Since 1998, Pet Emergency and Specialty Center of Marin (PESCM) has served as a critical lifeline for pets and their owners across the Bay Area. With dozens of specialists, technicians, and support staff working in sync, the hospital’s success depends on clear communication and instant access to patient information.
To keep pace, the hospital depends on the IDEXX ecosystem. We caught up with the team to learn more about how they use ezyVet and IDEXX to connect diagnostics, medical records, and daily workflows - and tap into the information they need to make quick, accurate decisions.
Faster access to results leads to more timely care
In recent years, PESCM has grown from a small emergency practice into one of Northern California’s leading referral and specialty hospitals. Located on a hilltop overlooking Marin County, the new 30,000-square-foot facility offers advanced diagnostics (MRI, CT, and C-arm), a dedicated ICU, and multiple operating rooms, as well as a wide range of state-of-the-art services, including surgery, internal medicine, neurology, oncology, cardiology, ophthalmology, and more.
“We’ve grown pretty rapidly in the last five years,” says PESCM RVT Monique King. “We added on multiple different specialties, and we outgrew our space. This new facility has really allowed us to spread out while allowing for continued growth within all of our different departments.”
Now home to three in-house IDEXX VetLab Stations, PESCM operates at a scale few emergency hospitals can match. Each station communicates seamlessly with ezyVet, ensuring that test results, patient details, and diagnostic data remain synchronized across the hospital.
In the past, this process relied on manual input, creating potential bottlenecks and leaving room for error.
“The integration between IDEXX and ezyVet has been a game changer for us in our day-to-day practice,” explains King. “Historically, our software did not integrate with our diagnostics, so it was very, very time consuming for our technicians to manually enter results. With IDEXX and ezyVet, we save a ton of time and we’ve also negated human error because all of the results are automatically entered into the patient record.”
The integration ensures results appear directly in the patient’s record as soon as they’re ready, giving veterinarians immediate insight to act on.
For PESCM Veterinarian Dr. Audra Pompeani, the impact is clear:
“As an emergency practice, our patients often need urgent or emergent care. With our in-house IDEXX labs, we can run a CBC, chemistry, blood, or gas test and have the answers in 20 to 30 minutes. For a critical patient, being able to have results in 20 minutes can be a total game changer.”
Rapid access to diagnostic results allows the team to make confident decisions without delay. It’s a setup that keeps communication clear, reduces duplication, and ultimately helps the team deliver faster, more coordinated care when it matters most.
ezyVet templates unlock new efficiencies
ezyVet is packed with practical tools to help veterinary teams work more efficiently. For the PESCM team, one tool that makes a big impact on their administrative workload is ezyVet’s clinical templates. Templating ensures uniformity and consistency in documentation across all patient records, which has become increasingly important as the hospital grows.
“The most dramatic benefit that I've experienced with ezyVet is the time it takes to write my medical records,” says Pompeani. “Earlier in my career, I would spend hours at the end of my shift finishing my charts because I wanted to be thorough. I wanted to make sure I included all the pertinent information - and that takes time.”
That's all changed since moving to ezyVet.
“ezyVet has a really straightforward shorthand text and template system that helps me create complete and thorough records in a fraction of the time that it used to take. And I don't have to cut and paste my radiology report or my bloodwork from a different website. It's all in ezyVet.”
The time saved allows doctors to focus on what matters most - their patients and clients. “I can have detailed conversations with my clients and detailed assessments of my results without being here late,” says Pompeani.
The hospital also uses SmartFlow, a patient care solution that integrates seamlessly with the broader IDEXX ecosystem.
“Before SmartFlow we were using paper records and paper charts that we wrote by hand,” says Pompeani.
Now, the team tracks and manages patient care digitally - from admission through treatment and discharge - all within one connected digital workflow. The shift to SmartFlow “helps streamline the medicine that we’re doing,” reducing manual steps and keeping treatment plans consistent across the team.
A connected ecosystem that just works
In an emergency setting, downtime isn’t an option. That’s why PESCM relies on the stability and support of the combined IDEXX ecosystem.
“Having one touchpoint for the whole IDEXX ecosystem is crucial because our jobs are super busy,” says Pompeani. “We're trying to help as many pets and pet parents as possible, and we don't have the liberty of downtime. We can’t wait for an update, or look for a fix, or be involved in troubleshooting the technology that we're using. We just need it to work.”
For the team, reliability also means evolution. As their caseload and technology needs grow, they rely on systems that continue to improve without disrupting daily operations.
“It is nice to have software that is constantly updating itself because no software starts out perfect,” says Pompeani. “We can give feedback and make suggestions, and know that the company is putting those into practice, making it better, and making our lives easier.”
That ongoing improvement is matched by strong customer support - a key factor in maintaining trust across the ecosystem. King has worked with many diagnostic providers over her career and says IDEXX stands out for its responsiveness and expertise.
“I've been in this field for a long time. IDEXX has always been the leader in veterinary medicine,” says King. “I've also worked with other competitors. [IDEXX’s] customer service is far superior. Their turnaround times are faster. They've just been a much easier lab to work with from a customer standpoint.”
The future of connected care
As PESCM continues to grow, ezyVet and IDEXX remain at the heart of its operations, helping doctors and technicians work faster, smarter, and more accurately while maintaining the compassion and teamwork the hospital is known for.
“Working here has been a really amazing experience. I'm going on 12 years in this hospital and I am looking forward to the next 12,” says Dr. Pompeani. “And not everybody in my field gets to say that.”
PESCM’s story shows how the right technology partnership can empower veterinary teams. By leveraging the IDEXX ecosystem, the team can focus on delivering life-saving medicine with speed, accuracy, and heart.
Want to see what the IDEXX ecosystem could do for your practice? Book a FREE demo today!