Access to veterinary care: evaluating working definitions, barriers, and implications for animal welfare

Profiles and predictors of access to human and veterinary healthcare in multispecies households

This study extends a behavioral-ecological framework for healthcare access and utilization to explore patterns of healthcare and veterinary care access within pet-owning households in the United States. Using Latent Class Analysis, a person-centered analytic approach, we identified five subgroups of pet owners in a diverse national sample (n = 750), each characterized by unique patterns of perceived access and actual usage of both human and veterinary healthcare. The first subgroup, "Good access/unfair system" (27%) and the second subgroup, "Good access/fair system" (30%) reported high probabilities of good healthcare and veterinary care access and limited financial burden but differed in their perceptions of healthcare fairness. The third subgroup, "Good access/Medicare" (14%), primarily comprised of older adults with Medicare, reported good access to both human and veterinary care and limited financial burden, underscoring Medicare's role in stable healthcare access. The fourth subgroup, "Moderate access" (11%), characterized by financial barriers despite non-employer health insurance, showed a lower likelihood of recent dental and veterinary visits. The fifth subgroup, "Poor access" (18%), with the poorest healthcare access and highest probability of Medicaid or no insurance, highlighted significant inequalities in healthcare and veterinary care access. Sociodemographic and social environmental factors were associated with subgroup membership. For example, the groups with better access were likely to have low financial fragility (Good access/unfair system OR = 4.61, p < 0.001), and those with poorer access were unlikely (Poor access OR = 0.14). Additionally, the groups with better access were less likely to experience discrimination (Good access/fair system OR = 0.58, p < 0.001) and those with poorer access were more likely (Moderate and Poor access both ORs = 1.37, p < 0.001). These findings emphasize the need for policies addressing factors such as economic inequality and discrimination to improve healthcare and veterinary care access and utilization. Tailored interventions at individual and systemic levels are also suggested (i.e., the Colorado "Peticaid" proposal and the Seattle One Health Clinic) to mitigate disparities and enhance healthcare and veterinary care access for vulnerable populations.

2025 AAHA Referral Guidelines

Across the many types of specialty practitioners and hospitals, the requirements for veterinary patient referrals vary from one-time consultations to long-term case oversight and management. These guidelines propose a structured and technology-based approach to optimize the referral process for patients, clients, and veterinary teams. They emphasize a family-centered health care approach that keeps the focus on patients and clients through consistent collaboration between primary and specialty care teams. Collaboration between primary care teams and specialty care teams requires detailed and timely communication and medical records sharing. Veterinary clients also need content-rich and supportive conversations as they navigate often stressful clinical situations with their pets, including the realities of referral care costs, prognoses, and possible ongoing treatments and/or management of chronic conditions. These guidelines establish the concepts, roles, client communication strategies, and timelines that will promote successful referral relationships. Later sections offer detailed insights into the key responsibilities for the primary and specialty care team, from the initial contact before referral, through the referral itself, and then back to primary care team oversight. The final sections consider strategies to increase access to care using team optimization and telehealth, as well as possible obstacles in the referral process and how to address or avoid them.

Promoters and Detractors Identify Virtual Care as "Worlds Better than Nothing": A Qualitative Study of Participating Veterinarians' Perception of Virtual Care as a Tool for Providing Access

(1) Background: Veterinary virtual care holds the potential to alleviate some barriers to accessing care, yet concerns within the profession exist. Understanding veterinarians' perspectives and identifying the potential opportunities and challenges that virtual care poses for access to veterinary care are thus needed. (2) Methods: Semi-structured interviews were conducted virtually with 22 companion-animal veterinarians practicing across Canada and the United States. Interviews were accompanied by an electronic survey, with which a Net Promoter Score (NPS) was calculated for each participant. Using their NPS, participants were categorized as a "promoter" or "detractor", with respect to their perspective on veterinary virtual care. A thematic analysis was conducted on verbatim transcripts of the interviews. (3) Results: A total of 11 detractors and 11 promoters were interviewed. Four subthemes were identified, including the following: (1) there are limitations to virtual care, (2) virtual care plays a role in access to care, (3) "virtual care is better than no care" and (4) virtual care offers specific value in supplementing in-person care. (4) Conclusion: When no other option for care delivery exists, virtual care was viewed as a way to increase access to veterinary care.

