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California Lawmakers Pass Bill to Expand Access to Veterinary Telehealth

San Diego Humane Society and the ASPCA Commend California Lawmakers for Passing Bill to Expand Access to Veterinary Telehealth

If signed by Gov. Newsom, Assembly Bill 1399 will remove unnecessary barriers that restrict access to virtual veterinary care in the Golden State.

September 14, 2023

SACRAMENTO —  San Diego Humane Society (SDHS) and the ASPCA® (The American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals®) commend California lawmakers for passing Assembly Bill 1399, to empower licensed veterinarians in the Golden State to establish a veterinarian-client-patient relationship through video technology. Introduced by Assemblymembers Laura Friedman (D-Burbank) and Josh Lowenthal (D-Long Beach), the bill passed the legislature this week with strong bipartisan and near-unanimous support. It now goes to Gov. Gavin Newsom, who has until Oct. 14, 2023, to sign the bill into law.

Given the critical shortage of veterinarians nationwide, many pet owners are experiencing firsthand a lack of access to veterinary care. In California, a number of counties have low access to veterinary care and the statewide Veterinary Care Accessibility Score is 47 out of 100, according to the Veterinary Care Accessibility Project. A study from Banfield Pet Hospital estimates that 75 million pets in the U.S. could be without veterinary care by 2030 if we do not update our approach to providing care.


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Humane Society of Tampa Bay partners with Operation Pit Stop

FAAWO Member organization Humane Society of Tampa Bay and the Hillsborough County Pet Resource Center will be spaying/neutering 500 owned bully breed dogs and mixes beginning July 1st and ending August 15th. The initiative is in partnership with Operation Pit Stop and each dog will also receive vaccinations, a county license, a microchip, and a bag of dog food courtesy of Chewy.com, all for free.

Hillsborough County has seen an increase of bully breed dogs coming through shelter doors and spending significantly longer than other dogs before getting adopted. This crisis affects kennel space. HSTB is a managed admission shelter known as “No-Kill for Space,” meaning no animal will be euthanized to make room for another. Spaying and neutering bully breeds will help reduce the population of unwanted dogs that will end up in shelter care.

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ASPCA Commends Florida House for Passing the PETS Act to Expand Access to Veterinary Telemedicine

Courtesy of ASPCA, click here to read original posting. 

The PETS Act would remove unnecessary regulations blocking Florida veterinarians and pet owners from effectively using telemedicine for animals 

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FAAWO Supports Veterinary Telemedicine

FAAWO supports legislation that would expand telehealth access to veterinary care. Whether in-office care is financially out of reach, transporting a beloved pet provides an insurmountable challenge, or there are simply no veterinarians within easy driving distance, the proposed PETS Act, Medical Treatment of Animals, HB 1117(Buchanan)/SB 1600 (Ingoglia) would increase access to veterinary care for people across the state of Florida. 

Photo by Karsten Winegeart on Unsplash

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5 Resources for Veterinary Continuing Education

Providing opportunities for medical staff, whether certified or on-the-job trained, to grow their knowledge base and continue to develop in their practice is essential. For certified technicians, a certain number of RACE continuing education hours are needed every two years in order to maintain their certificate. For on-the-job trained technicians and assistants, continuing education training provides the opportunity to explore topics that they find interesting but may not run into very often. Finding these opportunities can be challenging, below are five resources to help you get started. 

  1. Fear Free Shelter Program

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The State of the State in 2020: Florida’s Animal Sheltering Trends and the Road Ahead

The State of the State in 2020: Florida’s Animal Sheltering Trends and the Road Ahead from FAAWO on Vimeo.

Decreasing Waits, Increasing Experience

Courtesy of SPCA Tampa Bay

SPCA Tampa Bay has been innovating a lot these past couple of months. With those new innovations, inevitably come new pitfalls. Our team is currently struggling with some of the consequences of moving our veterinary center to curbside and drop-off pick-up. We’ve asked clients to call to check-in but it’s clogging up our phone lines. Clients give vague descriptions of their cars which leaves our staff searching the parking lot for longer than they should. Additionally, some local facilities around us have closed and subsequently increased the number of clients we get seeking treatment.  

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Veterinary Telemedicine during COVID

ASPCA supports veterinary telemedicine during COVID-19 Pandemic

CLICK HERE TO READ THEIR STATEMENT

Spay/Neuter Guidelines during COVID

This link includes some terrific resources regarding spay/neuter guidelines and COVID-19:

CLICK HERE  

Video with Julie Levy, DVM, University of FL and Sandra Newberry, DVM University of Wisconsin

Shelter Medicine experts Dr. Sandra Newbury and Dr. Julie Levy explain why spay/neuter is considered an elective procedure and the multiple reasons why these surgeries should be suspended during COVID-1.

WATCH VIDEO

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COVID-19 Coronavirus & Companion Animals

Puppy and ball

From the Florida Department of Health Division of Disease Control and Health Protection Bureau of Epidemiology:

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