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Veterinary Telehealth: Expanding Access for Underserved Pet Owners · The Animal Advocate

0:00
Welcome back to the Animal Advocate. If you've been listening to our
0:04
recent episodes about preventing pet surrenders and
0:07
reducing shelter overcrowding, you know we're always
0:11
looking at the systems that create problems rather than just
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treating the symptoms. And today we're going to talk about
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something that could make a real difference in keeping pets healthy and
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with their families, and that's veterinary telehealth.
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Right now, millions of pet owners face barriers to basic
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veterinary care. The first and most obvious is cost.
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It's very expensive. But there are others. Some
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people live in veterinary deserts where the nearest vet is hours
0:41
away, or they just can't afford the time off work and the
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transportation costs for routine checkups. Meanwhile,
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their pets might suffer from treatable conditions that just get worse and more
0:52
expensive to treat over time. And some families end up
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surrendering animals they love because they can't access the
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care their pets need. What if I told you that there's
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technology that could connect pet owners directly with veterinarians
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from their living rooms? Technology that could help catch health
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problems early, provide guidance on urgent situations,
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and make basic veterinary advice accessible
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to communities that have been left behind? Well, that
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technology exists. The question is whether our
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laws will let veterinarians use it.
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Welcome to the Animal Advocate, where we arm animal
1:35
lovers with the information and inspiration you need to become
1:39
effective advocates. I'm your host, Penny Ellison, and
1:43
I've taught animal law and advocacy at the University of Pennsylvania
1:46
since 2006. If you've ever thought
1:50
someone should do something about that, I'm here to guide you
1:54
on your journey to being that someone. You can
1:57
find us on the web@animaladvocacyacademy.com
2:02
and that's where you'll find show notes and resources, and you can
2:05
send us your comments on episodes and ideas for topics you'd like
2:09
to hear on future shows. So on to today's
2:13
topic.
2:20
So what is veterinary telehealth? Let's start with the basics.
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Veterinary telehealth encompasses a range of services that use
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technology to deliver veterinary care remotely.
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This might be a video call where a veterinarian can see your pet's
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skin condition and recommend a treatment. A phone consultation
2:39
about whether that late night behavior change requires an
2:43
emergency visit or even a specialist consultation where your
2:46
local vet can get expert advice a about your pet's complex
2:50
condition. It's important to understand what telehealth
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can and can't do. A veterinarian obviously
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can't perform surgery through a screen or give vaccines
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remotely, but they can assess whether that Limp
3:04
requires immediate attention, maybe help you determine if your
3:08
pet's symptoms warrant a trip to the emergency clinic. Provide
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guidance on medication administration and and other advice
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on behavioral and nutritional needs. Think about
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all the times you've worried about whether your pet needed to go to the
3:23
vet but you weren't sure if it was serious enough to justify that
3:27
cost. Or the stress of a vet visit. Or times when you
3:30
needed professional guidance but couldn't get an appointment for weeks.
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Telehealth could help fill those gaps.
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The barriers to veterinary care are real and heartbreaking.
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In rural areas, veterinary shortages mean pet owners might
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drive hours to reach the nearest clinic. In urban areas,
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working families often can't take time off during business hours for
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routine care. And emergency visits can cost hundreds or
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thousands of dollars. When pet owners can't access care,
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pets suffer and families face impossible choices about
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surrender. To understand why veterinary
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telehealth is so limited, we need to talk about something called the
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Veterinarian Client Patient Relationship, or
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VCPR. This is the legal foundation that
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has to exist before a veterinarian can diagnose or treat
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an animal or prescribe medications. According to the
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AVMA, a VCPR exists when the
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veterinarian has assumed responsibility for making clinical judgments
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about the patient's health, has sufficient knowledge of the patient to make at
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least a preliminary diagnosis, and is readily available for follow
4:44
up care. But here's the catch. The AVMA's
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Model Practice Act states that a
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veterinarian client patient relationship cannot be established
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solely by telephonic or other electronic means.
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This means that in most states, a veterinarian must physically
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examine an animal in person before they can legally provide
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any diagnosis or treatment. Now think about what this
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means for underserved communities. If you live in a veterinary
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desert and don't have a relationship with a local vet, you can't
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access telehealth services if you can't afford or can't
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arrange transportation for an initial in person visit.
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Telehealth remains out of reach. So the very people
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who would benefit the most from virtual care are are
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systematically excluded from it. Now, the pandemic
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provided an interesting ....Let's call it
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"experiment." Telehealth got a major boost. Suddenly,
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staying home wasn't just convenient, it was a public health
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necessity. So many states relaxed their rules
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temporarily, allowing veterinarians to provide remote care
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in ways that had been prohibited before. And the results were encouraging.
