Veterinary professional associate role moves ahead

The first academic program to train veterinary professional associates (VPAs) can proceed despite wider industry concerns about risks to animal health and safety, scope of practice, and veterinary liability.

On February 6, Colorado State University’s (CSU) governing board approved the curriculum for VPAs, allowing CSU’s College of Veterinary Medicine and Biomedical Sciences to begin enrolling students in the two-year program this fall. Students who complete the program must then be registered to practice under the supervision of a veterinarian.

Curriculum design

The veterinary college applied for and received a PetSmart Charities grant in 2023 that partially supported the curriculum design for the master’s in veterinary clinical care (MSB VCC) degree.

Tuition and fees were not mentioned in the university’s announcement, but based on graduate tuition rates for the 2024-25 academic year, the program’s 65 credit hours would cost $34,430.45 for in-state students and $77,150.95 for out-of-state students. That figure does not account for other costs, including room and board, additional tuition incurred to meet prerequisites, and any potential tuition increases.

To enter the program, students must have a bachelor’s degree, and have completed 20 prerequisite courses in the subjects of communication, microbiology, math, biology, chemistry, communication, anatomy and physiology, and physics. All prerequisites may be completed in person or virtually, meaning some students may not have any hands-on training until later into the MSB VCC program.

The MSB VCC curriculum requires students to complete five semesters. Students would take the first three semesters online, including classes such as clinical anatomy and principles of surgery, which in typical medical curricula would include hands-on laboratories, but in this case, would not.

Dr. Sue VandeWoude, dean of CSU’s veterinary college, said in The Veterinary Roundtable January 17 interview that they have “videography capabilities” they will use for the first three semesters along with sending small animal models to students so they can practice surgical techniques.

Students would then receive hands-on training in laboratory classroom settings during the fourth semester, followed by clinical training via practicum with an approved community partner during the fifth semester. Dr. VandeWoude indicated that VPAs will be trained to do a certain set of tasks, along with how to recognize and respond to situations beyond their scope of practice. She noted, “It’s only a five-semester program and (there’s) a lot of responsibility at the end of it.”

During that interview, Dr. VandeWoude also clarified that the VPA curriculum focuses on primary care for dogs and cats, and does not provide training in large animal medicine. That undermines one of the original stated needs for the VPA , which posited that “Many Coloradans struggle to get veterinary care for their animals, especially in rural and agricultural communities,” implying this position could help address the issue.

She said the curriculum could later be modified, or a second program developed, to address this gap.

“Once you have scope of practice defined, then you go back and modify (the curriculum), and it happens all the time,” she said. “We’ll have time to ease into this to make sure that the curriculum and the training these individuals receive matches what they’re asked to do and that what they can do that is helpful to their employers and society.”

Scope of practice

VPA advocates in the state, including the CSU faculty member who originally posited the idea as far back as 2009, had earlier tried and failed to create the position by legislative means. Then All Pets Deserve Vet Care—supported by the Denver Dumb Friends League (name recently changed to Humane Colorado), the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, Animal Welfare Association of Colorado, the Humane Society of the United States, and others—gathered enough citizen signatures to put Proposition 129 on Colorado’s November 5, 2024, general election ballot.

The AVMA and Colorado VMA (CVMA) came out strongly against the proposition, saying the new practitioner would have inadequate training to safely perform complex tasks, such as surgery, and that the curriculum would not provide sufficient laboratory and clinical exposure, putting the health and welfare of Colorado’s pets and other animals at risk. More than 200 national and local veterinary, humane, and breeders’ organizations; veterinary clinics; veterinarians; veterinary technicians; and pet owners also spoke out against the measure. Proposition 129 narrowly passed with 52.8% of the vote.

Proposition 129 outlined the minimum education and qualifications needed to become a VPA, but the Colorado State Board of Veterinary Medicine (CSBVM) within the Colorado Department of Regulatory Agencies is charged with developing the full scope of practice for the VPA position via rulemaking, to include opportunities for public comment.

Meanwhile, Colorado legislators introduced on March 10 HB 1285 to establish some guidelines for regulators as they develop the final regulations for the VPA position. 

State lawmakers passed the bill on April 11. Provisions in the bill include the following:

• Requiring the supervising veterinarian of a VPA to be located at the same veterinary premises when the VPA is practicing veterinary medicine, unless the VPA meets indirect supervision requirements. That would mean meeting requisite clinical benchmarks, including practicing veterinary medicine under direct or immediate supervision for a specified number of hours as yet determined by the CSBVM, and would allow a VPA to perform veterinary tasks that are not veterinary medicine under indirect supervision.
• A supervising veterinarian would supervise no more than three VPAs who are practicing veterinary medicine at a time. That said, VPAs still cannot prescribe as the bill says a “licensed veterinarian shall follow all state and federal laws when issuing prescriptions.”
• Though telemedicine is not explicitly mentioned in the bill, a supervised VPA could practice within the bounds of their position via telemedicine with an existing veterinarian-client-patient relationship established by the veterinarian first.
• The CSBVM may establish an equivalent pathway for veterinary technician specialists (VTSs) to register as a VPA without having to earn a MSB VCC degree. These individuals would still need to pass the same credentialing examination as VPAs.

Gov. Jared Polis has until June 7 to sign the bill. Meanwhile, the rulemaking process continues this summer, with many rules still to be determined by regulators. They continue their work with a public meeting on May 7 and final rules are due January 2026.

Standardizing requirements and training

The American Association of Veterinary State Boards (AAVSB) says despite the controversy and differing opinions on the new role—even among its board of directors—it has agreed to undertake several other responsibilities around the VPA in the interest of public protection.

In a February 24 press release, Dr. Frank Richardson, AAVSB president, wrote, “Once Proposition 129 passed, the focus of the Board of Directors shifted from ‘Do we support a mid-level practitioner?’ to ‘How best can we protect the public and ensure that the VPAs are adequately trained, knowledgeable, and qualified to offer the level of veterinary care outlined in Proposition 129?’ Our focus pivoted to one of protecting the public and their pets.”

He said the AAVSB will now work to create educational materials, standards, a national examination, and a credentialing program. The AAVSB currently owns and produces the Veterinary Technician National Examination to license credentialed veterinary technicians.

Florida legislators on February 12 introduced S 652/HB 729, which would create a VPA position in which the person is authorized to perform veterinary services delegated by a supervising veterinarian.

In this bill, a VPA is defined as someone who has earned a degree from a master’s program in veterinary clinical care, or the equivalent, and has passed a national competency examination. They would be allowed, unless prohibited by state or federal law, to perform duties or actions of veterinary medicine and prohibited, unless otherwise authorized by state or federal law, from prescribing drugs or controlled substances defined under state law.

VPAs would also be prohibited from performing surgeries, “except for veterinary sterilizations or surgical procedures that do not enter a body,” under immediate supervision, meaning a licensed veterinarian is on the premises. That means, as currently written, the bill would actually authorize a broad variety of surgical procedures to be performed.

Also according to the bill, “A licensed veterinarian who assigns duties or actions to a veterinary professional associate is liable for any act or omission of the veterinary professional associate acting under the licensed veterinarian’s supervision.”

A version of this story appears in the May 2025 print issue of JAVMA