NAVC KEYNOTE COMMENTARY NAVC KEYNOTE COMMENTARY FOR THE VETERINARY COMMUNITY A Regulatory Road Map for Telehealth & Pet Health Care Mark Cushing, JD, Animal Policy Group, LLC, Knoxville, Tennessee; Washington, DC; Portland, Oregon shutterstock.com/Andrei Rahalski The veterinary profession in the United States decided to take telemedicine seriously in 2016. The NAVC (navc.com) launched its Veterinary Innovation Council (VIC) a year ago and numerous organizations stepped up to participate in its first project—a telehealth pilot. In April 2017, Texas A&M College of Veterinary Medicine (vetmed.tamu.edu) and the NAVC are collaborating to host the Veterinary Innovation Summit, which will include a robust examination of telemedicine and the VIC pilot results. Also in 2016, the American Veterinary Medical Association (AVMA, avma.org) convened telemedicine task force meetings, while Banfield Pet Hospital (banfield.com) devoted a session of its September Pet Healthcare Industry Summit to telemedicine. Most important, the American Association of Veterinary State Boards (AAVSB, aavsb.org) devoted a full afternoon of its 2016 annual meeting to the topic of telemedicine. Under the leadership of new AAVSB Executive Director, Jim Penrod, state veterinary board regulators decided to proactively address telemedicine and explore its implications for veterinary medical care. Let’s Talk About Telemedicine Telemedicine does not refer to telephone consultations among veterinarians and diagnostic specialists, which have been happening for a long time. Rather, it describes real-time electronic encounters among veterinarians, pet owners, and pets, during which the parties see and talk to each other. Add to this the electronic communication tools of email, texts, and the like, and suddenly pet health care begins to mirror 21st century human health care. IT’S GOING TO HAPPEN Was there something in the water throughout the country? Or has the intersection of consumer-friendly electronics and human health care advances finally prompted veterinary medicine to “jump into” telemedicine with both feet? It’s no longer a question of whether veterinarians will embrace telemedicine technologies, but when … and how . The veterinary profession and its animal health partners are eager to get this right, so how do we make it happen, not just at conferences, but every day in practices across the U.S.? JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2017 ■ TVPJOURNAL.COM 109
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