Veterinary telemedicine: A system dynamics case study

Abstract

Veterinary telemedicine has existed since the late 1990s. Various scholars have predicted its growth, others its decline. We constructed a system dynamics model of a veterinary telemedicine company providing services in one specialty in the industry. The model showed that severe shortages of specialists would limit growth in that, even with extensive marketing efforts. This limitation is likely to hold in other aspects of veterinary telemedicine. The paper concludes with recommendations for the company and the industry.