Login | May 12, 2025
Law to allow vets to prescribe drugs via telehealth
KEITH ARNOLD
Special to the Legal News
Published: September 12, 2024
The sponsors of a bill in the state Senate want to extend the convenience of telehealth to Ohioans’ pets and livestock.
Tipp City Sen. Steve Huffman, a Republican and practicing physician, said the recent expansion of telehealth has proven successful across the country and throughout Ohio.
“There is no reason to not follow suit with veterinarian care,” he said during an Agriculture and Natural Resources Committee hearing at the Senate.
According to Senate Bill 268, a veterinarian’s ability to provide telehealth services for a particular animal patient would be conditional to obtaining the informed consent of the client, providing the client with contact information and securing an alternate means of contact and advising the client that the telehealth session may result in a recommended in-person visit.
Hillsboro Sen. Shane Wilkin, the bill’s Republican joint sponsor, said the expansion of telehealth to veterinarian medicine consequently will increase access to veterinarian care.
“This legislation will be particularly beneficial for those in rural or underserved areas as well for those who do not have access to transportation,” Wilkin said during the committee’s initial hearing of the measure. “Not to mention, this will make veterinarian care more efficient and timely in many cases. Imagine being able to take a photo or a short video of an animal as opposed to stressing an animal with a car ride and exposure to other animals when a qualified licensed vet can make a quick determination and call in your prescription.”
SB 268 would allow a licensed veterinarian to prescribe drugs or medications after establishing a veterinary-client-patient relationship via telehealth services with stipulations, including the veterinarian is limited to writing an initial prescription for no more than 30 days and a single refill for no more than 30 days after a subsequent telehealth visit.
Analysis of the bill provided that a veterinarian must notify the client that certain prescription drugs or medications may be available at a pharmacy and submit a prescription to a pharmacy of the client’s choosing upon request.
Additionally, a veterinarian may only order, prescribe or make available a controlled substance only after completing an in-person physical examination of the animal.
Wilkin said the bill addresses some of the concerns raised regarding the veterinarian-client-patient relationship, while current law establishes other parameters––perhaps most notably, veterinarians must be licensed in Ohio and the standards of care apply equally to in-person and telehealth visits.
Huffman said several other states, including Arizona, Florida and California, have enacted legislation allowing for telehealth for veterinarians.
“In a time where there are national veterinarian shortages and continued competition to attract and retain veterinarians, Ohio should not allow an opportunity pass by to be an attractive place for veterinarians to be licensed and practice,” he added.
SB 268 awaits further consideration by the committee.