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Comments and Complaints Once AAHA has determined that a practice meets the required Standards and awards its accreditation, it is incumbent upon the professional staff to maintain those Standards between evaluation visits, make the appropriate medical decisions, and to deliver high quality care.
Pet Owner Compliments
Providing high-quality pet health care can be a thankless job for the men and women that comprise a practice team. Their commitment to ease the pain and suffering of animals often go unnoticed. Occasionally, pet owners want to show their appreciation by writing to AAHA. Although we welcome all feedback, we encourage pet owners to share their satisfaction by writing their animal hospital directly.
Pet Owner Complaints
On occasion, pet owners may feel that their pets have not received proper care, or that they themselves received poor service at one of the approximately 3,000 practices that are AAHA Accredited. In those instances, pet owners contact AAHA with a desire to submit a complaint.
Based on AAHA experience, pet owners with a complaint against a veterinary practice are best served by attempting to resolve the matter with the medical director of the practice. The Association strongly encourages pet owners and the directors of accredited practices to engage in constructive dialog regarding their concerns. In some cases, it may be appropriate to seek the assistance of trained mediators to facilitate such discussions. Again based on experience, client complaints to regulatory agencies, better business bureaus, or other organizations often do not resolve problems or result in a satisfactory outcome for either party. However, honest and open dialog, facilitated where appropriate by mediation, can often resolve the matter successfully for all involved. Fees are a matter between the veterinary provider and the client. AAHA does not address complaints about fees. The following policies apply to client complaints against AAHA accredited members:
- AAHA is not able to act in the role of an investigative agency; therefore individual complaints are not investigated.
- However, the Association reserves the right to take disciplinary action against its accredited members based on the findings of other investigative agencies, including state and provincial regulatory agencies and/or other veterinary organizations.
- The Association also reserves the right to conduct on-site evaluations of accredited practices at intervals shorter than three years if, in the Association's sole judgment, circumstances warrant such action.
- The number and/or nature of complaints against an accredited member that may be received, or even the existence of any complaints, is a matter between AAHA and its members and is not made public.
- Complaints received by phone, voice mail, or email, or complaints received without signature and address of the complainant, are discarded without action.
- A copy of a signed written complaint will be forwarded to the medical director of the accredited member practice. The original complaint will be placed in the file of the accredited member and will be available to AAHA's on-site evaluation staff at the time of the next regularly scheduled evaluation.
- Findings of other investigative agencies regarding complaints against accredited members are forwarded to the AAHA Membership Audit and Control Committee for review.
- The complaint must include the hospital name, address, and medical director (if known).
- The complaint must be typed and limited to three pages or less so that AAHA can accurately interpret the information.
Letters can be sent to:
Membership Audit & Control Committee
American Animal Hospital Association
12575 W. Bayaud Ave.
Lakewood, CO 80228
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