It’s not my role to cry wolf or create unwarranted anxiety. However, I believe veterinarians and their staff members need to spend time reviewing the APHIS webpage for attending veterinarians <link>. While the public relations for the new Animal Welfare Act initiative is to “strengthen relationships with the attending veterinarian community,” there may be other potential legal considerations. At minimum, more complete records are indicated.
Source: Dairy Herd Management, August 9, 2018. Link.
“From time to time, our inspectors may have a question about an animal’s veterinary care or treatment,” Bernadette Juarez says. “If the attending veterinarian isn’t present during the inspection, we’ve asked our inspectors to pick up the phone and call the attending veterinarian and have a conversation about the animal’s care. We want the attending veterinarians to know that the information that they provide on behalf of their clients will help us confirm that the animal is receiving adequate care.”
INSIGHTS: The red flag for me is “receiving adequate care.” Consider this information and then decide how this might play-out over the next decade regarding accountability.
As a veterinarian that has interactions with USDA-APHIS veterinarians inspecting my clients I received this letter from the USDA. This letter reflects the directive of the new secretary of Agriculture (and veterinarian) Sonny Perdue to the USDA-APHIS for them to be more collaborative and less antagonistic with licensees and attending veterinarians. This is a welcome change of direction and in my opinion one that was long overdue.
However, this letter seems to prioritize the USDA-APHIS inspector’s needs in getting their inspections completed as easily as possible and discounts the dictates of client confidentiality that various state practice acts impose upon attending veterinarians. While the USDA-APHIS may well want veterinarians to share medical records and information with inspectors what are attending veterinarians to do if the client says “Don’t release any information without my express permission?” And given the history of years of antagonism from the USDA this is precisely what many of my clients tell me.
I think attending veterinarians need to tread cautiously and review their state’s confidentiality requirements as well as the expectations of the client before they blithely share medical information with the USDA-APHIS service when and if they call.