No. CS/CS/SB 796
Filed under Healthcare.
Veterinary Medicine; Citing this act as the “Veterinary Workforce Innovation Act”; increasing the amount of time for which prescriptions based solely on a veterinary telehealth evaluation may be issued for certain drugs; providing requirements for veterinary professional associates to receive certificates of registration from the Department of Business and Professional Regulation; requiring the department to make a list of veterinary professional associate registrants publicly available on its website; authorizing the department to rescind the registration of a veterinary professional associate under certain circumstances, etc.
Plain English Summary
AI-GENERATEDA new registered position, the veterinary professional associate, is created for people who hold a veterinary clinical master's degree. The state certifies qualifying applicants and publishes a public list of everyone registered.
Registered associates may practice veterinary medicine only under a licensed veterinarian's immediate supervision. They cannot prescribe controlled substances or perform surgery, except for orchiectomies, dental surgery, and closing existing incisions or lacerations.
Veterinarians who examine an animal only through telehealth can now write flea and tick prescriptions covering six months instead of one, and other drug prescriptions covering 30 days instead of 14.
The department can suspend an associate's registration for negligence that seriously harms an animal. It can only rescind the registration entirely if the associate is separately convicted of animal cruelty or animal fighting.
AIThe department must certify qualified applicants who hold the right credential and pass a national competency exam, issuing each one a certificate of registration and listing them publicly.
AIA registered associate may practice veterinary medicine only to the extent of their training and only while working under a licensed veterinarian's immediate, delegated supervision.
AIAn associate cannot prescribe any controlled substance, though a veterinarian may still delegate administering one for anesthesia, analgesia, or humane euthanasia.
AIAn associate cannot perform surgery in general, but may still perform orchiectomies, veterinary dental surgery, and suturing or stapling of existing incisions or lacerations.
AIOnly someone who has completed a veterinary clinical master's degree, or an equivalent, from an accredited institution can qualify to register as a veterinary professional associate.
AIA veterinarian who evaluates an animal solely through telehealth may now prescribe flea and tick products for six months instead of one, without a new in-person exam.
AIA person registered as a veterinary professional associate becomes an authorized vaccinator alongside licensed veterinarians for the mandatory rabies vaccination of dogs, cats, and ferrets.