Springs veterinarians ask city council to tighten Colorado Humane

Colorado Springs Business Journal, Mar 25, 2005 by Marylou Doehrman

The veterinarians in Colorado Springs are doggone tired of the problems they've encountered with the city's animal control contractor, Colorado Humane Society.

Disorganization, late or no payment for services rendered, dog licensing snafus, failure to return calls and work cooperatively with the veterinarians are examples of issues outlined in a letter the Colorado Springs Area Veterinary Society unleashed on the City Council two weeks ago.

The reimbursement issues are black and white, said Dr. Melanie Marsden, a veterinarian with Pikes Peak Veterinary Clinic and past president of the Springs veterinary society. Our real issue is not being able to have a cooperative relationship with them.

It's not because the local veterinarians haven't tried.

When the city gave the boot to its 53-year animal control contract with the Humane Society of the Pikes Peak Region in favor of the low bidder, Englewood-based Colorado Humane, the local veterinarians were surprised at the change yet hopeful they could establish the same successful working relationship with the new organization.

Many of the veterinarians were unaware of the severity of the conflict between Pikes Peak Humane and the city, said local veterinarian, Dr. Susan Bloss. Everyone assumed it would be resolved; we really didn't think there would be a change.

The unexpected change that put Colorado Humane in the catbird seat created a game of cat and mouse regarding service fees.

Bloss owns Cheyenne Mountain Hospital, and, because her facility is near the animal shelter, she worked closely with Pikes Peak Humane. She hoped to maintain the same relationship with Colorado Humane; instead, Bloss said she and many other veterinarians were saddled with problems affecting their business bottom line.

We were billing them (Colorado Humane) by the case, but they couldn't remember what we had or had not billed, Bloss said. So we started billing them monthly. We still didn't get paid, so we would cut off services until they paid us. For three months it was like that. We would cut off services; they would come in and pay. We weren't paid in December or January and still not paid in February. We stopped doing shelter type work (for awhile) on January 10. We still do spay and neuters for the adopted pets, but we will not bill Colorado Humane. We ask the client to pay us and collect from them.

Mary Warren, director of Colorado Humane, said that whatever problems might exist can be resolved.

I am sorry they are feeling unhappy, Warren said. All of our veterinary bills are paid right now, and we welcome them to come in and talk with us.

Veterinarians say that talking to Colorado Humane, especially when it comes to dog licensing, is part of the problem.

Colorado Humane wanted us to keep track of the licenses we sold and send them a check every month, Bloss said. Then, when they weren't paying us (for other services), they wanted us to deduct the $1 fee we receive from selling the licenses from their bill. We didn't think that was legal. In March they paid us in full, so we told them we would see their clients again, but we haven't had any calls.

Marsden refuses to sell licenses because she still doesn't understand Colorado Humane's procedures. And while it's always raining cats and dogs at the local shelter, license revenue has been reduced to a dribble.

In the contract with Colorado Humane, the city was to retain the first $400,000 of the license revenue. That figure was based on the revenue garnered in 2003 from Pikes Peak Humane: a total of $417,669 for the year, which was credited to the costs of services to the city.

Colorado Humane reported fourth quarter license revenue of $40,043, up from its first quarter report of $12,795 but down from second quarter revenue of $49,967. Nothing in license revenue was reported from Colorado Humane for the third quarter. However, a year end report totaled licensing revenue at $191,579.50 for 2004.

We are feeling a lot of success, and we are pleased with how things are going, Warren said. There are some veterinarians who are not selling as many (licenses) as they used to but there are new ones starting to sell, too. All of this will take time.

Time, however, has run out for local veterinarians.

Reimbursement issues and licensing revenue are two of the five specific concerns the veterinarians list in their March 7 letter to City Council. The core concern, according to the letter, is Colorado Humane's lack of interest in pursuing a joint effort with the veterinarians.

An effort the veterinary society initiated.

The Colorado Springs Area Veterinary Society formed a committee when the city awarded Colorado Humane the contract for the purpose of establishing guidelines and protocols between CHS and the veterinarians, who did not want to see a gap in services with the new contractor. Efforts ceased, according to the veterinarians' letter, after six months when the committee concluded that the contractor had no interest in this joint effort, nor obvious intent to cooperate with area veterinarians.