✨Integrations & Data Connection Updates
PetDesk (closed beta)
New direct booking features have joined the integration and are now available in closed beta. PetDesk Direct Booking lets clients book appointments 24/7 directly from your website or the PetDesk app, with all appointments automatically synced to Shepherd to eliminate double booking. Learn more about PetDesk.
🚀 New Features & Capabilities!
Pricing Reminder - Cost Changes for Messaging
Beginning July 23, 2025, usage tracking will apply for all outbound SMS message credits. Message costs will only be assessed when purchasing additional credits, which are sold in bundles of 5,000 at $99.
Message credit usage includes SMS, MMS, two-way texting, appointment reminders, and mass messages. This is a new billing policy.
Please visit your Message Overview dashboard (in your Admin settings) to review current usage or purchase additional message credits as needed.
Email messaging remains free and is unaffected by this change.
Expanded Messaging Overview with New Features
You can now do much more within your existing Admin Messaging Overview. This tool tracks outbound messages only, providing detailed breakdowns by message type so you can analyze where your communications are being most heavily utilized. The latest updates include:
View Message Credit Balance: Instantly check how many message credits are available, scheduled to be used, or previously used.
Review Purchase History: Easily access a full history of your message credit purchases.
Historical Data Access: Review the total number of SMS messages sent over the past six months to inform budgeting and future planning.
Set a Low Balance Threshold: Get notified when your balance drops below a defined level. This is set to 350 on release.
Enable Automatic Renewal: Never run out - automatically top up your credits when needed. This is enabled on release.
Manual Credit Purchases: Buy additional message credits anytime with just a few clicks.
Comprehensive Tracking: All automatic appointment notifications and reminders are included, ensuring complete visibility of both manual and automated SMS activity.
These features are designed to give you more visibility, flexibility, and control over your messaging usage. By leveraging these insights, you can optimize your communications strategy and keep track of costs more effectively. Learn more about the Message Overview Dashboard.
Take a Look
Message Overview Dashboard Now Live in Group Platform Settings
You can now access the Message Overview Dashboard directly within the Settings section of the Group Platform for all Group accounts. This dashboard provides comprehensive tracking of outbound messaging, SMS credit consumption, and automated notifications to help you optimize your communication strategy.
A mirrored dashboard is available, enhanced with location labels. This gives you clear visibility into each location’s:
Messaging usage
Purchase history
Feature activity
These updates are designed to make it easier to manage and monitor communications across your organization.
Enhanced Global Search with New "Prescriptions" Category
The global search (magnifying glass icon in the upper right corner of any page) has received an exciting upgrade with the addition of a new “Prescriptions” category. This enhancement makes it quicker and easier to locate prescription records using just an Rx number. Whether an Rx number is provided or you're looking for a quick search option, this update enables you to instantly access prescription events and associated patient files with greater accuracy and efficiency.
The “Prescriptions” category now appears immediately after “Client” in the global search menu for easy access.
You can search using:
Prescription numbers (e.g., 142424)
Common formats like #142424, Rx 142424, or Prescription 142424
The global search intelligently normalizes any input to recognize and match all standard Rx formats, ensuring a fast and intuitive search experience.
New 10-Hour Automatic User Logout
We’ve introduced a new 10-hour automatic logout setting when a session is idle. This update ensures that key tools like Whiteboard screens, Treatment Boards, and other login sessions can remain active throughout the business day without requiring repeated logins.
⚙️How to Enable/Change the Setting:
You can set the automatic sign-out period at both the clinic-wide and individual user level.
Clinic Settings:
Navigate to Admin -> Clinic Settings -> Settings -> General
Choose the Automatic Sign Out period you wish to set as the default
Click Save
User Settings:
Navigate to Admin -> Users
Select the user you wish to update this for
Choose the Automatic Sign Out period appropriate for that user
Click Save
This enhancement is designed to reduce interruptions and help you focus on what matters most - delivering great care! Learn more about Automatic Sign Out.
