Practice Pulse

One of the benefits of an FVMA membership is our Helpline (800.992.3862), which is available to members Monday through Friday from 8 a.m.-6 p.m. Our Helpline also provides insight to the FVMA staff of the challenges and concerns of our members. In this feature, we will highlight topics from the questions we received in preceding weeks as a part of an effort to keep our members up to date on current concerns, as well as regulatory and legislative changes. GOT A QUESTION? THE FVMA CAN HELP.

QUESTION: A stray puppy was brought in without a microchip. The puppy was hit by a car and suffered severe injuries, including a shattered pelvis and broken rear legs. We are looking through local websites and nobody seems to have placed an ad saying "Lost Dog." At what point can we claim, and start working on, this dog legally?

A: The statue (Good Samaritan Act) allows the treatment of this puppy under these circumstances:

Section 768.13(3), F.S. (Good Samaritan Act) (3) Any person, including those licensed to practice veterinary medicine, who gratuitously and in good faith renders emergency care or treatment to an injured animal at the scene of an emergency on or adjacent to a roadway shall not be held liable for any civil damages as a result of such care or treatment or as a result of any act or failure to act in providing or arranging further medical treatment where the person acts as an ordinary reasonably prudent person would have acted under the same or similar circumstances.

If the veterinarian is acting in good faith and with due care to TREAT the animal, then the veterinarian is on firm, legal ground. The veterinarian would not have the right to insist on payment from the owner, but would not be liable to the owner for treating the animal without prior authorization.

Furthermore, the law below would allow the veterinarian to humanely euthanize an animal in a similar scenario.

828.05 Killing an injured or diseased domestic animal. (1) The purpose of this section is to provide a swift and merciful means whereby domestic animals which are suffering from an incurable or untreatable condition or are imminently near death from injury or disease may be destroyed without unconscionable delay and in a humane and proficient manner. (2) As used in this section, the term “officer” means: (a) Any law enforcement officer; (b) Any veterinarian; and (c) Any officer or agent of any municipal or county animal control unit or of any society or association for the prevention of cruelty to animals, or the designee of such an officer or agent. (3) Whenever any domestic animal is so injured or diseased as to appear useless and is suffering, and it reasonably appears to an officer that such animal is imminently near death or cannot be cured or rendered fit for service and the officer has made a reasonable and concerted, but unsuccessful, effort to locate the owner, the owner’s agent, or a veterinarian, then such officer, acting in good faith and upon reasonable belief, may immediately destroy such animal by shooting the animal or injecting it with a barbiturate drug. If the officer locates the owner or the owner’s agent, the officer shall notify him or her of the animal’s location and condition. If the officer locates only a veterinarian, the officer shall destroy the animal only upon the advice of the veterinarian. However, this section does not prohibit an owner from destroying his or her own domestic animal in a humane and proficient manner when the conditions described in this section exist. (4) No officer or veterinarian acting in good faith and with due care pursuant to this section will be liable either criminally or civilly for such act, nor will any civil or criminal liability attach to the employer of the officer or veterinarian. (5) A court order is not necessary to carry out the provisions of this section.

QUESTION: Where would I go to report someone practicing veterinary medicine without a license?

A: To file a complaint regarding unlicensed practice, you must contact the Board of Veterinary Medicine (BVM) at the Department of Business and Professional Regulation. Complaints should be made online via the department's website. You may also call to speak to a customer service agent, or write:

Board of Veterinary Medicine Florida Department of Business and Professional Regulation 2601 Blair Stone Road Tallahassee, FL 32399 Telephone: 850-487-1395

You can file your complaint online at: https://www.myfloridalicense. com/entercomplaint.asp?SID=; or get more information by emailing them from their website at: http://www.myfloridalicense.com/dbpr/contact-us/.

QUESTION: After reading the email from the FVMA about HCCE permits, I am still unsure if I need to continue to have one. The email referred to DVMs practicing as professional associations or LLCs. I have an S-corp. Do I still need an HCCE permit?

A: If you are the only veterinarian in your practice, you do not need an HCCE permit. Also, in this scenario, you are allowed to purchase drugs, and pay for them with your company check.