A One Health Perspective on Multidrug Resistance Amongst Iberian Exotic Pet Owners

Understanding owners' realities and perceptions may be crucial to helping veterinarians be more effective in their daily work. Noticing the lack of publications in this area, specifically on exotic pets, prompted us to gather insights into non-traditional companion animal owners. A survey was conducted, resulting in 541 respondents from Portugal and Spain. The results were characterised based on demographics, data on trade and antibiotic and parasiticide use, and the relations between these variables. We found that there is still a considerable part of unregistered animals and that, overall, owners acknowledged antimicrobial resistance and inadequate use of parasiticides. Hopefully, these data will help veterinarians in tackling these problems and enhance owners' education and compliance.

Integrated, Scaffolded, and Mandatory Community and Shelter Medicine Curriculum: Best Practices for Transformational Learning on Access to Veterinary Care

Within veterinary medical education, there is increasing focus on equity and cultural competency/humility, especially within service learning in community and shelter medicine. This article reviews the current literature and draws from the experience of the Ontario Veterinary College Community Healthcare Partnership Program's development of a community and shelter medicine curriculum. We propose that to graduate veterinarians with the knowledge and skills to address inequities in access to veterinary care, a best practice is to integrate mandatory in-class and experiential learning activities, scaffolded across the curriculum. This is a best practice as it creates the best chance for transformational learning for students and is part of our responsibility to the communities we partner with to move toward cultural safety. This Best Practice report addresses the following questions: 1. What foundation of knowledge in community and shelter medicine is needed? (Five curricular pillars: animal welfare, vulnerable animals, spectrum of care, well-being, and cultural humility). 2. How should programs be structured? (Mandatory, integrated, and scaffolded curriculum). 3. What are the pedagogical goals? (Transformational learning). It is our hope that this synthesis is of value to other veterinary colleges seeking to develop programs and/or curricula in community and shelter medicine to address barriers to veterinary care access.

2024 AAHA Community Care Guidelines for Small Animal Practice

Community care is a creative way of thinking about health care that mobilizes resources within a community and consists of four core principles: recognition of the urgency of access-to-care for the veterinary profession, collaboration within community networks, family-centered health care, and redefining the gold standard of care. The AAHA Community Care Guidelines for Small Animal Practice offer strategies to help busy veterinary practitioners increase access to care within their practice and community by optimizing collaborative networks. While these guidelines do not claim to provide exhaustive solutions to access-to-care issues, they propose a starting point from which private practices can explore and implement workable solutions for their community and their practice. Broadening the scope of care to reach all people with pets requires multimodal, collaborative, and creative solutions both within and outside of the veterinary profession. These solutions can begin with greater communication and collaboration between private veterinary practices and nonprofit veterinary practices, with the goal of keeping pets in their homes with their loving families as much as reasonably possible.

Pharmacist and veterinarian collaboration in Klang Valley, Malaysia: A veterinarians' perception

Background

The collaboration between pharmacists and veterinarians plays a crucial role in ensuring optimal animal healthcare. Understanding the willingness of veterinarians to collaborate with pharmacists and analyzing the prescribing trends by veterinarians are essential factors in improving the quality of veterinary care. By analyzing these aspects, valuable insights can be gained to enhance interprofessional collaboration and optimize medication management in veterinary practice.

Objectives

To examine the willingness of veterinarians towards interprofessional collaboration with community pharmacist.

Methods

A cross-sectional study was conducted among 40 veterinary clinics in Klang Valley, Malaysia. Data was collected via online using Google Forms from registered veterinarians working in private veterinary clinics in Klang Valley, Malaysia. Descriptive statistics and statistical analysis were performed using SPSS version 27.

Results

The overall willingness of veterinarians to collaborate with community pharmacists was measured with a median score of 51 out of 75. The results indicated that 55 % of veterinarians demonstrated high willingness to collaborate. Specifically, 52.5 % of veterinarians had a positive attitude towards collaboration, 55 % recognized the roles of pharmacists positively, and 57.5 % identified barriers to collaboration. These findings highlight a generally positive inclination towards interprofessional collaboration among veterinarians.

Conclusion

More veterinarians demonstrated a positive willingness to collaborate with pharmacists for optimal patient care. However, several constraints were identified, including a lack of face-to-face communication, concerns about pharmacists' knowledge or skills in veterinary medicine, and financial interests. Addressing these issues could further enhance collaboration between veterinarians and pharmacist.