A veterinary professional associate, or Vet “PA”, is a masters-degree level professional who practices veterinary medicine under the supervision of a licensed Colorado veterinarian, similar to a physician assistant in human medicine.

A Vet PA will be trained to perform many of the same routine tasks as a veterinarian, including preventative care, assessing patients, initiating treatment, leading health care teams and performing limited surgical procedures such as tooth extractions. The specific tasks they perform will be delegated by their supervising veterinarian based on their level of education and experience.

• Adding professionals to a shrinking workforce: Our current veterinary workforce is simply unable to keep up with the demand for veterinary care, especially in rural communities. More people are needed in the profession so that animals can get the care they need and deserve regardless of their zip code or paycheck. Currently, there are not enough veterinarians or veterinary technicians to fill the gap in care.
• Adding capacity to veterinary practices: A Vet PA can take on several different roles in a veterinary practice which allows the practice to see more patients and provide better care for pet owners.
• Lowering costs for veterinary care: The cost to visit a Vet PA will be lower than the cost to see a veterinarian. These savings, along with the savings veterinary practices will gain through increased efficiency, can be passed down to consumers of veterinary services.
• Offering professional growth for veterinary technicians: Pursuing a veterinary master’s degree to become a Vet PA is a new opportunity for career advancement for veterinary technicians, allowing them the ability to gain advanced skills and increased salaries. This will help keep these talented individuals in the veterinary field.

A Master’s in Veterinary Clinical Care (or the equivalent) is required to become a Vet PA. Colorado State University is currently developing a master’s degree program in their veterinary school.

Everyone! Increased efficiency and capacity at a lower cost will help pets, their people, and veterinary practices.

• INCREASED DEMAND for veterinary services is being driven by changing societal values: 
  • Society’s value on animals is leading to the expectation that all pets receive necessary veterinary care. Animal welfare organizations across the country are creating subsidized care programs and hiring many veterinarians who would have previously entered private practice. 
  • An estimated 75 million pets will go without care within by 2030 because there are not enough veterinarians to provide that care. This includes owned pets and homeless pets. 
  • In 2023, 23 Colorado counties were identified by the USDA as veterinary shortage situations. 

• SERIOUS ISSUES FOR THE VETERINARY PROFESSION are resulting as veterinarians are unable to meet the increased demand for services: 
  • Veterinary businesses in Colorado cannot hire enough staff to meet the demand—an extremely low unemployment rate of 1.6% is lower than what is considered “full employment.” 
  • Per AVMA, 60% of postings advertising veterinarian positions receive no responses. 
  • 20% of veterinarians consider themselves “overemployed” meaning they do not intend to sustain the hours they are currently working. Three thousand full time veterinarians nationally would be needed to compensate for this change alone. 
  • Overwhelming demand on veterinarians is exacerbating mental health issues, and female veterinarians have 2.4 times the rate of suicide as the general public. 
  • Veterinary practices are limiting hours and closing throughout Colorado (CSU limiting urgent care, emergency hospitals turning away referrals, many hours’ long wait times, etc.) 
  • Veterinary technicians cannot support their families on their current salaries, leading them to leave the field after an average of seven years. This program gives veterinary technicians a viable career path and keeps this extremely limited resource within the profession. 

• Lincoln Memorial University, a private institution in Tennessee, launched a Master of Veterinary Clinical Care program in August 2022. The graduate program is designed to provide credentialed veterinary technicians advanced training to support the use of veterinary professionals. 
• Colorado State University recognizes the severe societal impacts caused by the veterinary workforce shortage and lack of access to veterinary care. As a leader in veterinary education, Colorado State University is at the forefront of innovation and has started an approval process to offer this degree programming. 

• Lincoln Memorial University started its very first class in August of 2022 and should have its first graduates within two years. LMU is a private university, and as such, has a different approval pathway than a public university like CSU. Additionally, the LMU program is less extensive than what CSU and other veterinary schools are considering. Due to its different approval pathway, the LMU program was able to be developed without changes to Tennessee’s veterinary practice act. Colorado would be the first state to implement these changes to the practice act.

• Master’s degree that will provide advanced knowledge, technical skills, and competence to administer routine veterinary care.
• A 5-semester program that provides in-depth knowledge of infectious, metabolic, neoplastic, and degenerative diseases and a hands-on practicum experience. 
• Technical and communication skills; a team veterinary approach; efficiency and productivity are all part of the curriculum. 
• Instruction will be integrated with the CSU DVM training program, with veterinarians and veterinary professionals working as a team, and clinical expertise will be measured.  

• The program is being designed to offer a career path for veterinary technicians with associates degrees, foreign veterinarians, and those qualified for veterinary school but who are unable to obtain one of the extremely limited seats available. 
• Currently in Colorado, veterinary technicians are leaving the profession after seven years, on average. Nationally, that number is between five years and seven years. Currently, there is not a clear career path through which veterinary technicians can advance, other than the small percentage that go on to become practice managers.

• Veterinary PAs will help address the shortage of veterinarians by assuming responsibility for much of the routine care that is currently provided by veterinarians. This allows veterinarians to focus their time on more complex patients.  
• Overall, a team-based, tiered business model can generate more revenue for veterinary practices, resulting in higher salaries for all practice employees and greater work-life balance for veterinarians and staff. 
• Veterinary PAs would help address the cost of veterinary care by allowing practices to use lower salaried professionals (with lower educational debt) to provide routine veterinary care.  
• Modification of veterinary practice acts to allow for expanded capabilities under the supervision of a veterinarian (similar to the physician: physician assistant model) will further increase productivity of the veterinary healthcare team.

• There are eight USDA designated veterinary shortages in Colorado spanning 23 counties.  
• There are areas with approximately 180,000 head of cattle with a single veterinarian to serve those needs, and many of these rural large animal veterinarians are past retirement age. 
• Zoonotic and other public health risks are exacerbated by the lack of veterinary expertise in these areas, and herd health is vulnerable. 
• A 2011 report titled “Workforce Needs in Veterinary Medicine” published by the National Research Council stated: “In rural areas, where primary veterinary care is needed but there are too few farms to support full-time veterinarians, a system of animal health care involving rigorously trained technicians under the supervision of veterinarians could be developed”. It is the goal of the MVCC program to produce graduates to fulfill this role. 
• With indirect supervision, a veterinarian would be able to delegate a VPA to visit a farm/ranch/herd for all issues that do not involve USDA Accreditation.

• In small animal practice, VPA graduates would work under direct supervision of a veterinarian, who determines the level of appropriate delegation. 
• VPA graduates would be able to perform routine examinations and manage straightforward medical cases, provide preventive care, perform basic surgeries such as laceration repair and castration, dental procedures, perform euthanasia, and any other task that the supervising veterinarian knows the VPA is competent to complete. 
• In USDA-designated veterinary shortage situations, the VPA would be able to work with indirect supervision, meaning the supervising veterinarian is not on the same premises. This person could do pregnancy checking, bull evaluation, treat colic, and other medical and surgical conditions.

• In 2028, VPAs would become regulated by DORA in Colorado.  
• As the profession evolves, national certification and program accreditation will be developed.

• The licensed supervising veterinarian would be liable for damages resulting from the VPA’s negligence in providing care to a patient.  
• Licensed supervising veterinarians should only delegate responsibilities to the extent that the VPA is competent and has the necessary training and experience to provide. 
• Veterinarians who do not wish to accept this authority and responsibility would likely not employ a VPA. 
• Most veterinary professional liability insurance policies in effect today would cover the veterinarian in this situation.