01/25/2026
A Letter to Our Clients
As we begin the new year we want to take a moment to update everyone on the current state of our practice, what is to come, and a few housekeeping/boundaries we need to set and address so we can all work better together.
Last year saw our practice continue to grow, seeing over 200 new clients and over 1,000 new patients. These new clients and patients came from all over the shore as we have expanded to covering almost the entire eastern shore of Maryland and state of Delaware. We have expanded chiropractic, acupuncture and Chinese medicine services as well as our reproductive services.
The practice saw well over 120 emergencies and over 230 urgent care appointments. This month is off to much the same pace as they have already seen 15 emergency/urgent care appointments in just the first 24 days. The doctors are on call 24/7/365 and we have been fortunate to be able to keep all emergency coverage in house so our clients will always have a doctor to help and see a face they know when they have an emergency.
Unfortunately, we have noticed a growing trend of a few troublesome issues that need to be addressed when it comes to our emergency and urgent care services.
WE DO NOT SEE NON-CLIENT EMERGENCIES. It is unfair to our doctors to ask them to be on call for any and everyone that calls after hours and asking them to go to farms in stressful situations and deal with people they’ve never met is simply not something our practice is going to ask of them. A client is someone we have seen for a ROUTINE appointment in the last 12 months AND does not have an outstanding invoice. If there are repeated payment issues you will be let go as a client and services will not be provided. One routine consult and exam every twelve months is all it takes to have emergency care. For much of the shore that means a single $161 visit gets you emergency coverage for twelve months ($171 if you are over 40 miles away).
When those who have met the above criteria do have an emergency PLEASE CALL. If one of the doctors or I do not answer LEAVE A VOICEMAIL. Calling repeatedly does not get a quicker response. This applies to routine matters as well. Between spam calls, vendor salesman and legitimate client communication some days we get nearly 100 calls. We can’t sort through every missed call and determine who is and isn’t a client and call you back, please leave a message, call or text. All three of us are monitoring the emergency voicemailbox constantly, when we see that message you will get a response, you will not be waiting long. Not sure if you got into the right voicemail box? Don’t worry, we screen every voicemail in the routine mailbox as soon as it comes across to make sure it isn’t an emergency. It’s easy to not hit the right button when you are stressed about your current situation. After hours (including weekends and holidays) texts, email and Facebook are not routinely monitored. If you have an emergency, you need to call.
We may be open from 8-4 but that does not mean if you call at 3:50 you will not be charged an emergency fee. Watching a patient colic all day and then calling just before we close wanting to be seen is disrespectful to the doctors and their time and on more than one occasion has also negated any potential remedies they can provide. The same applies to more routine issues as well. A lameness that has been ongoing for days or weeks does not become an emergency because we haven’t been called. Wanting to be seen and being willing to pay the emergency fee does not make it an emergency on our part. Instances like those will no longer be seen on an emergency care basis. If truly urgent we will get to you on the next business day. If not urgent it will be scheduled in a routine manner. If you have an issue, or even if you are not sure, please call. The doctors can determine if/when you need to be seen. Neither doctor is going to sell you on a visit you do not need at a time when you do not need it and we would love to get you some medications etc to have on hand that may help avoid an emergency call.
We are all aware of the shortage of doctors, not just in this area but nationwide. To continue to provide the level of care we do we need to be respectful of the doctors time. We want to take care of and protect our doctors and keep them with Choptank and in the equine industry for years to come. Anyone reading this who thinks you may be talking about you, don’t worry, there are no hard feelings. We know in most all of these cases the thought process is different on your end, and you probably didn’t think about it this way at all. This is not about one specific incident in recent days, weeks, or even months but has been a growing trend that it was time to address.
This coming year we will be continuing to work on improving and growing to provide a better experience for everyone. We recently acquired a new machine that will allow us to do progesterone, cushings (ACTH) and insulin testing in-house to get you quicker results, in many cases the same day. Dr Harvey and Dr Harris will continue to expand their training with Dr Harvey attending a chiropractic course and Dr Harris going to a neurology course at New Bolton Center. All the new growth does mean our spring schedule will be filling up quickly so give me a call, text or email over to get your spring vaccines appointment set. It is never too early to get your appointment on the books and the further out you book them the easier it will be to get the days you want or need. If you made it this far, thank you for taking your time to read through this. If you have any questions about any of these issues or anything at all just reach out.
We can't express how much we appreciate your trust and continued business and we look forward to continuing to provide excellent service on the Eastern Shore!
Enjoy the snow!
Dr Harris and team
