The problem
A head nurse spends hours each week counting shelves and placing wholesaler orders, and short-dated drugs get found after they've expired. If stock checks and ordering take 4 hours a week, that's about 17 hours a month (4 x 4.3), and if $200£150€179A$288C$282 of stock a month is written off as out of date (an assumption), that money goes in the bin.
What the AI does
Provet Cloud says you can automate reorders, manage expiries and update prices from integrated wholesalers. Its FAQ names UK and US wholesalers including NVS and Covetrus, with automatic price updates, batch number tracking and purchase order syncing. A named nurse still approves each order and checks what arrives; the system does the counting and keeps the price lists current.
A worked example
A 2-vet small-animal practice in Kent orders from NVS twice a week. On Provet Cloud Core, the head nurse sets reorder levels for the 150 lines used most and checks the short-dated stock every Monday.
Before
4 hours a week on stock and orders, about 17 hours a month, and about $200£150€179A$288C$282 a month written off
After
About 1.5 hours a week approving orders and checking expiries, about 6.5 hours a month, and $100£75€89A$144C$141 written off
What it's worth
About $329£247€294A$474C$464 a month saved: about 10.75 hours of nurse time (2.5 hours a week x 4.3) at an assumed $21£16€19A$31C$30 an hour, about $229£172€205A$330C$323 plus $100£75€89A$144C$141 less stock written off. Provet Cloud Core for 2 vets is about $370£278€331A$534C$523 a month, so on its own this doesn't pay back; it does alongside the booster reminders the same system runs, or if the practice is changing system anyway.
How to set it up
- Ask Provet to confirm in writing that inventory management and your wholesaler's connection are included on Core, and what the connection needs from your wholesaler account.
- Load a full stock count, then set reorder levels for the lines you use every week before the rarely used ones.
- Check the short-dated stock every week and use the oldest first.
- Have a named nurse approve every order before it goes, and check each delivery against the order.
- Keep the controlled drugs register and checks exactly as now: the stock system doesn't replace them.
What goes wrong
- Reorder levels set too high tie up cash on the shelf; set too low and you run out. Review them after the first month.
- Stock counts drift if items are used or dispensed without being charged. The numbers are only right if everything goes through the system.
- Provet's pricing page lists inventory management, but its text doesn't make clear which wholesaler links each plan includes. Get it confirmed before you sign.
- Controlled drugs still need the register, cabinet checks and records the law requires. Don't assume the stock system covers them.