It’s nicknamed the Island of Enchantment. But proud as they are of Puerto Rico’s pristine cloud forests and sparkling beaches, Drs. Anik Puig and Jose Arce will tell you that tropical storms are also a fact of island life.
When Hurricane Maria forced the co-owners of Miramar Animal Hospital to go without DVMAX for days on end, they decided they needed a better contingency plan than paper and pens. Knowing cloud-based software can be accessed even when the power goes out, the pair investigated their options.
In this interview Dr. Puig shares why she and her husband zeroed in IDEXX Neo, some surprising benefits of working in the cloud, and advice she’d give DVMAX users about switching to a different IDEXX software.
Your practice Miramar Animal Hospital has a big birthday coming up in 2024.
We are a husband-and-wife team—Jose is a past president of the AVMA—and 21 years ago this September we opened the clinic from scratch.
What has practicing on an island taught you?
Always have a contingency plan! We lose our electricity on a regular basis. We had printed forms ready so that when DVMAX went down we could fill things out by hand. Another time our server died, and we had to send the disk off to have our data recovered. We had zero records: that was a hard three weeks.
What made the decision to switch to cloud software a priority?
We had been talking about it since Hurricane Maria in 2017, and watched the technology grow and evolve to the point where it seemed doable for us. When we saw IDEXX was no longer selling DVMAX, we thought, “we ought to do this.”
Besides allowing you to access your software if you lost power, what were some of the other advantages you saw to moving to the cloud?
To be able to see what’s happening with our patients in real time, anywhere. I also felt it was more secure having all our stored data off site. If our building were to burn down, those computers are going with it. I want to be able to have access to our data even if there's no electricity here.
What did you do to evaluate your options?
I wanted to stay with IDEXX because I trust them. So I went to IDEXX's website and looked at the whole family of PIMS they have to offer.
IDEXX has two cloud options, ezyVet and Neo. How did you explore which was right for you?
I got sales demos for both. And I looked at the parts of each program that we’d use the most to compare them, things like the appointment screen, the patient overview, and the patient consult. What those looked like were more important to me than what the end-of-day process was like.
We also talked to friends using Neo and ezyVet, including one who had recently switched to ezyVet. He had a lot of good things to say about the onboarding and was happy with the ability to use his software wherever he wanted to be. For me that finalized the fact that we needed to do be cloud based.
What about Neo made you think it would be a good fit for you?
I personally preferred to start with fewer bells and whistles and build up from there. It seemed to me Neo could be implemented more quickly and would be easier to learn. I can figure out any software. But I manage all sorts of people, including staff who are really into computers, and others who believe the computer is not their best friend. I thought Neo would be a better fit for that environment.
Did the Neo conversion and onboarding process meet your expectations?
I was very happy with it. Onboarding was excellent, the IDEXX team was very supportive and organized. I loved that they gave me so much information, including timelines and checklists, so I could see what was coming and what needed to be done when.
How was the experience for your team?
Because IDEXX was so proactive in guiding me through the change management, I could then guide my own team through it. Everyone was excited about getting on Neo, and the transition went really well.
Some of your team had been using DVMAX for almost 20 years. How long did it take them to get comfortable with Neo?
Probably a week after onboarding.
Were you surprised by how short that learning curve was?
No, I was expecting it because we had done all the training. It’s like when you're learning to ride a bicycle or drive a stick shift: you just need to learn the process.
What are three examples of ways Neo is making life simpler for you and your team?
I can prepare a prescription and print it from my home, so it’s ready to go before I even arrive to the hospital. It’s easier to set up an appointment because I can do it from almost any screen I want to be in: I can be in the appointment book screen, or looking at the schedule, or in the patient record. Accessing lab work and images I couldn't do in DVMAX because it was so difficult to set up. It’s much simpler to set up in Neo, and so easy to access lab work and images.
You originally wanted cloud software in case of power outages, and for the ability to work from home. Can you share three examples of how Neo helps you do that?
I handle the practice management from home, and then go in if we have drop-off appointments or urgent cases. So, each morning I check my appointments to see if I need to come in. Or, depending on the distraction level at home versus work, or if the weather’s bad, Neo makes it easy to work from home.
As veterinarians we always get phone calls at home. When we do, we can check that patient’s records, or make an appointment right then and there. And we’re able to use any system in the hospital at home—like printing prescription labels—without having to set up a VPN.
And if I didn't have time to fill in a record during the day, I'm going to write those records at night.
Last question: if a DVMAX user told you they were considering switching to Neo, what would you tell them?
I would start by saying that a lot of practices have moved from DVMAX to Neo, and that IDEXX will support them every step of the way. I’d tell them I found Neo simple to learn. And I would give them the analogy of when you buy a new car, you always have things that you just have to take a little time to learn. There’s a learning curve, but that’s true of any change you make in your life.