Veterinary Today Podcast: Practice Act, HB1533 and More Important ISVMA Issues 4.25.23

Hello everyone and welcome to the inaugural podcast of veterinary today produced by the Illinois State Veterinary Medical Association or more commonly known as the is ISVMA. Veterinary today will produce two podcasts per month on veterinary related topics beginning this month April 2023. And members will be informed by email each time a new podcast is released. They will also be available to access on the is VMAs website. Veterinary today has been created for veterinary professionals by veterinary professionals and our goal is to discuss the latest trends and developments in veterinary practice and medicine from individuals making the news in the veterinary profession. This podcast shares information that allows veterinary professionals to better serve clients and their pets and livestock and manage their practices and to establish a more informed, knowledgeable and engaged clinic staff. The podcast will also address proposed legislation in Springfield that impacts the veterinary profession or animal welfare so you can tune in regularly to hear how proposed bills may affect your veterinary practice here in Illinois. I'm Kelley McLaughlin, your podcast moderator and we're excited to have you listening with us today I'm joined by Dr. Joanne Carlson owner and operator of loving care animal clinic in Palatine, also president of the ISVMA a board of directors and your veterinary today podcast host Hi, Dr. Carlson and Joey. It's great to be here and to collaborate with you. Thank you so much for having me. Oh, absolutely. Looking forward to this. Joining us today to discuss two legislative issues currently being addressed at the capitol is Dr. Steve Dillard, owner of an care Veterinary Hospital in Lasalle and an care Veterinary Clinic in Minnesota and is VMAs Legislative Committee chaired Dr. Dullard welcome. Well, thank you very much joy. I'm glad to be here today. Doctors we have a couple of major proposals rolling their way through the Illinois Senate right now including revisions of the Illinois Veterinary Medicine and general surgery practice act of 2014. Also HB 1533, and amendment to the standing humane care for animals act that calls for the banning of feline on key ectomy procedures, more commonly known as Cat declaws surgery. That's right, Joey. So let's start by talking about the practice acts since your ISVMA has been working with elected officials and the Illinois Department of Financial and Professional Regulation regarding the language in that act. Dr. Dullard, can you give us some background about the practice act and how long we've been working on this important issue, please? Well, usually the practice sec, what we do is it gets revised about every 10 years. I think now it's in fact maybe every five years. And so we started the process about two years ago and looking at issues we know that are confronting us that is going to be affected by the Practice Act. And one of the things that we are looking at is, you know, telemedicine. And with telemedicine, there's a there's a lot of gray area in that right now. There's a lot of talk about it on national level about telemedicine and how are we going to be able to protect the public as far as from, you know, issues that occur that may not, you know, be you know, relevant within our state, or if there's a someone that is giving medical advice from out of state, so we have to try and make sure that we can still protect the people of Illinois, you know, from those type of activities. And so telemedicine is like one of the things that has been high on our radar for the last two years. Are a lot of veterinarians wanting to utilize telemedicine is it something that is relevant in Illinois? Well, I think it's relevant. I mean, during COVID, some of us actually started using it in order to be able to perform some like recheck type appointments, which we thought maybe it might be more relevant for a conversation, maybe a quick view of the pet. Our big concern, though, is using telemedicine as like the primary evaluation of a pet. And we addressed all that in our veterinary practice. Um, essentially you have to have a client patient doctor relationship at least once a year with a physical exam. And in our telemedicine section, it basically says that if you believe in your professional opinion, after you have had this at least yearly exam, you can perform telemedicine, if there is an issue where you believe a physical exam is necessary, then it is is your responsibility to make sure that you do do that examination. It also helps us include the use of certified veterinary technicians in their supervision and still phase the phase of their supervision was within your hospital. Right. And, you know, I know we spend hours and hours within our board of directors trying to delineate the language and the parameters. And we're still, you know, working through that for the most part. But you know, one of the things I'd like to talk about is that I recently had a group in my area To start publicizing they're offering a telehealth program that their clients this is a boarding and training facility. They're offering a telehealth telemedicine kind of a package deal to their clients that would essentially allow the client to call talk to a veterinarian and and have diagnoses, etc. And one of the things that struck me about that is, are those veterinarians in Illinois? And would this practice act amendment that we're proposing be applicable to that? What are your thoughts on that? Dr. Dullard? Well, it is because you, first of all, there's a difference between telemedicine and telehealth. Telehealth is where you're like giving advice, but you're not really making a diagnosis. You're not prescribing medicines, you're not doing surgery, you know, that type of thing. Telemedicine is the actually you're being a quote a doctor. And in our state, the way we would like to admit the practice, sec, is that the doctor providing this telemedicine is licensed within the state, the certified veterinary technicians that might be assist, are licensed within the state. Because we do have to have the ability to protect the public here. And that's