Colorado VPA Update - Changes to the Bill
Well. They tried.
I wrote a few weeks ago about a bill introduced in Colorado to legislate the VPA position. There are many concerns about the VPA position, including a shoddy accelerated mostly online curriculum and huge overreach based on this level of education. It was touted as a way to lower cost in veterinary care and expand access, despite no real evidence it would help.
Anyway.
A bill was introduced - which I discuss here - with hope to curtail the overreach of this position. Shockingly, key provisions were rejected. (The ‘shockingly’ was sarcasm)
3 VPAs per veterinarian. This is higher than the 1 per veterinarian in the initial bill.
Changed the time of requirement for a national board until after September 1st, 2033.
Dropping owners signed consent for a name tag that says they’re a VPA (without abbreviations) and introduce themselves as such to clients
Allows for “indirect” supervision as long as the VPA “meets requisite clinical benchmarks, including performing the practice of veterinary medicine under the direct or immediate superivision of a licensed veterinarian for a specified amount of hours, as determined by the board.”
This means the state board will need to write these guidelines
Wording changed around prescribing to only allow it under those approved by the state/federal government.
This is likely because the laws about who can and cannot prescribe medication are not regulated like that at the state level.
It’s unclear if this bill will pass, or if it will be vetoed - and if they will in turn override the bill. And if another bill is introduced next year to tighten legislation.
There’s a lot of “ifs”, but this is important to watch, especially knowing the Florida is looking at adding a VPA role in the coming election cycle.
Thank you as always to Dr. Carter, who’s worked tirelessly to give the veterinary community updates and talk with legislators in Colorado. I share her findings in hopes that it reaches a broader audience!