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Chewy (NYSE:CHWY) is looking to grow its veterinary telehealth service as part of a broad push into the pet healthcare industry.
The company’s telehealth service has been limited because most states do not allow veterinarians to perform their primary duties until they establish a VCPR by seeing an animal in-person and performing a physical exam.
“If you look at our Connect With a Vet, it’s the singular most scaled telehealth platform in the market today, only after two years, and yet, it doesn’t form a meaningful portion of our business. Why? Because when you research pet health, you’ll find that there’s a specific term called VCPR,” Chewy (CHWY) CEO Sumit Singh told CNBC. However, Sign thinks that obstacle is being removed with multiple states already doing away with VCPR. That trend is meeting resistance from some veterinarian industry insiders who say prescribing medication and diagnosing conditions without ever performing a physical exam on an animal could pose significant risks.
During Chewy’s (CHWY) last earnings call, Singh noted that telehealth services could be additive to the average customer basket size and a quick boost to earnings results. Read the full transcript.