Specialists and Emergency Care

Veterinary medicine is getting more and more sophisticated by the day.

In fact it is pretty much like human medicine in this regard. There are over twenty specialty areas recognized by the American Veterinary Medical Association. These specialty areas require a three to four year residency after graduation from veterinary school and a specialist has to pass an examination to become board certified in their particular area of interest. 

There are board certified veterinary specialists in internal medicine, oncology, surgery, dermatology, dentistry, opthalmology, anesthesiology, cardiology, neurology, nutrition and behavior just to name a few.

 

Most decent sized cities have specialty referral practices and after hours emergency facilities where these specialists work. Universities also employ these specialists as teachers and get a significant number of referrals from primary care veterinarians. 

 

The pace of new learning and knowledge is so rapid that it's hard to keep up. I heard a statistic that current veterinary students are required to learn almost twice as much as veterinarians that graduated ten years ago. That's an amazing figure and points to an increasing dependence on specialist referrals for pet health care in the future.

 

How does this apply to pet health insurance? 

 

Simply make sure that your policy does not treat specialists and emergency veterinarians any differently than your primary care veterinarian. You should also ask whether you'll need a referral from your primary care vet to see a specialist.

 

I know of one company providing pet health insurance that automatically increases the co-pay - the amount you have to pay after your deductible has been satisfied, when you see a specialist, emergency or university affiliated specialist.

 

At PurinaCare we want you to be able to access the latest in veterinary care for your pet and that includes access to specialists if need be. We place no special restrictions on that type of care. We cover visits to any licensed veterinarian in the US including specialists and after hours emergency facilities under the terms of you PurinaCare policy.