New Production Setting – Require Production Assignment
A new Production Setting titled Require Production User Assignment is now available. This setting gives you more control over how production data is enforced.
⚙️How to Enable the Setting:
Navigate to Admin -> Clinic Settings -> Settings -> General
To enable, toggle the option on under Production Settings
When enabled, all invoiced items - whether from a SOAP or quick invoice - must have a production user assigned before the invoice can be checked out or the SOAP locked. If not, you'll see this alert: “Production user assignments are required. Please ensure all items have an associated production user indicated to proceed.”
On the Pet Portal, invoices missing a production user will disable the Take Payment button and display: “Payment cannot be completed at this time. Please contact your clinic to confirm your invoice is ready.” For multi-invoice payments, any invoice missing a production user will be highlighted with a similar alert. Learn more about Production.
Self-Managed Access to TranscribeAI
You can now independently manage access to TranscribeAI features!
⚙️How to Enable the Setting:
Navigate to Admin -> Clinic Settings -> Settings -> General ->AI Settings
To enable, toggle on Enable TranscribeAI
Use this setting to activate or deactivate TranscribeAI for your clinic at any time. Learn more about TranscribeAI.
🛠️ Existing Feature Updates!
Updated Tab Sequence in Admin Inventory Settings
To help you work more efficiently, we've streamlined the tab layout in your Admin Inventory Settings. You’ll now land directly on your Inventory Item List - the section you likely use most often. Meanwhile, the Dashboard tab has been moved to the far right to reduce unnecessary clicks and simplify navigation.
Purchase Order Page Enhancements for Better Inventory Accuracy
We’ve updated the Purchase Order page to give you improved access to critical details that support more accurate and consistent inventory management.
Key Updates:
Inventory Item Configuration Visibility
You’ll now see the inventory item’s configuration (between Unit of Measure and Unit Type) directly on the PO page. This ensures you can confidently align quantities and costs with how the item is configured in Shepherd - making the transition from the vendor's PO invoice to your Shepherd inventory seamless and accurate.Clearer Cost Breakdown
The Total Cost column now includes:The subtotal for each line item (based on quantity ordered × unit cost)
The cost per individual UOM, giving you greater clarity
Comprehensive PO Totals
The Purchase Order Total section now clearly breaks down:Subtotal
Tax
Additional Costs
So you can review your full PO summary at a glance—with complete confidence in the numbers.
These changes are all designed to reduce ambiguity, minimize errors, and give you the transparency you need to manage purchasing and inventory with greater precision and confidence. Learn more about Purchase Orders.
When creating a new Purchase Order, you’ll notice a refreshed layout with a cleaner organization of the standard fields - making it easier to input and review key details.
We’ve also introduced a new “Link With Integration” field, laying the groundwork for upcoming enhancements that will support multiple ordering integrations.
This is just the beginning of ongoing improvements in the inventory and purchasing workflows - stay tuned for more updates coming soon!
SOAP | Optimized Prescription History
We’ve upgraded the Current Medications & Supplements area in the Subjective (S) section of SOAP with a new collapsible Patient Medication Summary - designed to give you faster, clearer access to the information that matters most.
12-Month Prescription Snapshot: Instantly view a patient’s prescription history over the past year.
Interactive Table View: Sort medications by Prescription Name, see Rx numbers at a glance, and click into individual prescriptions for more detail.
Written vs. In-House Visibility: Easily distinguish between written prescriptions and those filled in-house.
Prescriber & Timestamp Insights: See exactly who prescribed each medication and when - no digging required.
Latest SOAP Medication Notes: A new section highlights notes from the most recent SOAP visit, offering contextual insights right alongside the prescription data.
Improved Clarity for Lab Integration Default Markup Setting
We’ve updated the lab integration configuration experience to provide clearer guidance on the default markup percentage field used when activating new codes.
