Colorado, like much of the country, is facing a severe shortage of veterinary professionals. A recent study by Colorado State University’s Animal-Human Policy Center found that 71% of veterinary practice owners and managers said they divert clients at least weekly because they can’t fit them into their schedule or address their pet’s condition in a reasonable time frame.
This survey — along with a national study noting 75 million pets in the U.S. could be without veterinary care by 2030 — shows the urgent need for Colorado to update its veterinary practice laws to expand access to lifesaving services, including veterinary telemedicine.
Unfortunately, a regressive state bill proposed by Rep. Karen McCormick, D-Boulder, would have the opposite effect. Bill E would prohibit telemedicine for new patients or those that haven’t been to the vet in a while, making it harder for pet owners to obtain veterinary care for their pets while unnecessarily restricting the tools veterinarians could use to provide treatment.
Telemedicine — when doctors diagnose a condition or recommend a treatment based on a video consultation — is an option that human health care providers have long relied on to connect patients with medical professionals.
Similarly, veterinary telemedicine has been shown to provide safe and convenient care to more pets to treat a wide range of ailments and facilitate routine, preventive services. Veterinary telemedicine holds tremendous promise for expanding much-needed access to care. Telemedicine can reduce animal suffering, address financial and logistical barriers, keep pets in their homes, and extend the capacity of animal shelters and veterinary clinics to serve animals.
Pets that are large, frightened to go to the vet or difficult to transport benefit immensely from better access to virtual care. And, it can be a lifeline for pet owners, expanding care across the geographic and economic spectrum to accommodate those who live in rural or underserved areas without access to veterinary services.
With many pet owners in Colorado already struggling to access veterinary care, Rep. McCormick’s bill would exacerbate this crisis by restricting a safe and effective tool that pet owners overwhelmingly support. According to a second CSU study, 73% of pet owners reported they would feel comfortable seeing a veterinarian through a telemedicine appointment, and of those respondents, 74% said they would also feel comfortable seeing a veterinarian for the first time via a telemedicine visit.
Rep. McCormick’s bill would prohibit veterinarians from using their professional judgment to determine when it is appropriate to offer care virtually to new or lapsed patients, and when an in-person exam is truly needed. Some veterinarians are still unfamiliar with telemedicine, while others may have an unfounded concern that an increase in the use of telehealth could impact their revenue.
The barriers that would be created by this bill currently are not in Colorado statute, making this proposal a dangerous step backward. It is also contradictory to the responses from professionals in the CSU study who said establishing a veterinary relationship through telemedicine would increase the care they could provide to underserved populations.
By proposing legislation that would enshrine into state law that in-person visits are the only way to establish a new relationship with clients, Rep. McCormick’s bill ignores the many Colorado pet owners and pets that may otherwise not be able to visit a veterinarian in a clinic, including those that need care on the weekend or at night, or new pet owners who can’t get a timely appointment.
Last year, Arizona (S.B. 1053) and California (A.B. 1399) passed new laws to lift restrictions on telemedicine. It empowers veterinarians to determine if an animal should be seen in person or if they can safely be treated through virtual care. Colorado must follow their lead to ensure that veterinary telemedicine is available to all families and Colorado-licensed veterinarians.
Elise Gingrich, DVM, is a veterinarian who lives in Fort Collins and is the senior director of shelter medicine for the ASPCA.
The Colorado Sun is a nonpartisan news organization, and the opinions of columnists and editorial writers do not reflect the opinions of the newsroom. Read our ethics policy for more on The Sun’s opinion policy. Learn how to submit a column. Reach the opinion editor at opinion@coloradosun.com.
Follow Colorado Sun Opinion on Facebook.