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Veterinarians found that they could handle many consultations effectively
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through video calls. Pet owners appreciated the
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convenience and lower costs and importantly, the
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sky didn't fall. There wasn't an epidemic of
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misdiagnosis or treatment disasters. In fact,
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some veterinarians will tell you -and pet owners - that it's actually advantageous to
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be able to examine a pet in his own home environment, either because
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they get totally stressed out going to a vet, or it's easier
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to observe behavior in the environment where it occurs. Dr.
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Brittany Watson of the University of Pennsylvania's Vet
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School studied exactly this issue during
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the pandemic, and her research through Pets for Life program examined
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the use of telehealth appointments provided to clients in
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underserved zip codes. So they're looking at people who have a hard time accessing care,
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and they partnered with vet students to deliver care through virtual
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visits. The results demonstrate that telehealth can be
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highly effective. Nearly 25% of clients reported that they
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would not have been able to secure transportation to an in person veterinary
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clinic, and 58% reported that they could not
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afford it. More importantly, both the clients and the vet students
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reported overwhelmingly positive experiences with the telehealth appointments.
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People were satisfied with the care their pets received
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directly undercutting any concerns that virtual care
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is somehow inferior to in person visits. This shows
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that telehealth isn't just helpful for one type of barrier. It can
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solve multiple access barriers at once while delivering quality
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care that pet owners trust. But, as pandemic
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restrictions lifted, many states snapped back to their old rules,
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shutting down these expanded telehealth options just when
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they'd proven they could work. Let's take a look at what the law is and
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like we always do, what it could be. So the rules vary dramatically from
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state to state. Nineteen states explicitly prohibit
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establishing a VCPR through a virtual
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exam. 22 states require vets to have "seen"
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or "become acquainted with" the
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patient with unclear rules about whether this can
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be virtual. And only eight states expressly allow establishment
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of a virtual VCPR under certain conditions.
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But change is starting to happen. Florida recently passed
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the Providing Equity in Telehealth Services Act. Everybody
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loves a good acronym, the PETS Act, which allows veterinarians
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to establish a VCPR through synchronous video visits,
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though with limitations on prescribing. California
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has also recently allowed virtual VCPRs, but
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also with some restrictions on how
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long you can prescribe a medication for and requirements
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for in person follow up. Colorado took a
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different approach with their 2024 law. First, they clarified
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that a VCPR has to be established through an
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in person exam. But then they allowed extensive use of
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Telehealth once that relationship exists. But here's the
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problem with approaches like Colorado's. The very people who
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need telehealth the most, those facing high cost
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or transportation barriers, they're the ones
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who can't establish that initial in person relationship. And even
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if they manage one visit, you know what
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happens at a low cost clinic where the staff veterinarians change all the
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time, that new one might be willing to see you through telehealth.
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They might not. Just this month, Georgia's new law
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went into effect and one of the things it did was address this
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problem. They expanded the veterinarian client patient relationship
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so that any licensed vet in the same practice can
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provide care once one vet at that facility has
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established that relationship. It also allows for limited
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telemedicine without an in person VCPR in true
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veterinary deserts. If no veterinarian
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is within 50 miles or can't arrive within 24 hours,
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you can have veterinary telehealth without an
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in person visit. And I think that's really important. But it does
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restrict what can be done virtually, such that their Pet
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Poison Helpline now says that they can no longer give pet owners
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emergency risk assessments or advice virtually. There's some
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back and forth going on about that, but if that
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turns out to be the case, then obviously that's a problem. It's also worth
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taking note of the fact that while human medicine still faces
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some restrictions around new patient relationships, the American
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Medical Association's policy is notably more
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progressive than the AVMA's. They at least allow virtual establishment
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of doctor patient relationships through two way real
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time video and audio conferencing. And this brings
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us to a crucial point. Veterinarians are highly
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trained medical professionals. They spend years learning when a
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condition requires hands on examination versus when it can be
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assessed remotely. They understand the limitations of virtual
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care and the risks of misdiagnosis. When we
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require in person visits for all VCPR
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establishment, we're essentially saying we don't trust
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veterinarians to make those professional judgments. We're
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treating them like they're less capable than human physicians who
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routinely establish patient relationships and provide care through
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telemedicine. The irony is that many conditions that bring
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pets to veterinary clinics are actually well suited to
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remote assessment. Skin conditions can be clearly visible
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on video. Behavioral issues can be discussed
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thoroughly over the phone, and medication questions often
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don't require a physical exam at all. What we need are laws that
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trust veterinarians to know when virtual care is appropriate
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and when an in person visit is necessary. Just like we
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trust human doctors to make those decisions every day. The
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solution isn't to eliminate all requirements for in person care.