going to be the only way that we're gonna be able to do that as if we keep this within state, if it goes out of state, and you have a doctor that's doing some type of treatment, that is not the standard of practice, whatever the way that they get reprimanded, it's out of your hands are out of your state, you can't do anything about it. So that's one of the things that we're making very clear in our amendment that this is a has to stay within the state. Very important, very important. Thank you for clarifying that. I thought that was an interesting topic that came up. So all right, let's move on to House Bill 1533, which I'm very familiar, I've been interviewed by multiple media entities is as well as you have. And it's a controversial topic. And the bill was introduced into the Illinois House of Representatives in January, I know that we spent hours and hours discussing it. It was introduced by the 50th District Representative Barbara Hernandez of Aurora, it basically calls for an amendment to the Humane care for animals act calling for the banning of feline Anqi activity or declined procedures with fines in the 1000s of dollars for the first second and third violation. You know, I have many people who have said, Well, why do you oppose this bill? Joanne, you know, as the ISVMA and when I'm speaking, it's not Dr. Carlson, you know, owner of love and care. It is the, you know, the ISVMA made president, I'm representing the board and all of the the constituents in our state. And really what it does is it removes the decision about the cat's well being from the veterinarians and also from the owners, and it basically ignores the fact that there is a human animal bond. And one of the things that we strive to do is to uphold that human animal bond, to have conversations with our clients regarding what is the best medical and surgical care for those those cats. Oftentimes, you know, people have situations that are unique, life is messy. So it really restricts the veterinarians ability to uphold their medical oath, and to provide that sound medical judgment. You know, we also feel that it puts cats at jeopardy to live in well established loving homes. In many instances, people that cannot have alternative options to you know, to the decline will give up their cats. And in my area, there are no shelters, I will even take cats right now. They're just all teeming with cats. So it really, you know, puts these cats at risk for abandonment, euthanasia, or in, you know, in a crowded shelter. So the language is very rigid. And it does not allow for unique situations. And that's the main reason why we are opposing it. We feel that very strongly. The veterinarians are the animal health professionals, and we should be respected as such, you know, we go to school for, you know, eight to 12 years for this. And we really do need to consider that we have to, if we if this band goes through, what's the next bill that will come along? What else will be the end? So, you know, what are your thoughts on that? Dr. Dullard? Well, the first thing is I agree with everything that you said there, Joanne. The other thing is those like we've had two different attorneys look at the language of this bill, and they have the word therapeutic inserted. The proponents of the bill say all veterinarians are going to be able to do what they need to do with it. But when you read the language exactly as it's written, it pretty much limits this to a disease process that is affecting the client does not address this. If we have some type of behavioral issue that we have to deal with. I mean, great examples. I had a cat last year, who was dramatically tearing its skin with its back feet. The owner did everything apse, these cultures, surgical removal of the diseased tissue, everything was done to, to try to address this problem with his cat. And it was an obsessive compulsive disorder, the cat, and I had ended up declining its back feet, so it wouldn't harm itself anymore. After we did that, we were able to get the skin healed and cleared up. This bill would prevent us from being able to do that, because there is no quote, disease going on with that cat's rear nails, even though he's traumatizing his upper body. It's a classic example of situations where we have to have the ability to use our medical judgment, what's best for the best, right, and what a shame that would be if that poor kitty suffered, because we were not allowed to do a procedure that could alleviate that, that anxiety and that, you know, that that self inflicted damage. So that's a great example. Thank you, the owner, I mean, she did everything she was trying to avoid. But if we weren't successful, that she was basically going to have to put her cat to sleep because it was causing major trauma to so and so we were able to save that bond between those two, you know, and I know, we've gathered other stories from different clients from across the state. And I think the ones that so striking are the people that do have, you know, people that either have memory loss issues, or people that do have medical conditions that require them to be on the blood thinners. And these these folks, you know, cannot have a scratch without having, you know, serious ramifications. So, I think, you know, when we talk about the cat's own, you know, medical issues that could necessitate the declaw procedure. And also, you know, these, these people really depend on these cats, you know, and we hear a lot about, just about everywhere you go, nowadays, you see somebody with a harness on an animal, a therapy animal, okay, and some of them are very justified, and some of them are, you know, people just buy that harnesses, but cats oftentimes are very therapeutic for the elderly. And, you know, when we think about taking a cat out of the situation with somebody that is homebound or wheelchair bound, that really could have a very negative effect, I was surprised to find out that one of the the main risk factors and elderly people for death is depression. And it seems like cats can really can really help people. And I think it's important that we are able to have those conversations to keep those cats in those homes. And let's face it, Dr. Dullard, these situations