District of Columbia Veterinary Medical Association

HOT TOPICS:

DCVMA looks to the future and votes to sponsor the AAVMC North American Veterinary Medical Education Consortium                                      (click here to see the presentation given by Dr. Michael Chaddock at our March Board Meeting)

Ninety one organizations representing a broad range of interests relating to food animal agriculture, food safety, and veterinary medicine urge Congress to bolster recruitment and retention incentives for veterinarians employed by the federal government. (click here to see complete letter)

More progress on veterinarians in public practice:

The U.S. Office of Personnel Management (OPM) has determined there exists a severe shortage of candidates for VMO positions and as a result has approved Direct-Hire Authority (DHA) government-wide for Veterinarian Medical Officer (VMO) positions at the GS-701-11/15 grade levels nationwide. For more information and a copy of the OPM Memo see: http://www.govexec.com/story_page.cfm?articleid=42084&dcn=todaysnews

 

On Thursday, February 26, 2009, at 2:30 p.m. the Senate Subcommittee on Oversight of Government Management, the Federal Workforce, and the District of Columbia held a hearing entitled, Protecting Public and Animal Health: Homeland Security and the Federal Veterinarian Workforce. This hearing focused on the Federal veterinarian workforce. To view the testimony live see: http://hsgac.senate.gov/public/index.cfm?Fuseaction=Hearings.Detail&HearingID=c34dd856-a58a-4ab8-9588-258131fd817a (Scroll down, and click the white arrow and you’ll get the video stream).

GAO Publishes Report on:

Actions Are Needed to Ensure Sufficient Capacity for Protecting Public and Animal Health   http://www.gao.gov/new.items/d09178.pdf

What GAO Found:

The federal government lacks a comprehensive understanding of the sufficiency of its veterinarian workforce. More specifically, four of five component agencies GAO reviewed have assessed the sufficiency of their veterinarian workforce to perform routine activities and have identified current or future concerns. This includes USDA’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Services (APHIS), Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS), and Agricultural Research Service (ARS); and DOD’s Army. Current and future shortages, as well as noncompetitive salaries, were among the concerns identified by these agencies. HHS’s Food and Drug Administration (FDA) does not perform such assessments and did not identify any concerns. In addition, at the department level, USDA and HHS have not assessed their veterinarian workforces across their component agencies, but DOD has a process for doing so. Moreover, there is no government wide effort to search for shared solutions, even though 16 of the 24 federal entities that employ veterinarians raised concerns about the sufficiency of this workforce. Further exacerbating these concerns is the number of veterinarians eligible to retire in the near future. GAO’s analysis revealed that 27 percent of the veterinarians at APHIS, FSIS, ARS, Army, and FDA will be eligible to retire within 3 years.
 

AAVMC publishes Study on:

Envisioning the Future of Veterinary Medical Education   http://www.jvmeonline.org/cgi/reprint/34/1/1.pdf

What the study found:

This report of the Association of American Veterinary Medical Colleges’ 2006 Foresight Project, developed under the leadership of an AAVMC Steering Committee, drew on the experience, imagination, and energetic participation of more than 95 participants from across the United States and Canada.

The environment of veterinary medicine is one of profound change. The current number of veterinarians is inadequate to address the present and future needs of society. To remain relevant, academic veterinary medicine must prepare veterinarians for what may come in the future. In order to be recognized and remunerated for their knowledge, compassion, integrity, and judgment, veterinarians must first demonstrate their relevance to new societal trends. The objective of the study reported here was to determine a future direction for academic veterinary medicine using Foresight technology.

The tools employed were challenge questions and the development of eight future possible scenarios. The study supported the need for change. This report recommends an adaptive and responsive system of veterinary medical education, achieved by defining those areas of professional focus that would address all the anticipated needs of society. An area of professional focus signifies a pathway leading to a DVM degree. Colleges would choose to offer selected areas of professional focus most appropriate to their capabilities, according to a bi-national plan. Veterinary medicine is integral to the well-being of any future society. This is a pivotal moment for the veterinary profession and for veterinary medical education. Leadership, collaboration, and a shared vision will determine the destiny of the profession.

DC Council passes Animal Protection legislation (click here)
    The DC government passed the Animal Protection Amendments Act of 2008 which makes extensive changes to the animal laws of D.C.  Many     members of the DCVMA contributed through testimony and consultation with Councilmen to suggest commonsense approaches for the             revised laws.

AVMA House of Delegates Resolutions related to Pay Equity for Veterinarians.
    Resolution 1: Pay Equity with Physicians
    Resolution 2: Pay Equity Priority for One Health Initiative
    Resolution 3: Economic Assessment on pay in public practice
Background information

2008

The DCVMA’s efforts at the AVMA House of Delegates (HOD) were a great success.  Two of our resolutions and both of our nominees for the Council on Public Health and Regulatory Veterinary Medicine won the support of the HOD.