Petriage Names Leading Pet Industry Technology Architect As CTO

BELLEVUE, Wash., Oct. 3, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Petriage, a B2B telehealth provider of state-of-the art services to veterinary practices, today announced it has named Gary Watson, a leading pet industry technology strategist and software architect, to the new position of chief technology officer. He will assist the company as it prepares to expand the number of veterinarian practices it serves nationally with its unique software platform for remotely treating household pets and integrating their medical data effortlessly into vet practice management systems.

Watson, who joins a team of medical, data and IT specialists at Petriage, brings 15 years of experience developing complex applications for pet-related service businesses, including seven years as CTO and vice president of technology at Vets First Choice, now Covetrus, and five years as chief software architect at IDEXX Laboratories. Most recently, the 49-year-old Watson was vice president of product engineering at PetDesk Inc. He joins Petriage in October.

As the use of telemedicine in veterinary medicine grows and Petriage's software app attracts more veterinarians and pet parents, Watson's technology and software expertise and experience comes at an opportune time for the company, founded in 2015.

Striving to carve a bigger share of the pet technology market for vets and household pet parents, Petriage is moving to significantly expand the number of veterinarians and their practices it assists through additional partnerships. Today, the Seattle-area company primarily serves the Pacific Northwest. To realize its growth plans, Petriage recognizes it must continue to enhance its current software applications and develop new technology for growing segments of the market, including wearable technology.

Petriage CEO Allon Freiman said, "With his solid knowledge and industry reputation, Gary will help us further penetrate the pet technology market and provide software applications that improve patient outcomes, drive revenue to vet practices and better integrate with vets' practice management system. He knows what we aspire to do, sees the potential and is deeply inspiring to work with."

"I am incredibly excited to join the Petriage team," said Watson. "Having spent over 15 years focused on helping veterinarians use data to meet the ever-growing challenges they face, I am eager to help Petriage deliver its powerful, fully integrated solution. Petriage allows pet owners to provide better care for their pets without forcing vets to implement a daunting set of process changes. These are exciting advantages, and I look forward to helping Petriage scale nationally."

The global pet tech market was valued at over $4.5 billion in 2018 and is expected to increase at a 24% compound annual growth rate by 2025, with the North American market accounting for over 55%, estimates Global Market Insights, a research firm focusing on high-tech industries.  The global pet wearable market was estimated at $1.4 billion last year, according to a second research firm, Grandview Research. It is growing as pet owners become increasingly aware of the benefits of incorporating animal health data and as vets' use of artificial intelligence and remote-enabled medical diagnosis and treatment accelerates.

Petriage's telehealth service features a proprietary teletriage app  that enables vets to engage their clients in the care of their pets after-hours. For pet parents, signing up for a free Petriage account to build their pet's health profile and access the free teletriage tool is easy. Petriage's basic service – the simple-to-use mobile interface validated by a team of veterinarians – assesses the urgency of a dog or cat's health symptoms and delivers trusted recommendations. Its Essential service level offers telemonitoring capabilities with a veterinarian. The Premium service level adds the ability to chat live with the vet and share photos and video for full engagement about a pet's health. Fees for the Essential and Premium service levels are usually included in a veterinarian's annual charge to a client.

For veterinarians, Petriage's virtual telehealth service enables them to expand their business as a "brick-and-click" practice and capture a significant portion of cases occurring after-hours that they would have been unaware of and likely would result in emergency room visits. Petriage also keeps medical records up to date by uploading all information automatically to the vet's practice management software.

About Petriage

Petriage is a cloud-based B2B telehealth company that allows veterinarians to service their clients and engage them in the remote care of their patients. Its unique offering is a telemedicine service highlighted by a proprietary teletriage tool, in which pet parents are provided a recommendation in real-time regarding the need/urgency to seek medical care for their pets. The company was founded in 2015, in Bellevue Wash., by CEO Allon Freiman, Dr. Shlomo Freiman DVM Cornell, Casey Olives, PhD Harvard. Learn more at petriage.com.

SOURCE Petriage

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https://petriage.com/