🖥️ Chewy faces telehealth uphill

Hello 👋 

This is Weekend Rounds. We bring you everything you need to know about the news that matters most at the intersection of our vocation and the wider world. Think of us as your secret weapon to staying on top of the veterinary profession.

Here's what's going down today:

🐶 Chewy's telehealth bid has big problems

💸 Pet startups are booming

🏥 The veterinary nurse saved by a patient

🚀 Quick hits

🐶 Chewy's telehealth bid has big problems

Chewy is facing an uphill battle against regulations stifling their attempts to break through the veterinary virtual care market. The e-commerce platform doesn't just sell food and meds to your clients, it also offers virtual care through their Connect with a Vet program. As CNBC reported this week, while the platform has grown substantially since its launch in 2020, it has faced a major roadblock in being able to prescribe medications as the service is unable to establish a veterinary client patient relationship (VCPR).If you're reading this, you probably know the importance of a VCPR but in case you need a refresher, the VCPR is based on 5 factors. One of the most important is the fact that establishing a VCPR requires a physical examination. As Chewy's telemedicine framework has no method to maintain a VCPR with a physical examination, the type of care they can provide is limited.Proponents of the VCPR will tell you how important this is. We know that pet parents don't always know what is wrong, so prescribing only based on what you can learn from a virtual consultation is a dangerous game. So, while telehealth has its place, it may only be complementary to a timely physical examination and VCPR.Chewy, a publicly traded company with a valuation of 8.8 billion dollars, doesn't agree and are seeking changes to the regulatory framework through the age old American tradition of lobbying.Enter the Veterinary Virtual Care Association (VVCA), an advocacy group co-founded by lobbyist and political strategist Mark Cushing. The VVCA is supported by industry giants (Chewy, Mars, Royal Canin) and numerous smaller entities including a few telehealth platforms.The VVCA claims that telemedicice is safe and cost effective when "guided by technical standards and clinical practice guidelines" ,Their goals are to create "a series of standards, guidelines and best practices for veterinary providers to ensure that they are using telemedicine responsibly." But the times may be changing. As VIN covered earlier this month, a new rule in the U.K. means that vets can now prescribe some medicines via telehealth appointments. The new rules do come with some caveats including that a physical examination is required "in all but exceptional circumstances" when veterinarians prescribe antibiotics and other antimicrobial drugs.In some ways the physical exam and the VCPR are at the center of a fight over the future of the profession. The AVMA created the Coalition for Connected Veterinary Care which places the VCPR front and center of its suggested guidelines for telehealth. Notably, the Coalition for Connected Veterinary Care has a large number of state Veterinary boards, numerous associations and a handful of large industry members (Boehringer Ingelheim, Elanco, Merck Animal Health, Covetrus). So, where will things shake out? No one knows for sure, but this battle is one to watch in the coming years.

💸 Pet startups are booming

The same pressures creating staffing crises across the veterinary profession are also driving massive investment in pet startups. As Yahoo Finance reports, Digitail is the latest of a series of tech companies exploding into the space, recently raising an $11 million series A. The Romanian company offers a management system, pet parent app and "Data Hub." With legacy systems failing to keep up with a modern veterinary hospital environment, startups like Digitail are making a push to capture clinics in need of an upgrade.With the US pet care industry set to grow to $277 billion by 2030, it won't surprise us to see a lot more innovative tech companies looking for a piece of the market. If you are a veterinarian with an idea to make the profession better and easier, there may never be a better time than now to enter the world of startups. Resources like the Veterinary Angel Network are one place to start.

🏥 The veterinary nurse saved by a patient

In Hollywood, we've seen plenty of dogs credited with life saving heroism. Sometimes they're running to get help to save someone trapped in a well. Perhaps they're a search and rescue dog. Or maybe they're a cartoon Great Dane solving mysteries out of the back of a van. But in the real world, dogs don't always have the same flair for the dramatic. Just ask Angie Shaw who is crediting a labrador with saving her life after the patient accidentally head butted her in the chest while at work. After a few weeks of soreness, Angie visited her GP who referred her for scans and biopsies that revealed she had an aggressive form of breast cancer.According to her doctors, the tumour could have taken another ten months to be detected if Shaw had not coincidentally needed a chest scan. "The dog saved my life," says Shaw. "The lump was purely coincidental and nothing to do with the cancer, but if the dog hadn’t head butted me, the cancer probably wouldn’t have shown up for nine to ten months, by which point it likely would have spread."Related: in the United States, the debate over the title "veterinary nurse" is heating back up. Here's the 411: The AVMA uses the title "veterinary technician," but has allowed states to make made their own education and credentialing requirements. This has led to four different titles — certified veterinary technician, licensed veterinary technician, licensed veterinary medical technician and registered veterinary technician. However, some clinics (maybe yours?) still uses the term veterinary nurse.The National Association of Veterinary Technicians of America (NAVTA) advocates for calling technicians "veterinary nurses" to help the public better understand and appreciate the role of these chronically undervalued team members. On the other hand, the American Nurses Association (ANA), maintains that the title "nurse" should remain legally designated for individuals engaging in human care only.

🚀 Quick hits

Here are some stories we're following this week from around the veterinary world and animal kingdom:

Why Elephants Are Key to Capturing Atmospheric Carbon [Sci Tech Daily]

Shortage of Veterinary Professionals May Be A Blessing In Disguise [DVM360]

New Technology And Products For Veterinary Genealogy [DVM360]

Animals inspire scientists to solve problems that humans face [Washington Post]

Large, dangerous animals increasingly making their way into Utah neighborhoods [KCBY]

Why giant prehistoric animals got smaller [BBC]

Colorado bear poses for roughly 400 'selfies' on wildlife camera [BBC]

Rare tree kangaroo emerges from mum's pouch [BBC]