Telehealthcare is an all-encompassing term that covers teletriage, teleadvice, teleconsulting and telemedicine. In essence, veterinary telehealthcare represents a wide array of services whose common thread is that the delivery of the services is done virtually, or electronically. So, another term could be virtual veterinary care. With this type of care, there is no need for the pet and pet owner to travel to a brick and mortar veterinary hospital to receive these services. And this fact, the absence of the need for a brick and mortar facility, can be threatening to those who happen to own brick and mortar veterinary hospitals. Just as online book stores impacted the viability of brick and mortar book stores, and similar to the disruption that online retailers in general have had on the entire brick and mortar retail model, there is concern in the veterinary industry that online veterinary medicine could impact the economic well-being of established veterinary hospitals.
At Trellis Pet Care, we understand these concerns, but firmly believe that the growing field of virtual veterinary care will not only enhance the ability of pet owners to get the care their pets need, it will also help point out the importance of what brick and mortar veterinary hospitals do.
As we will point out in our blog post about telemedicine, and as noted in our teletriage blog, the presence or abscense of a Veterinary Client Patient Relationship (VCPR) is what dictates what type of virtual veterinary care can be legally provided now. Trellis Pet Care with its relationships with brick and mortar hospitals is already performing teletriage. With the launching of our website, we now have the ability, for a fee, to perform veterinary teleadvice. Just as with teletriage, without having actually touched the pet we are helping, we cannot establish a VCPR, and without that legal framework, the information we provide during a teleadvice consultation is just that, medical information. We cannot give a diagnosis, or prescribe medications. That said, in many cases our pet owners tell us that the teleadvice was well worth the cost, and the information was extremely helpful.
Trellis Pet Care always strives to provide peace of mind by actively participating in the shared medical decision making process.
Brad Burrington, D.V.M.
Founder Trellis Pet Care