Previously, the markup percentage field appeared without any context - leaving potential of ambiguity to purpose or when it applied. This update introduces an improved user interface and user experience elements to clarify how this field works, when it's used, and how it impacts pricing.
These changes are designed to help you:
Confidently set default markup percentages for new lab codes
Avoid pricing discrepancies caused by misconfigured settings
Better understand the impact of your lab integration setup
This enhancement supports more accurate pricing and reduces the chance of unintentional errors.
Invoice Line Item Report now includes Invoice Status
To support more effective financial reporting and improve operational workflows, the Invoice Line Item Report now includes a new Invoice Status column, along with a new filtering capability.
Invoice Status Visibility: Quickly see the status of each associated invoice - Active, Charges Complete, or Checked Out - directly within each line item's row.
Filtering: Use the new Invoice Status filter to narrow the report to one or multiple statuses, helping you focus on the data that matters most.
Consistent Placement & Formatting: The Invoice Status column appears immediately after the Invoice #, both on-screen and in PDF exports - ensuring a familiar and organized layout.
These updates give you clearer insights and greater control, helping streamline financial analysis and daily workflows. Learn more about the Invoice Line Items Report.
Enhanced Refund Matching for Shepherd Pay
We’ve made it easier to identify the right payment when processing refunds for transactions made with Shepherd Pay.
What’s new:
You’ll now see the last 4 digits of the payment method listed next to each Shepherd Pay transaction on the Payments page.
Why this helps:
If you’ve made multiple payments using Shepherd Pay, this update helps ensure that any refunds are matched to the correct payment method, making the process smoother and more accurately.
Improved Bulk Edit Experience: Better Visibility, Faster Edits
We’ve fine-tuned the column widths in the Bulk Edit tool - across both the Products and Inventory Items tabs - to make editing smoother and more efficient, especially when working with longer product names like “Revolution Green 10–20lbs 6-pack.”
Wider Name Columns: Longer product titles are now fully visible - no more guessing or hovering to view the full name.
Optimized Column Layout: Cleaner spacing improves readability and makes navigating your list easier.
Unified Design Across Tabs: Updates are consistent in both Products and Inventory Items views.
Responsive Layout: The layout now scales more gracefully across different screen sizes for a better experience on any device.
These updates reduce time spent searching or scrolling and help you make bulk edits with greater speed and confidence. Learn more about Bulk Edit.
Read-Only Mode Client & Patient Page - Easier Navigation & Clearer Info
We’ve made a few helpful optimizations to the Clients & Patients page of Read-Only Mode to make your experience smoother:
Clearer guidance: The guidance message at the top of the page is now easier to read at a glance.
Faster access to medical records: The Download Medical Record button is now directly visible within a patient row - no more navigating within the three-dot actions menu!
🤖 OpenAPI Updates
🆕 Here's What's New
Swagger / OpenAPI Documentation Improvements
We’re shipping the first batch of OpenAPI documentation improvements! These updates make the API easier to interpret with:
Clearer property descriptions
More complete request/response examples
Improved model clarity and fixes
Key endpoints updated so far include:
Appointment, Appointment Status/Type, Client, Patient, Product, Prescription, Payment Method, and more.
We’ll continue rolling out improvements across additional endpoints, with a focus on better group coding guidance, multisite examples, and ensuring consistency in descriptions and examples.
Scheduling - Additional Availability + Breaks
We’ve enhanced the ProviderAvailability API to better support additional availability configurations, including new handling for provider breaks.
New Parameter:
isStandardBreakType (boolean, optional)
Specifies if the provider’s break during additional availability is Standard or Custom:
true→ Standard Break: The same break time repeats weekly on the same weekday (e.g., every Monday).false→ Custom Break: Different break times can be set for each date within the availability range.null→ No break is defined for the additional availability.
This parameter only applies to additional availability. It does not impact or reflect a provider’s regular office hour breaks.
Additionally, you can now query providerAvailabilityBreaks via the embed parameter for deeper visibility into a provider's break schedules.