Andy Roark challenges vet med’s idea of ‘high quality’ care
CURRENT BRIEF VERSION: Dr. Andy Roark’s March 31 episode of The Cone of Shame, “We Can’t All Be ‘High Quality Medicine,’” argues that veterinary teams need a more realistic definition of quality, one that accounts for cost, access, workflow, and what a given clinic is actually built to do. In the conversation, Roark and guest Dr. Jules Benson, founder of Tapetum Lucidum Consulting and 2025 chair of the Veterinary Innovation Council, frame the issue around the “iron triangle” of cost, quality, and access, and say the profession often conflates “high quality” with “most advanced” or most resource-intensive care. They point instead to stratified care models, including nonprofit, mobile, focused-care, and urgent-care settings, and to clearer handoffs across a broader community of care. The discussion also fits with Roark’s recent podcast focus on operational strain in practice, including episodes on clinics that feel swamped even as visits fall, the risk of making veterinary work more extractive for teams and clients, and the moral distress technicians can face when care feels misaligned with patient welfare. (drandyroark.com)
Why it matters: For veterinary professionals, the conversation lands in the middle of an ongoing industry debate over spectrum of care, access to care, and workforce sustainability. AAHA has described spectrum of care as delivering context-appropriate, medically sound options rather than insisting on a single “gold standard” path in every case, and it has linked that approach to better communication, broader access, and less moral distress for clinicians. Roark’s episode adds a practical management lens: not every hospital can, or should, try to be everything to every pet parent, especially when unclear expectations can compound burnout and team frustration. (aaha.org)
What to watch: Expect this discussion to keep surfacing as practices refine service models, referral relationships, team workflows, and messaging around what care they can provide well, and what should be routed elsewhere. (drandyroark.com)