do not come up very frequently. I, you know, can't even recollect the last time I did a decline, you know, certainly have in the course of my 30 year career. But it's just one of those things where these are last alternatives after we've discussed everything, after we've exhausted other options. So that's why, you know, we really are trying to protect the cats as well as the veterinarians in the state of Illinois. Right. And that's, I mean, that's exactly sometimes, like, in the AVMA, they're pretty clear that they don't recommend, you know, doing the procedure, unless everything's been exhausted. But they have always left that avenue available, because we run into these type of situations where it is truly in the best interest for the cat and for the owner, to have that done. I'd say it's not our go to procedure for things is what we do after we have exhausted all our other possibilities. But again, like I said, These cats are relinquished, especially if they're an older cat, the likelihood of being adopted once it goes into shelter falls pretty dramatically. And, and that, like you said, again, is I had one client recently, she found an outdoor cat, and she just tried to find a shelter, that would still take care of it. So it was called five different shelters. And they all told her they didn't have any, any available openings. So when the proponents say that, although easily be able to find some place to take this kid, I don't believe that that's true, either. So I completely agree as well. And I think the the really important thing for our members that are listening is to realize that this is something that we need to have a call to action, it is absolutely vital that everybody call pick up the phone and call your state senator, at this point, we have send out information how to find your state senator, and I did actually call my state representative. And she was a co sponsor of the bill and then, in fact, removed herself after we had a very nice conversation about it. And I do realize that there are veterinarians who are proponents of this bill, and while I can value their opinion, and I've received, you know, just actually just not even a handful of emails, I also want them to realize that this really comes down to veterinarians being restricted as far as surgical procedures, and I feel this is very slippery slope. I feel adamantly that the politicians need to stay in their lane, they're politicians, they are not veterinarians. And I tried to educate the, the proponent of this bill, the sponsor, Ms. Hernandez about it. And she, unfortunately, it's one of these situations where I don't think she fully understands the level of pain control and anesthesia training that we have, that we are capable of producing this procedure with, if any, is the most minimal amount of pain, you know, for the cat. So veterinarians really need to pick up the phone, also, you know, call, send the letter, you know, and be heard, because this is this is how, you know, the laws changes if we don't speak up. So I'd like everyone to do that. And certainly, if there's anybody that's not able to find their, you know, state senator, give the office a call, they will certainly be more than amenable to help with that. I was just gonna say that thing is also remember that if this bill does go through, it's going to go into effect 90 days after it's passed. Right. And I'll be honest with you, I've discussed this with multiple clients within my hospital. And they're totally unaware that they, at least in my practice, my clients want to have the ability to make these choices and stuff with their veterinarian. They don't want something that's prescribed by law. And we kind of visited this whole thing of the human field last year. And I think it's the same in this situation for us, too. Absolutely. I could not agree more. Thank you. Why are you a member of the Illinois State Veterinary Medical Association? How about the ways ISVMA protects you and the veterinary profession, like safeguarding the professional interests of veterinarians and CVTs by limiting government regulation, and new legislation impacting practices by providing up to date messaging on licensing and regulatory matters, offering an employee assistance program with mental wellness resources, serving as a confidential call and resource for information related to the profession by communicating critical veterinary issues through print and digital channels, providing local reasonably priced premium continuing education, and offering job posting and job searching ability and more. If you're not a member? Why not join the Illinois State Veterinary Medical Association and benefit from these services? And more. It's easy. Join us today at isbm a.org. And any other final thoughts? Dr. Dollard. for you before we go, we're almost almost done here today. Oh, one thing that is going to happen is in the practice sec, the Department of Professional Regulation, it's going to be required that veterinarians have to have an email address in which they will have at the Department of Professional Regulation, because it's going to become their primary method of contacting veterinarians, when it comes to dealing with their licenses and stuff. It's not going to be just your address in a paper mail type thing. You're gonna have to keep your address updated and your email updated with the department within 14 days if you move or change your email, and that's like an important change that also is going in the practice. Dr. Carlson any any final thoughts from you? You know, Joe, I just really feel that I'd like to again, urge everybody call contact your senators and let's be heard. So that's a very important thing, so veterinarians need to step up. This concludes our inaugural veterinary today podcast. Thank you to our guest, Dr. Steve Dullard, the owner of and care Veterinary Hospital in Lasalle and and care veterinary clinics in in Mendota. Dr. Dullard Thank you very much. Thank you. And also thanks for your thanks for your service on the ISVMA board of directors and of course, join Carlson of loving care animal clinic in Palatine, the president of the ISVMA your host of veterinary today. I'm Charlie McLaughlin. Thank you for listening