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It's to create a flexible system that expands access
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while maintaining safety. This might mean allowing virtual
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VCPR establishment for certain types of conditions,
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creating emergency exceptions for urgent situations,
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or simply trusting veterinary professional judgment about when
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telehealth is appropriate. As we've talked about, it doesn't
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need to be all or nothing. Some states are allowing
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telehealth with some restrictions. The key is
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recognizing that perfect shouldn't be the enemy of good.
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Even limited telehealth access could prevent a lot of pet
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surrenders, catch health problems early, and connect
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underserved communities with the veterinary care they really need.
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This isn't just about convenience or technology.
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It's about animal welfare and especially it's about the human
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animal bond. When families can access basic
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veterinary guidance remotely, they're more likely to seek help
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early rather than waiting until problems become emergencies.
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They're less likely to surrender pets for treatable conditions,
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and they're more likely to maintain their relationships with their animals that
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bring joy and companionship to their lives. We've seen this
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pattern before. Mobile clinics brought veterinary care to
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underserved neighborhoods. Low cost spay neuter
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programs made vet care accessible to low income families.
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Online pharmacies reduced the cost of medications. Each
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innovation faced resistance from those worried about maintaining
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standards, but ultimately expanded access
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without compromising care. Telehealth is the next
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frontier in making veterinary care more accessible and and
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humane.
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Today's question comes from Maria in Texas and she asks
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My elderly mother lives in a rural area and has trouble getting
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her cat to the vet because of transportation issues. The
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nearest Veterinary clinic is 45 minutes away. Could
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telehealth help her? And how can she find veterinarians who offer these
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services? Maria this is exactly the situation where telehealth
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could make a huge difference. But the answer depends on your state's
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laws and your mother's specific situation. First,
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check if your mother's cat already has an established relationship with a
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veterinarian. If the cat has been seen in person within the last
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year, many vets are willing to provide follow up care
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and consultations through phone or video calls.
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Even in states with restrictive telehealth laws, if there's
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no existing relationship. Unfortunately, Texas
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currently requires in person exams to establish that
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veterinary client patient relationship, so that
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transportation hurdle is not going to be surmountable at this
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point. That's why we need new laws. In terms of
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some more practical suggestions, you can see if there's a vet clinic that offers house
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calls or mobile services even if they're not that frequent.
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Or look into pet transportation services in your area and
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consider whether a friend or neighbor might be willing to help with transportation.
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The most important thing at this point is establishing that initial in person
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relationship whenever possible, because that opens up many more
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options for remote follow up care.
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For today's Be the Change segment, I want you to search online
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for your state plus the words Veterinary Medical
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Association and find out what their policies are
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around telehealth. That's the first step in thinking about
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making telehealth more available in your state. Then
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share what you learn, post about it on social media, discuss it
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with other pet owners, and let your local vets know you'd be interested in
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telehealth services. Creating demand and awareness
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is often the first step toward policy change. If you're feeling
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ambitious, you can research whether your state legislature has any pending
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bills related to veterinary telehealth and contact your
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representatives to express support for expanded access.
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The important thing, as always, is making your voice heard.
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Policymakers need to know that pet owners want these services and
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that artificial barriers to telehealth are harming animals and
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families in their communities. Remember, every state that
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has expanded telehealth access started with advocates who
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spoke up and demanded change. Your voice could be part of that
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movement in your state. Hey, we all
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know technology has the power to connect, heal
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and transform how we care about the people
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and the animals that we love. But technology alone
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isn't enough. We need laws and policies that embrace
16:59
innovation, all while protecting the vulnerable, that
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trust professional judgment while maintaining safety standards,
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and that prioritize access and equity alongside
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quality care. The question isn't whether veterinary
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telehealth will expand, it's whether we'll leave that expansion
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thoughtfully or let artificial barriers continue to harm animals
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and families who need them most. And join us next week
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when we talk to a veterinarian who's practiced in several states who
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has done veterinary telehealth, and we'll get into some examples
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about why it's important and how it should work. We'll see
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you then. That's it for today.
17:40
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18:14
and remember, compassion is great, but compassionate
18:18
action is infinitely better. Look forward to speaking
18:21
with you next time. Take care.