Back in 1933, seven leaders in the veterinary industry got

together to form the American Animal Hospital Association (AAHA). They saw the need for regulation in the industry

and set forth to improve conditions in animal clinics.

AAHA is the only accreditation organization in the industry. We currently have approximately 3,000

hospital members in the U.S. and Canada and over 36,000 veterinary care providers in North America

and overseas.

All hospitals are evaluated on the following areas through a flexible points-based system. You do not have to meet every single standard provided – you can pick and choose the standards you are already meeting and improve your practice in other areas if necessary. There are only 46 mandatory core standards.

Anesthesia Client ServiceContagious Disease Continuing EducationDentistry Diagnostic ImagingEmergency/Urgent Care Examination FacilitiesHousekeeping/Maintenance Human ResourcesLaboratory LeadershipMedical Records Pain ManagementPatient Care PharmacySafety Surgery

The benefits of accreditation to your practice team are immeasurable. Many practices divide

up the sections of the standards to different team members, which helps instill ownership and pride in staff members. Everyone pulls together to prepare for the evaluation and

works as a team.

The staff at Denver headquarters is available to help you through the preparation for your evaluation. They’re just a phone call away and can provide tips, advice and expert insight into how you can

make the most of this experience.

The greatest benefit of accreditation to many is the wealth of knowledge the Practice Consultants provide. These experts visit hundreds of veterinary practices per year

and can offer helpful tips to improve your practice. AAHA Practice Consultants have one main goal – to

assist you and your team in providing high-quality care.

Many find that the benefits of being accredited are very

personal. Practice owners and staff feel great pride in

becoming accredited. They enjoy challenging themselves

and raising the bar by reaching new benchmarks of

excellence. Being an accredited member allows practices to grow with the

times and continue to provide the best care possible.

By being an AAHA-accredited member, you’ll show your

clients you are among the best. That special symbol on your

front door will prove that you are one of the best in town.

Savvy consumers contact us every day to ask for referrals

because they’ve done their homework and know accredited

practices are the best.

AAHA provides public relations resources and promotional

materials to accredited practices to help them show

clients their dedication to high standards. Accreditation

promotion kits are sent to practices each year and the

AAHA Public Relations staff is always available to answer

questions about your practice’s promotional

efforts.

To help get the word out about accredited practices, we released TV and radio Public Service Announcements that talk about the importance of taking pets to accredited practices. AAHA also produced a print advertisement promoting accredited practices that has appeared in over 100 airports throughout the U.S.!

The AAHA tagline is:

Healthy Practices. Healthier Pets.

To us, this is much more than a tagline. In order for pets to be healthy, our practices must be healthy. And this is the main goal of AAHA – to help our member practices improve, grow and provide the best care possible.