FORT COLLINS, Colo. — The curriculum for Colorado's new veterinary professional associate (VPA) position has been finalized.
According to the US Bureau of Labor Statistics, the country will need around 40,000 new veterinarians by the year 2030. In November 2024, Colorado voters approved the creation of the VPA position in order to address the shortage.
A VPA would be above a veterinary technician but below a veterinarian. Organizations like the Colorado Veterinary Medical Association (CVMA) spoke out against the position.
"Veterinarians have a four-year degree, and then they have four years of very intensive medical training," said Diane Matt, CEO of CVMA. "We had significant concerns about the adequacy of the masters of veterinary clinical care program to educate students well enough to be able to do that kind of job."
Shari Lanning, director of the veterinary clinical care graduate program at Colorado State University (CSU), was tasked with designing the curriculum for the new position.
"We are looking at fall 2025 as being our first entry class," said Lanning.
Lanning and CSU finalized the curriculum in February.
"It is a total of 65 credits and, again, five semesters. The first three semesters are fully online. The fourth semester is a very intensive hands-on laboratory semester, so 416 hours of hands-on labs. The fifth semester is a clinical internship that is a total of 540 hours at a clinic," explained Lanning.
At this time, the curriculum only focuses on care for dogs and cats, not large animals. A credentialing exam would be required to pass.
The Department of Regulatory Agencies is determining the exact scope of this position, meaning what a VPA can and cannot be expected to do.
"Yes, we opposed it, our members opposed it, but it's our reality. So we better make sure that it works and it works well," said Matt. "Right now, you can post comments online about what you would like the regulations for this position to be, and I encourage all the veterinarians, whether they're CVMA members or not, to post their perspective."
No matter what DORA decides, Lanning said the curriculum could be adjusted to make sure graduates of the new program are ready and qualified.
"We take an oath that animals are what we speak for. You know, we care for them. That is our primary objective," she said.
This week, lawmakers introduced a bill that would put specific restrictions on what DORA could include in those rules. The Veterinary Workforce Requirement bill outlines the specific instances in which a veterinarian could delegate tasks to a VPA:
- If the aspects of the practice are within the training, experience, and competency of the VPA;
- If the practice of veterinary medicine delegated to the VPA is permitted under requirements of state and federal law and board rules;
- If the supervising licensed veterinarian and VPA are located at the same veterinary premises while practicing veterinary medicine; and
- If the licensed veterinarian or the VPA has obtained informed consent from the client.
The bill will be heard by the Agriculture, Water & Natural Resources committee on March 10.
The American Veterinary Medical Association released this statement in response to the curriculum being finalized, saying it "continues to express its considerable concern around the creation of a veterinary midlevel practitioner."
- Full statement
"The AVMA continues to express its considerable concern around the creation of a veterinary midlevel practitioner, termed a “veterinary professional associate (VPA),” in Colorado. As authorized by Proposition 129, passed last November, these individuals would be able to practice veterinary medicine, including diagnosing, prognosing, and performing surgery, after having completed only a fraction of the education and training that a veterinarian graduating from Colorado State University’s College of Veterinary Medicine currently receives.
The master’s program that has been proposed at CSU to create this VPA is to be delivered mostly online, with three semesters of compressed lecture-only education (no hands-on learning), one in-person semester of basic clinical skills training, and a one semester internship/practicum. Such a minimal amount of hands-on clinical skills training for a graduate who will be thrust into a medical decision-making role and entrusted to perform invasive surgeries on animals, puts the health and safety of their patients at considerable risk. Furthermore, the VPA creates unacceptable liability for supervising veterinarians who will ultimately be responsible for everything that the VPA does (or doesn’t do). Colorado veterinary professionals recognize these risks. When polled, 95% of Colorado veterinarians said they did not support the creation of a VPA, and 93% said they would not employ a veterinary professional associate (VPA)."
To leave a public comment on DORA's rule-making process, visit this form.
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