PVMA Keystone Veterinarian Spring 2020 - 26

Telehealth 101
Content printed with permission from AVMA.org
With the COVID-19 pandemic weighing heavily on our minds,
we wanted to take this time to introduce, or maybe reintroduce, you to some Telehealth basics.
Telehealth, spurred by the rise of digital communications
technologies, presents both opportunities and challenges for
healthcare providers, including veterinarians and their staff.
Understanding key definitions is important as you decide
whether and how to implement telemedicine in your practice.

Telehealth
Telehealth is the overarching term that encompasses all uses
of technology to deliver health information, education or care
remotely. Telehealth can be divided into categories based on
who is involved in the communication.

Non-Client
NO VCPR

Specialist,
Consultant
Teletriage

Teleadvice

non-client-facing models that involve delivery of general advice,
telemarketing, and advertising.

Telemedicine
Telemedicine is a subcategory of telehealth that involves use
of a tool to exchange medical information electronically from
one site to another to improve a patient's clinical health status.
Examples include using Skype or a mobile app to communicate
with a client and visually observe the patient for a postoperative follow-up examination and discussion. Telemedicine
is a tool of practice, not a separate discipline within the
profession. The appropriate application of telemedicine can
enhance animal care by facilitating communication, diagnostics,
treatments, client education, scheduling, and other tasks.
Practitioners must comply with laws and regulations in the
state in which they are licensed to practice
veterinary medicine. Telemedicine may only
be conducted within an existing veterinarianclient-patient relationship, with the exception
for advice given in an emergency care situation
until a patient can be seen by or transported
to a veterinarian. More info about this can be
found here: bit.ly/avma-vcpr-telehealth.

Teleconsulting

Telecommunication

Client
within VCPR

Telemedicine

e-prescription

Healthcare
Team

Telesupervision

VETERINARIAN

Telemonitoring

e-VFD

Pharmacy,
Medicated
Feed
Distributor

26 | Keystone Veterinarian

Telemonitoring
Telemonitoring is remote monitoring of
patients who are not at the same location as
the health care provider. This could range from
the use of a portable glucose monitor to a
wearable monitoring device that captures the
patient's vital signs and other behaviors.

Animal

For communications between veterinarians and animal owners
there are two important categories that are distinguished by
whether a Veterinarian-Client-Patient Relationship (VCPR) has
been established: telemedicine, which is client-facing, includes
the delivery of information specific to a particular patient and is
allowable only within the context of an established VCPR; and

Teleconsulting is a subcategory of telehealth
in which a general practice veterinarian
uses telehealth tools to communicate with a
veterinary specialist to gain insights and advice
on the care of a patient.

Teleadvice
Teleadvice is the provision of any health information, opinion,
guidance or recommendation concerning prudent future
actions that are not specific to a particular patient's health,
illness or injury. This is general advice that is not intended

http://www.AVMA.org http://www.bit.ly/avma-vcpr-telehealth

PVMA Keystone Veterinarian Spring 2020

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