03/03/2026
Two new bills have been introduced in the Florida Legislature, collectively called the Veterinary Workforce Innovation Act. They are being promoted as a way to improve access and affordability in veterinary care.
Please do not be misled by the name.
Expanding access to care is important. But how we do it matters. Policies that sound helpful on the surface can have serious consequences for patient safety, quality of medicine, and the veterinary workforce.
These bills would create a new role similar in concept to physician assistants in human medicine. However, the proposed training model requires significantly less hands on clinical experience than the Certified Veterinary Technicians our industry already has. In other words, someone with less practical experience could be given more medical responsibility than highly trained CVTs.
Under these bills, these mid level providers could perform certain surgical procedures, diagnose conditions, and prescribe medications under supervision. Yet the legislation does not require a veterinarian to be on site at all times, benefiting large corporate groups that can supervise multiple VPAs with just a few off site vets.
The bills also claim they will reduce costs for pet owners. In reality, the cost of diagnostics, medications, equipment, and facilities does not change. What changes is payroll structure. Large corporate veterinary groups would be able to shift medical responsibilities to lower cost positions instead of investing in veterinarians and credentialed technicians.
Most importantly, these bills do not address the root causes of the challenges in veterinary medicine: high burnout, the rising cost of veterinary education, high su***de rates, workforce shortages, and the intense stress experienced by veterinary professionals.
Creating a new mid level role does not fix those problems. Supporting veterinarians, supporting CVTs, and protecting patient safety does.
Pets deserve experienced, well trained medical teams, not cost cutting measures dressed up as access to care.
