What Challenges Do Vets Face with Paper vs Digital Medical Records?

Even practices that have gone fully digital face significant challenges with medical records. The transition from paper to digital hasn't eliminated the core problem—it's just changed its shape.

Challenges with Digital Records

• Format inconsistency — Records from referring clinics use different PMS systems, each with their own export format. A Cornerstone PDF looks nothing like an AVImark or eVetPractice export.
• Scanned paper records — Many transferred records are scanned PDFs of handwritten notes, which are difficult to search and often have poor image quality.
• Information overload — Digital records make it easy to store everything, resulting in exported PDFs that can be hundreds of pages with no clear organization.
• No interoperability — Unlike human healthcare (which has HL7/FHIR standards), veterinary medicine lacks universal data exchange standards between systems.
• Legacy data — Practices that switched from paper to digital may have years of scanned legacy records that aren't searchable.

Challenges Still Lingering from Paper

• Handwriting legibility — Scanned handwritten notes are often difficult to read, even for humans
• Missing context — Paper records may have sticky notes, verbal annotations, or "understood" information that doesn't make it into scans
• Physical deterioration — Faded ink, coffee stains, and worn pages affect scan quality

How AI Bridges the Gap

AI summarization tools like VetRecap AI work with any PDF format—whether it's a clean digital export from Cornerstone or a scanned stack of handwritten medical notes. The AI extracts and organizes the clinical information into a consistent, readable summary format, effectively normalizing records from any source.