Three specialty hospitals form partnership

Tampa, Fla.

- Three veterinary specialty hospitals from different parts ofthe country merged under a new partnership known as BluePearl VeterinaryPartners, the principals of which say they will offer a new paradigm inveterinary medicine.

Joining forces are Florida Veterinary Specialists and Cancer TreatmentCenter in Tampa, NYC Veterinary Specialists and Cancer Treatment Center inNew York City and Veterinary Specialty and Emergency Center in Kansas City.

"Our goal is to set a new standard for referral practices," says Neil Shaw,DVM, Dipl. ACVIM, BluePearl's chief medical officer. "I believe that werepresent the future of veterinary medicine."

Shaw founded the Tampa hospital in 1996 and the New York City hospital in2006.

His BluePearl partner is Jeff Dennis, DVM, Dipl. ACVIM, an internal medicinespecialist at the Kansas City hospital.

The partners say the merger, which brings together more than 100veterinarians, most of them specialists, developed in part because the threehospitals share a similar mission and philosophy.

The group says it will offer a five-point commitment to the communities itserves: exceptional patient care and client service, no routine orprophylactic care, operating strictly by referral, calling and mailing awritten report for every referral and promising to have a clinician alwaysavailable to consult with colleagues who call.

"I believe we offer a new paradigm ... in which the general practitioner isstrengthened through a relationship with us," says Shaw. "We are completelyan extension of their practice, to be used at their discretion."