Getting estimates for cat medical procedures

[larsks]

After a recent checkup, it looks like both of my cats require some dental work. One just needs a cleaning, but the other one needs a tooth extraction. I am trying to handle this the same way I would handle a similar situation for a person: call around to various providers and find out how much they would charge for the procedure.

Much to my surprise, all the vet offices I have called in the area (a suburb of Boston, MA) refuse to provide any sort of pricing without "an established doctor/patient relationship", which requires a complete cat physical.

The people-healthcare world has been moving towards greater price transparency (e.g. the recent laws concerning hospital price transparency, Hospital Price Transparency | CMS), primarily because bad actors were using opaque pricing to bilk both insurers and individual payers.

Are vets doing the same thing? Is it common for vets to be unwilling to provide any estimates without performing an exam themselves, rather than accepting medical records from the cat's "primary care" veterinarian? I'm frustrated and feel like I'm over the barrel here, particularly since one of the cats may be in some discomfort. That means I'm probably just going to end up having the (expensive) procedure done by our regular provider, but it galls me that there's no way to ascertain the relative pricing at various local providers. Are there regulations or other legitimate reasons behind the unwillingness of vets to share procedure pricing?

Thanks for your input.

 

[FeebysOwner]

Hi and welcome to TCS. All I know is that there are vet groups who will offer a second opinion. I presume that means they will accept records from other vets to review. The VCA group is one, but I am sure there are others as well. That doesn't mean they will not still want to physically exam the cat as well. .

Even in the human world, you will find caveats/disclaimers/fine print that will tell you that there will likely be additional testing/evaluation to determine the actual costs, despite any 'quoted' pricing.

 

[fionasmom]

I have known of vets who would give a quote over the phone, but it basically amounted to what FeebysOwner described. It was followed by either a range of high/low which is very commonly done out here now, or the disclaimer explaining how that may not end up being the actual price. Sometimes the high/low estimate were not that close, either. Having said that, most will not quote over the phone without seeing the pet.

 

[stephanietx]

I use 2 vets in my area. One is a cat-only vet with all the latest, greatest, bells & whistles equipment and everything. One is your regular run of the mill vet that doesn't have all the bells & whistles but is up on the latest procedures and things like that. When one of my girls when for her exam, the cat-only vet (that I love, but don't love their prices all the time) quoted me anywhere from $1K-$3K. I went to our regular no frills (and much more low-cost) vet and they quoted me $200-$300, depending on how many extractions needed. She'd recently had bloodwork, so that knocked some off the price, and they don't do 3-D x-rays. They have discussed that, but the cat would need to be sedated for about an additional hour just to get the x-rays completed before the cleaning. We obviously went with the less expensive option and my girl is doing great.

 

[fionasmom]

We obviously went with the less expensive option and my girl is doing great.

I paid $1500 years ago for Fiona's bladder stone surgery when, at the same time, a coworker who lived quite a ways out of the greater Los Angeles area paid $350. Both cats recovered with no complications.