For your reference, here are our guidelines on the HCCE we were able to procure from the DBPR and the Florida Department of Drugs, Devices and Cosmetics

• All licensed veterinarians have the legal authority to purchase and own prescription drugs. • Veterinarians who operate in a group practice that have a

physical permanent location where they provide veterinary services must obtain an HCCE permit for that location. An HCCE permit covers all the veterinarians in a clinic, but requires a “qualifying practitioner” to be named on the permit. That “qualifying practitioner” is responsible for all record keeping, storage, and handling of all prescription drugs ordered and dispensed under the HCCE. • The law does not prohibit the use of Rx drugs by practitioners in a group practice that were purchased by another member of the group at that establishment. • A veterinarian who was previously issued an HCCE permit, but who decides to purchase prescription drugs under his/her individual license instead, should return the HCCE renewal notice to the Department of Drugs, Devices and Cosmetics Division of the DBPR, along with a letter or simple note stating he/she is not renewing the permit. • No veterinarian has been inspected or disciplined because they did not send back the Health Care Clinic Self Inspection Survey. • The last Health Care Clinic Self Inspection Survey mail out has just been completed, and veterinarians applying for new HCCE permits may receive one of the surveys as part of the process. • The answers to questions 7, 8, 23, 24, 26, and 57-62 should either be “N/A” or left in blank. • In the case of individual practitioners, they can purchase drugs and pay with a corporate check. The FVMA and our legal counsel have been able to persuade the DDC that INDIVIDUAL PRACTITIONERS who have their own corporation to run the practice DO NOT have to obtain the HCCE permit. • If the mobile veterinary clinic is a business entity, it may pay for the prescription drug with business entity funds as long as the wholesale distributor confirms with the purchaser that the prescription drugs are being ordered by a Florida licensed veterinarian and that the veterinarian is operating a mobile veterinary clinic or has a solely mobile practice. Those veterinarians with mobile practices need to send a letter to their wholesalers stating that they only operate as a mobile clinic/practice. • The FVMA was able to have the DBPR clarify/agree that they WILL NOT enforce the 61N-1 requirements dealing with security, temperature monitoring, record keeping, policies and procedures, etc., so long as the clinics have satisfactory Board of Veterinary Medicine inspections and are storing drugs according to the manufacturer’s requirements (i.e. refrigerated or “store in a cool dry place”). • Veterinarians CAN have veterinary drugs drop-shipped to the stable/farm/racetrack so long as they are veterinary drugs (not human-labeled drugs or controlled substances).

QUESTION: I am hoping to clear up a bit of confusion I have regarding on-line live webinars. I have received conflicting information about whether these satisfy the in-person, active CE requirements for Florida vets. I have been under the impression that if you attend the webinar during the live broadcast then it is included as active CE but that if you watch it later, it is not. Could you clarify this for me?

A: Nowhere does the rule about continuing education specify an “in-person, active” CE requirement. The highlighted section of the rule below calls correspondence courses ‘non-interactive,’ limits the amount of ‘non-interactive’ courses to be taken in the biennium, and goes on to say that online courses, in their varieties, are not correspondence courses.

61G18-16.002 Continuing Education Requirements for Active Status License Renewal.

(1) All licensed veterinarians shall be required to obtain continuing professional education which contributes to the advancement, extension or enhancement of professional skills and knowledge in the field of veterinary medicine.

(2) Licensed veterinarians shall complete a minimum of thirty (30) hours of continuing professional education in veterinary medicine every biennium. Beginning on June 1, 2012, no less than one (1) hour of continuing education shall be in the area of dispensing legend drugs and no less than two (2) hours of continuing education shall be in the area of the laws and rules governing the practice of veterinary medicine. For the purposes of this rule, the laws and rules governing the practice of veterinary medicine are Chapters 455 and 474, F.S. and Rule Title 61G18, F.A.C.

(a) One (1) hour equals a minimum of fifty (50) minutes and a maximum of sixty (60) minutes. Total hours of lecture time cannot be added up and divided into 50 minute intervals to obtain 1 hour credit for each 50 minute interval.

(b) Not more than fifteen (15) hours shall be non-interactive, correspondence courses. Computer on-line programs that involve on-line, real time, live or delayed participatory questioning or responses are not correspondence courses.

END NOTE: The ultimate responsibility in the practice of veterinary medicine lies with the licensed veterinarian. Professional discretion must always be exercised.