Insights

DVM360 Magazine Pet medications bill still kicking; new grants could provide opportunities for rural veterinarians. Congress is back in session with a new Republican majority in charge of the Senate and a White House chastened from midterm losses. So what should veterinary medicine expect? Well, animal health may not have been the fulcrum of 2014…

DVM360 Magazine But proving that judgment is not impaired by compensation from industry is virtually impossible. The veterinary profession has endured two blistering attacks from media in the past week. The Indianapolis Star and Reuters have both accused veterinarians of being overly cozy with pharmaceutical manufacturers and imply that their judgment is impaired as a…

DVM360 Magazine Federal government hears from critics, supporters on role of AVMA Council on Education. The U.S. Department of Education conducted a full morning of hearings on December 11 to determine whether the American Veterinary Medical Association’s Council on Education (COE) should continue to serve as the accrediting body for veterinary colleges in the United…

DVM360 Magazine Accreditation critics rely on sweeping generalizations, faulty assumptions. Two weeks ago I challenged the underlying argument relied upon by critics of the American Veterinary Medical Association’s Council on Education (COE) to urge the U.S. Department of Education to abolish the COE. They want to fashion a new federally sanctioned agency to oversee veterinary…

DVM360 Magazine Flip in U.S. Senate’s majority may slow progress of Fairness to Pet Owners Act. The American veterinary profession ends its fourth year battling legislation in Congress that seeks to drive pet owners to big box retailers for their pet medications. The fight began after the first Fairness to Pet Owners bill emerged on…

DVM360 Magazine A look at the facts reveals a different picture of veterinary school accreditation than what’s being presented. Since 1981 the AVMA’s Council on Education (COE) has approved a total of three new veterinary colleges in the United States. That’s right: three new veterinary schools in 33 years, for an average of one new…

DVM360 Magazine Decades-old formula presented as the only model for success. If you want to understand how elitist the viewpoint is of academic critics of the American Veterinary Medical Association’s (AVMA’s) Council on Education (COE), read the September 9, 2014, words of former University of Pennsylvania veterinary school dean Robert Marshak, DVM, from an ACVIM…

DVM360 Magazine Critics of Council on Education seek establishment of independent agency. Few veterinarians are aware of a hearing soon to happen (Dec. 11) in Washington, D.C., that may change the shape of veterinary medicine in the United States for years to come. What’s particularly interesting is how a handful of armchair advocates are working…

DVM360 Magazine Demographic trends point to increasing demand for veterinary services. It’s been a busy summer for the perennial debating society about whether the United States has too many veterinarians. The American Veterinary Medical Association’s convention in Denver saw a panel debate the alleged oversupply of veterinarians with your blogger taking the side that the…

DVM360 Magazine Too soon to tell if new activity will move government closer to mandatory veterinary prescriptions. Rumors abound that Senators Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) and Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) are poised to file a Senate version of Rep. Jim Matheson (D-Utah)’s H.R. 4023, the latest Fairness to Pet Owners bill. Unlike many political rumors, these appear…