Animal care groups disagree over whether creating a veterinary associates role will help or hurt industry practices in Colorado.
Click here to view the full article.
With so much on the ballot this Nov. 5, it is easy to overlook things.
As a veterinarian who has devoted his career to caring for your pets, I wanted to alert you to one item: Proposition 129. Prop 129 seeks to create a new paraprofessional in the veterinary field called a veterinary professional associate.
Under Prop 129, students would complete a mostly online program with minimal hands-on training, and a one-semester internship. As outlined, the program would encompass 65 credit hours, which is about half the credit hours required by most programs for veterinarians and would consist of three semesters of fully online lectures with no laboratory; a fourth semester of truncated basic clinical skills training; and a short internship/practicum.
Click here to view the full article.
Proposition 129 is in front of voters using the analogy of the human PA. We have seen the proposed VPA curriculum and that analogy is far from accurate. A VPA would be dangerously undertrained. VPA education would be 75% online, totaling only four semesters, with little hands-on learning and then a brief internship. Human PAs require three years of school plus thousands of in-person clinical hours with actual patients. Human PAs do not perform surgery. VPAs would be practicing veterinary medicine, including surgery, without competency measures to ensure consumer protection, putting animals and the public in harm’s way. This proposal is not comparable to what licensed physician’s assistants complete before practicing. Not even close.
Honestly, does it make any sense at all to create a new medical position by way of a ballot initiative? Circumventing careful in-depth analysis with input from experts and all who work so hard to help animals? On that point alone we should oppose. But let’s look further.
Click here to view the full article.
Here are our views for the 2024 Colorado state and Colorado Springs ballot issues. We summarize each proposed measure, then indicate our personal vote and finally offer our prediction of what the public vote will be.
Colorado state issues
Amendment G: Modify Property Tax Exemption for Veterans with Disabilities. Proposed by the legislature. 55% vote required. A “yes” vote on Amendment G reduces the property taxes paid by some veteran homeowners by expanding the existing homestead exemption to include veterans whose disability is rated as making them unemployable.
Click here to view the full article.
Dear Editor:
In the upcoming election next month there is ballot measure to create a “mid-level veterinary practitioner” in the State of Colorado. This measure is almost uniformly opposed by veterinarians across the state and country including the American Veterinary Medical Association, the Colorado VMA, the Independent Veterinary Practitioners Association, the American College of Veterinary Surgeons, Dentists, and Internal Medicine specialists. Let’s delve into the program:
This ballot measure would establish a non-veterinary Master’s degree involving only three semesters of online basic study, a fourth semester of clinical skills and a short internship. CSU is still in the process of developing the curriculum. Veterinarians, on the other hand, undergo four years of undergraduate (eight semesters) and four years of professional curriculum, again eight semesters. A graduate veterinarian has spent eight years in training but the new mid-level graduate – two years.
Click here to view the full article.
In November, Colorado voters can expect a ballot measure that supporters say will help with the state’s veterinarian shortage. However, those opposed to the measure believe it will put pets at risk more than it would help.
There are about 3,800 vets in the state for 2.5 million dogs and cats, and that doesn’t include horses and farm animals. A recent survey of Colorado veterinarians by Colorado State University’s Animal-Human Policy Center found that 70% turn away animals weekly because their practices are overloaded.
At the Dumb Friends League, the veterinarian shortage is haunting their Veterinary Hospital at CSU Spur. The organization tells CBS Colorado they are seeing the impact of this in real-time, having to turn patients away every day due to insufficient resources.
Click here to view the full article.
For more than 40 years, I have committed my life to veterinary medicine, having served on the faculties of leading universities and practicing as an equine veterinarian across the country. Since receiving my doctorate in veterinary medicine from Colorado State University in 1978, I’ve seen the critical importance of rigorous education, extensive hands-on experience and professional standards in protecting the health and safety of animals. This is why I am deeply alarmed by Proposition 129 — a dangerous measure that will lower the quality of veterinary care delivered in Colorado and put animals at risk every day.
Proposition 129 seeks to create a new role in veterinary care, a midlevel practitioner known as a Veterinary Professional Associate (VPA). The VPA has been irresponsibly compared to a nurse practitioner or physician assistant, but the comparison is fundamentally flawed. Nurse practitioners and physician assistants complete years of education and hands-on clinical training before they are trusted with patient care, and they do not perform surgery.
In stark contrast, Proposition 129 would allow VPAs to perform surgeries after completing just three semesters of fully online lecture — without any laboratory training — followed by a single semester of basic clinical skills and a brief practicum.
Click here to view the full article.
DENVER — A proposition on November’s ballot could change who treats your pets. Colorado Proposition 129 will ask voters whether the state should establish the position of a veterinary professional associate.
What could this mean for the future of pet healthcare? Will Proposition 129 help or harm pets? Colorado veterinarians are at odds over it. Proposition 129 would add a new career path in the veterinary profession.
“Prop 129 is creating a place in the veterinary practice act that will allow for someone with a master’s degree in veterinary clinical care to practice veterinary medicine under the supervision of a veterinarian,” said Apryl Steele, a veterinarian and the President Dumb Friends League.
Click here to view the full article.
Rep. Karen McCormick, D-Dist. 11, said the frustrating thing about the possibility of the veterinary professional associate or VPA being created via ballot proposal is the lack of research and expertise at play. If passed, Colorado Proposition 129 would allow non-veterinarians to diagnose, prognose, recommend treatment plans and perform surgeries. The measure is vehemently opposed by veterinary groups nationwide.
McCormick, a veterinarian and Colorado state representative from Boulder County, brought two veterinary bills before the legislature last year that were eventually signed into law, but both of those were introduced only after years of research and stakeholder input.
“We listened, we learned, we asked, we had hundreds of hours of listening to experts, including several veterinary economists who study trends and finances in veterinary medicine across the nation,” McCormick said. “We talked to the head of veterinary medicine at the FDA, the USDA. We’ve talked to many universities with veterinary programs, accreditation teams, the veterinary liability insurance providers, professional organizations that represent our veterinarians, as well as our registered vet techs, nonprofits, private practice owners, and rural voices.”
Click here to view the full article.
Today we have a bonus episode of My Veterinary Life Podcast. We are joined by two special guests Drs. Melanie Marsden and Jennifer Bosler to discuss the proposed creation of a new Veterinary Professional Associate (VPA). During the conversation we discuss what a proposed VPA is, why this is important timing in Colorado and much more. We appreciate you listening in on this important topic.
Click here to listen.