Do You Have Ideas on Policy Matters the AVMA Should Address?

Fellow NVMA and AVMA members,

The AVMA House of Delegates will be meeting in San Antonio, Texas on August 4th and 5th prior to the AVMA summer convention. Doctors Keith Schumacher and David Ylander will be representing the NVMA and all AVMA members in Nebraska at this meeting.

This year the House of Delegates (HOD) will be initiating the Veterinary Information Forum (VIF). During this two-hour forum, three pre-selected topics will be given 30 minutes each for discussion. The final 30 minutes will be an open forum that could be used for further discussion of the previous three topics or to introduce a new issue.

The House Advisory Committee (HAC) will be selecting the top three topics from all those submitted, during its teleconference on July 8th. The selected topics will then be submitted back to all members of the HOD to seek further information and comments from all state VMA, AVMA Allied group and AVMA members to be brought before the HOD during the VIF.

At the conclusion of the VIF, the three pre-selected topics and any possible new one from the open session, will be sent to the respective HOD Reference Committee for further discussion and debate. The HOD Reference Committee will have the opportunity to: 1) bring forth a Resolution about the topic; 2) refer the topic to an AVMA entity to gather more information; or 3) take no action on the topic.

The Veterinary Information Forum is a means for the HOD to take a more proactive role in forming AVMA policy. In the past, the HOD has been more reactive to an issue and may be several months to years behind in bringing forth a policy on a particular issue.

The Nebraska delegation is seeking your input on possible topics pertaining to veterinary medicine that can be brought to the HAC for consideration and hopefully inclusion in the VIF discussion. Please send your topic and a short summary concerning the issue to the Nebraska delegation no later than July 5th so that we can forward it to our HOD Reference Committees.

Dr. Keith Schumacher: kschuma@megavision.com
Dr. David Ylander: dmydvm@charter.net

Please email your suggestions to both delegation members.

Thank you for your time and thoughtful consideration in furthering our profession and associations.

NVMA@Work Blog Moving to New Website Platform

New Multi-featured Site Launches Next Week

With next week's launch of the new Nebraska Veterinary Medical Association (NVMA) website, the NVMA@Work blog will appear exclusively on the platform that is embedded within the website.

This separate Blogger platform no longer will be used. It was initiated a year ago due to the limited capacity of the old website to auto-generate email notifications and employ social sharing. Blogger has both of those functions, but they will be included within the new website, which launches next week.

If your email address is in the NVMA database, you will continue to have access to email notifications of NVMA@Work blog posts. Next week, NVMA members for whom we have current email addresses will receive an email invitation to sign on to the new website. The email will include a link that takes you to the site. If you have never signed on to the new site before, when you click the link you will first be prompted to set your password.

If you are a first-time visitor, you will be invited to complete your profile and indicate whether you want your NVMA directory listing to be visible to others.

You will then set your communication preferences. You may opt to receive all, some or none of the email notifications sent by the NVMA, including notifications of new posts to NVMA@Work.

When you have completed the initial signup, you will be taken to a Welcome Page that summarizes the site and its functions. Use it as your guide for exploring the site.

NVMA Text Service

This section is for those who wish to receive messages from the NVMA's new text service.

At the end of this post is a link where you may sign up for the NVMA text messaging service. When you click the link, you will be offered these service-level choices:

NVMA ALL -- Receive all text messages generated by the NVMA.

NVMA@Work -- Receive only text notifications of new posts to the NVMA blog.

NVMA REGS -- Receive only text notifications of bulletins from the State Veterinarian, the Board of Veterinary Medicine and Surgery, and others.

NVMA XGR -- Receive only text notifications of updates on legislative matters.

Click here to join the NVMA text service.

NVMA 2016 Summer Business Meeting Includes Prescription Drug Monitoring Update

As a service to those who were unable to attend the 2016 Summer Meeting, here is a video record of the NVMA Business Meeting held on Friday, June 10, in North Platte. The meeting included a legislative update with information about the Prescription Drug Monitoring Task Force.

Dr. Schumacher is Team Roping Champion

Dr. Keith Schumacher

Keith Schumacher, DVM, of Howells, Nebraska, is the NVMA 2016 Team Roping Champion. Dr. Schumacher took the title during competition on June 9, 2016, during the NVMA Summer Meeting in North Platte.

Dr. Schumacher is shown in the accompanying photo with the beautiful prize saddle he took home as Champion. The Team Roping competition was sponsored by MWI Animal Health, Merck Animal Health and Multimin USA.

Video highlights from the Team Roping are below (the first two clips are Dr. Schumacher).

Video may be viewed by clicking here.

Provide Your Input on HOD Resolutions, Proposed Bylaws Amendments and Discussion Topics

(Repost from the AVMA@Work blog)

The AVMA House of Delegates (HOD) will hold its Annual Session prior to the AVMA Convention in San Antonio. All resolutions and proposed bylaws amendments that the HOD will consider are posted on the AVMA website, and AVMA members are invited to provide their input on these items to their HOD delegates. 

You can look up and connect with your HOD delegates at  AVMA.org/MyLeaders. (Note: You might see an error message before signing in to view the full content of this page, but once you sign in using your AVMA member ID, the error disappears. We’re working to fix this intermittent error.)

