Corrections appended: A previous version of this story misstated Varesha Mauney and Sam Killebrew's respective hometowns, as well as Samuel Welker's age. We regret the error.
Milo, a 3-year-old goldendoodle, was recently diagnosed with Addison’s disease, which means he lacks the steroid production to calm down when stressed.
“[He] can die from it if [he’s] not treated. But with treatment [he’s] perfectly fine,” said Varesha Mauney, 56, of Palm Beach Gardens in south Florida, who said Milo’s health care requires daily treatment. “He has to take medication for the rest of his life,” she said.
Caring for his condition can be costly and time-consuming. This care may now become less burdensome for Mauney, and thousands of others across the state, as the Florida Legislature passed a bill on Wednesday authorizing virtual veterinary care.
A televet is great for follow-up questions, prescriptions and developments regarding existing conditions like Milo’s, Mauney said.
Current state law allows veterinarians to treat animals via telemedicine only if the veterinarian has seen the patient in person within a year.
The new measure allows telemedicine for pets as a regular form of treatment and creates a series of state regulations for televet care. It also authorizes telehealth for initial appointments establishing the veterinarian/client relationship - and allows vets to prescribe certain drugs via televisits.
“There are certain prescriptions the vet cannot prescribe because [they are] too strong of a drug,” said Rep. Sam Killebrew, R-Winter Haven, sponsor of the House version of the bill. “If a vet is communicating with a pet owner and the vet is uncomfortable with making a diagnosis or prescribing something, then you can say, ‘I'm not comfortable doing it,’’ he said. “It's at the discretion of the pet owner and of the veterinarian.”
Vet telemedicine is projected to grow 18.3% every year for the next 10 years, compounding business revenue for practicing vets.
In 2020, at the height of the COVID pandemic, people who worked remotely wereeight times as likely to acquire a pet, with work-from-home jobs driving the demand for telehealth vet services.
“Veterinary clinics don't want 10 people that have a minor issue with a pet in their entryway yelling and screaming to get an appointment, when in fact it could have been resolved rather by telemedicine,” said Mark Cushing, CEO and founder of The Animal Policy Group and co-founder of the Veterinary Virtual Care Association.
If telemedicine is used with humans, it will also work on pets, said Cushing.
“Why did human medicine adopt telemedicine in all 50 states? For these reasons: Many people lived in areas where they were not close to a doctor or a hospital or a practice,” Cushing said. “The same thing is true for pet owners.”
At the Feb. 5 Senate bill Committee on Regulated Industries, Alex Steverson, of Tallahassee, a veterinarian and a vocal opponent of the bill, testified against vet telehealth arguing that pets aren’t verbal.
“Our patients cannot communicate,” Steverson said. “We are relying on the interpretation of a lay person, non-medical owner, to tell us what they think is wrong with their pet.”
The American Academy of Pediatrics does not recommend telemedicine with babies under 2 years old because they are not communicative, he said. Similarly, pet owners can be “way off base about what is wrong with their pet,” Steverson said.
Michael Sturgeon, 45, has been a veterinarian for 17 years. He currently practices at the Animal Veterinary Clinic in Gainesville — and doesn’t practice telemedicine.
“It's going to be hard to advocate for those pets, as veterinarians, even over the phone, simply based on what the owner is telling us,” he said. “Because oftentimes, even in the brick-and-mortar, they tell us what they want, but they're missing the underlying problems or are upset about cost and it becomes a challenge for all of us.”
Sturgeon said his concerns are that in dealing with sick patients through a virtual visit, he cannot put his hands on them to perform a physical exam. His priority is for the pet to be happy and healthy and for the owner to be “financially conscious of what they are investing in,” he said.
“I certainly think that it has its place. In which case, I think defining it will be better for both the profession, the doctors and for the owners,” Sturgeon said. “The legality of it, I guess, it would also be important to have a better understanding overall.”
As an advocate for veterinarian telemedicine, Jennifer Hobgood, senior director of state legislation for the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (ASPCA), said she is concerned about veterinarian shortages and health care access for pets in the country –- something that she said she hopes the new law would lessen in the state.
“The current system of care based on the brick-and-mortar clinic is not serving the public and it's not serving pet owners,” Hobgood said. “We need broad access to telemedicine to help address those geographical, logistical, financial obstacles.”
Particularly in Florida, there are at least 19 counties with a low accessibility score, according to a map by The Veterinary Care Accessibility project. Among the lowest-scoring counties measuring access to care are DeSoto, Hendry, Gadsen and Lafayette.
University of Florida research projects a shortage of 14,000 to 24,000 companion-animal veterinarians by 2030, said James Lloyd, former dean of the College of Veterinary Medicine.
Sam Welker, 71, has two dogs and 15 cats in his Gainesville household. He said he doesn’t trust virtual vet care.
“Of the 15 [cats], probably 6, maybe 7 are on special food, special meds and some of them go to the vet at least once a month,” Welker said. “So, we like our vets.” Hank Williams Jr., Welker’s 14-year-old Treeing Walker Coonhound, goes to the vet for acupuncture every two weeks. Jubal Lethario, Welker’s 4-year-old German shorthaired pointer, goes just once a year.
“I don’t want to risk it,” Welker said. “I trust my vet when I see them at their office when I see their diplomas.”
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This story was produced by Fresh Take Business, a news service covering business news from the University of Florida College of Journalism and Communications. The reporter can be reached at j.romeroguzman@ufl.edu.