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Support H.B. 5804 to Protect Veterinary Telemedicine

Dear Senator,

As a resident of Michigan concerned about access to veterinary care, I urge you to safeguard access to veterinary telemedicine by supporting House Bill 5804, now pending in the Senate Agriculture Committee. As Chair of the committee, your leadership can make it possible for Michigan citizens to continue benefitting from the safety and convenience of veterinary telemedicine. The veterinary industry is experiencing a serious shortage of professionals in the workforce affecting access to veterinary care, especially in rural areas of the state. As we have seen in human medicine, telemedicine can help bridge gaps in care created by workforce shortages or other barriers. Veterinary telemedicine is an indispensable tool for Michigan residents who face challenges getting their pets to a clinic due to disability, transportation issues, or because they have fearful, aggressive or large animals. Maintaining Michigan’s current access to veterinary telemedicine helps senior pet owners, those who live in underserved remote areas and farmers who require urgent or emergency animal treatments. Thank you for your time and consideration of my position.

Reject Proposal to Block Veterinary Telemedicine

Dear Chairman Bumstead and Chairman Meerman,

As a Michigander concerned about adequate access to veterinary care in our state, I urge you to reject the rules draft proposed by the Michigan Board of Veterinary Medicine to alter our state’s current telemedicine rules and, instead, maintain our existing regulations allowing access to veterinary telehealth approved by the BVM in 2021. Under current Michigan regulations, a licensed veterinarian may begin working with a client to provide care for a patient using telehealth services. However, the proposed rules erode professional discretion for veterinarians to decide when telemedicine is medically necessary and appropriate for their patients. The veterinary industry is facing a critical shortage of professionals in the workforce—making it crucial, now more than ever, for Michiganders with pets to have access to alternative methods to receive veterinary care. If this telemedicine proposal is adopted, it would severely restrict access to veterinary care by imposing outdated and unnecessary barriers to veterinary telemedicine at a time when we should expand the accessibility of virtual care technology. Maintaining Michigan’s current access to veterinary telemedicine helps farmers, senior pet owners, and pet owners who reside in rural and underserved areas. Please allow Michigan’s residents to continue to benefit from the safety and convenience of virtual vet care by rejecting the proposed BVM rule change. Thanks for your time and consideration of my position.

Please Safeguard Access to Veterinary Telemedicine

Dear Governor Whitmer,

As a Michigander concerned about having adequate access to veterinary care, I want to thank you for your leadership on increasing access to veterinary telemedicine during the COVID-19 pandemic and ask that you please ensure continued access to care by stopping the state Board of Veterinary Medicine’s attempt to repeal Michigan’s progressive current veterinary telehealth regulations. Under Michigan’s current forward-thinking regulations, as previously approved by the Board of Veterinary Medicine and effective April 2021, a veterinarian may begin working with a client to provide care for a patient using telehealth services. Veterinarians should be encouraged to use their professional discretion to decide when telemedicine is medically necessary and appropriate. The veterinary industry is facing a critical shortage of professionals in the workforce—making it crucial, now more than ever, for Michiganders with animals to have access to alternative methods of receiving veterinary care. Veterinary telemedicine is an indispensable tool for Michigan residents when they face challenges getting their pets to a clinic due to disability, Coviod-19 vulnerability, transportation issues, or because they have fearful, aggressive or large pets. Maintaining Michigan’s current access to veterinary telemedicine for new patients helps farmers, senior pet owners, those who live in underserved and remote areas, and those at high risk for COVID-19. However, Michiganders’ access to veterinary telemedicine is threatened by new draft rules submitted by the Board of Veterinary Medicine rolling back to the vitally beneficial 2021 rule changes. Please ensure that Michigan’s residents will continue to benefit from the safety and convenience of veterinary telemedicine by maintaining the current regulations that permit telemedicine for new patients, opposing the new BVM draft rules, and signing H.B. 5804 into law if passed by the legislature. Thank you for your time and consideration of my position.