• Resolution 3-2016 proposes revisions to the Free-Roaming, Owned Cats policy. The proposed revisions were developed by the AVMA Animal Welfare Committee with input from members and other groups (such as the American Association of Feline Practitioners and the Association of Avian Veterinarians). The revisions consider the impacts on cat welfare as well as on the environment. The HOD approved revisions to the AVMA policy on Free-Roaming Abandoned and Feral Cats in January 2016.

• Proposed bylaws amendment 1-2016, submitted by the North Carolina Veterinary Medical Association, would remove the bylaws requirement for the AVMA Executive Vice President (EVP) to be a veterinarian. According to the proposed bylaws amendment, the NCVMA believes that “future search committees and Boards of Directors should not be limited in their capacity [by the veterinary requirement] to find the most qualified candidates and elect an AVMA Executive Vice President who is experienced, effective, and exceptional.” The change would not eliminate veterinarians from holding the position. Dr. W. Ron DeHaven, current AVMA EVP, has announced his impending retirement, and the position is currently open for applications through June 8.

If additional resolutions or proposed bylaws amendments are introduced, they will be added to the HOD Resolutions & Bylaws Amendments page on our website. AVMA members, please provide your input to your HOD delegates on these items to allow them to best represent you in the HOD. (Again, please note that you might see an error message on this page before signing in, but it will disappear once you have signed into the website.)

The HOD will also convene its first Veterinary Issues Forum during the Annual Session. The Forum provides HOD members with opportunity to discuss veterinary-related issues and topics beyond those of resolutions and bylaws amendments, including those that bubble up through environmental scanning. The House Advisory Committee (HAC) has put out a call for potential discussion issues, and will select three topics of those submitted for discussion in the forum. If you’d like to suggest an issue, contact your delegates  and your state veterinary medical association or allied group. Once the HAC has determined the three issues, we’ll post them on the HOD Resolutions & Bylaws Amendments page and you’ll have an opportunity to provide your input on the issues to your delegates.

Integrate Preventive Care into Your Practice: Partners for Healthy Pets Can Help

(Repost from AVMA@Work blog)

Preventive care is a cornerstone of your patients’ health, and can save your clients a lot of money in the long run. How can you focus your efforts to deliver the best preventive care possible and really educate clients about the value of wellness care?

The AVMA and the American Animal Hospital Association (AAHA) collaborated to develop the AAHA-AVMA Canine and Feline Preventive Care Guidelines to provide a foundation for your practice’s wellness and preventive care focus. Partners for Healthy Pets builds on that work by offering veterinary clinics a toolkit to help implement the guidelines.

Implementing the guidelines is actually quite simple, using the free resources provided by Partners for Healthy Pets. These include a “10 steps to success” document that serves as a foundation; a team meeting guide to focus your practice team; and a workbook to help you develop a practice action plan to implement the guidelines and “level up” your preventive care. These tools – plus other materials – can be found on the Partners’ guidelines implementation page.

If you’re participating in the PHP’s free preventive healthcare certificate program, these materials make up one section of the program, and completing this step keeps you on track to earn your certificate. Partners for Healthy Pets also has additional resources to help your practice, such as the forward-booking tool and the Opportunity Survey.

Partners for Healthy Pets was created to ensure pets receive the preventive healthcare they deserve through regular veterinary visits. Led by the AVMA and AAHA, it is a collaborative alliance of more than 100 veterinary associations, colleges of veterinary medicine and animal health companies all committed to a vision of improved overall health for pets.

Veterinarians and Physicians Team Up to StopLyme in Children and Pets

(Repost from the AVMA@Work blog)

(IN PHOTO: Rolo has Lyme disease, but thanks to early diagnosis and regular veterinary care, she lives a happy, healthy life with her family.)

StopLyme is a new public awareness campaign joining veterinarians and pediatricians to stop a common enemy: Lyme disease. While this tick-borne disease can’t be spread directly between dogs and people, if your dog has been exposed to ticks that spread Lyme disease, you may have been too.

As part of StopLyme’s educational efforts, Dr. Natalie Marks, a Chicago veterinarian, along with pediatrician and infectious disease specialist Dr. Patricia DeLaMora, have embarked on a national media tour to spread the One Health message and provide parents with helpful tips to keep their children and dogs tick free. The doctors also remind parents that if their child is diagnosed with Lyme disease they should contact their veterinarian and let them know their dog also may have been exposed. Conversely, their pediatrician should be informed if their dog has been diagnosed with Lyme disease. This collaboration between physicians and veterinarians is an example of how disciplines can work together to obtain optimal health for people, animals and the environment.

Listen to AVMA CEO Dr. Ron DeHaven and radio personality Steve Dale discuss the launch of StopLyme and the importance of the veterinarian’s role in One Health and the need for greater awareness of diseases spread by ticks.

In addition to the StopLyme materials, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) have tables, maps and graphs of reported human cases of Lyme disease. Veterinarians can also use AVMA’s Lyme Disease: A Pet Owner’s Guide for discussion and sharing with their clients.

National Public Radio on the 'Humane Economy'

Agree or disagree with animal rights proponents, there is no doubt that a robust public conversation is taking place around the topic. National Public Radio's On Point with Tom Ashbrook took a long look at the issue on Tuesday, May 31, 2016. The portion of the program devoted to the issue is available for listening below. Here is a link to the story on the NPR website.