue prescribing medication and for our hospital to stay in business.
  • Though we aim to minimize prescription costs to help you care for your pet, there may be times when filling a prescription through a third-party pharmacy is necessary or desirable. We offer the option of providing clients with a hard-copy written prescription, upon request, without any additional charge. To help keep costs down, we do not bear the responsibility of transmitting this prescription to local or online pharmacies. Our pharmacy staff works tirelessly to process outside requests (in addition to handling in-hospital prescriptions), and labor for processing and individually submitting prescriptions to numerous third-party pharmacies would ultimately compel us to charge clients a fee (something we are trying to avoid). We do not email written prescriptions to clients or to pharmacies at this time.
  • Though pharmacy requests are handled in a timely manner, please allow up to 72 hours for pharmacy request processing. Upon receiving each prescription request, our pharmacy staff checks it against the medical record for accurate prescribing information and ensures the validity of required monitoring tests/annual examinations before obtaining doctor authorization. Please keep this in mind, and submit requests when at least seven days of medication remain in your current prescription.

Boarding/Grooming

  • We require up-to-date vaccinations for all boarding and grooming services, including Rabies, Distemper/Lepto, Canine Influenza, and intranasal Bordetella/Parainfluenza vaccinations. We also require yearly fecal parasite testing in advance of these services. We also require up-to-date examinations and offer pre-boarding examinations for clients using other hospitals for their veterinary care. Our grooming area is a shared space with our boarding resort. Therefore, all grooming pets must follow the same requirements as our boarding pets.
  • We require annual heartworm test (blood test) and up-to-date yearly exams to dispense heartworm preventatives in accordance with the legislature and American Heartworm Association Guidelines. In the event that this test is not performed or heartworm prevention lapsed during the year, HAH makes NO guarantee as to the heartworm status of your pet or the safety of prescriptions dispensed.
  • Technician services will now be performed during boarding stays or grooming appointments. We do not offer examinations by request during boarding stays or grooming appointments; we will only examine/treat pets that require immediate medical attention during these times.  Should one of these add-ons be required, the options include performing it prior to admitting the pet or upon discharge (which may require an appointment, depending on the circumstance). The exception to this is the complimentary bath, nail trim, and ear cleaning that is provided for any pet staying five or more nights in our boarding resort.
  • While we encourage you to bring your pet’s own food, treats, and medications as desired, all medications must be in their original labeled container. We do not accept personal toys, bedding, or clothing during their stay.

Pet Handling

  • We reserve the right to terminate an appointment or service in the event that safety becomes a concern. While we do utilize muzzles, E-collars, and protective gloves when needed, there are times when it may become unsafe to continue. Stopping the service is for both your pet’s and our staff’s safety. At that time, your doctor may make recommendations to reschedule the service for another date, potentially with pre-appointment sedatives on board. Please follow the hospital’s recommendations regarding muzzle training, sedation, and/or enlisting the help of a behaviorist to make future experiences easier for your pet.

Harassment

  • We do not condone any verbally or physically aggressive behavior from clients or staff and have a zero-tolerance policy on this matter. In the event such an episode occurs, we reserve the right to terminate the responsible party, with a formal written letter of termination and a copy of pet medical records to follow.
  • We maintain an on-call doctor at all times and will not contact off-duty veterinarians for any reason. Our team maintains excellent medical records, and each of our doctors are capable providers.

Overnight Care

  • We proudly provide overnight care for all hospital cases and pet’s boarding in our resort. This care is provided by a qualified veterinary technician, with a doctor on-call at all times for those admitted cases. We do not maintain phone hours and cannot admit/discharge any pets outside of normal business hours. In the event that your pet requires attention outside of normal business hours, please contact one of the local 24hr veterinary emergency referral centers where a veterinarian is staffed in-hospital throughout the night.