Legislative Analysis
Phone: (517) 373-8080
PRACTICE OF VETERINARY MEDICINE
http://www.house.mi.gov/hfa
House Bill 4912 (proposed substitute H-4) Analysis available at
Sponsor: Rep. Robert J. Bezotte http://www.legislature.mi.gov
1st Committee: Agriculture
2nd Committee: Rules and Competitiveness
House Bill 5804 as introduced
Sponsor: Rep. Julie Alexander
Committee: Rules and Competitiveness
Complete to 3-2-22
SUMMARY:
House Bill 5804 would amend the Public Health Code to generally prohibit a veterinarian from
engaging in the practice of veterinary medicine except in the context of a veterinarian-client-
patient relationship. House Bill 4912 would amend the code to provide exceptions to that
general prohibition and to allow a veterinarian to delegate certain tasks in the context of a
veterinarian-client-patient relationship. House Bill 4912 also would provide requirements for
emergency veterinary hospitals, exempt veterinarians from a provision that prohibits health
professionals from providing telehealth services without the patient’s consent, and add
therapies such as acupuncture and homeopathy to the veterinary medicine scope of practice.
House Bill 5804 would prohibit a veterinarian from practicing veterinary medicine unless it is
within the context of a veterinarian-client-patient relationship, subject to exceptions described
below. Subject to federal law, all of the following must be met for a veterinarian-client-patient
relationship to exist:
• The veterinarian must assume responsibility for making clinical judgments regarding
the health of the animal and the need for medical treatment and its owner must have
agreed to follow the veterinarian’s instructions.
• The veterinarian must have sufficient knowledge of the animal to initiate, at a
minimum, a general or preliminary diagnosis of its medical condition.
• The veterinarian must be readily available, or arrange emergency coverage, for a
follow-up evaluation in case of an adverse reaction or the failure of the treatment
regimen.
• The veterinarian must have recently examined the animal in person or obtained current
knowledge of the animal through diagnostic equipment that can transmit images and
medical records electronically or through a referral from another veterinarian.
Proposed MCL 333.18818
House Bill 4912 would allow a veterinarian to practice veterinary medicine through telehealth
without a veterinarian-client-patient relationship in an emergency situation until the animal can
be seen in person by the veterinarian. However, the veterinarian would have to make a good-
faith effort to arrange an in-person visit as soon as practicable to establish the relationship.
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 In addition, a veterinarian could practice without a veterinarian-client-patient relationship if an
animal’s owner cannot be identified and either of the following applies:
• The veterinarian renders or attempts to render, in good faith, emergency or urgent care
to an animal.
• The animal is in the care or custody of an animal control shelter or animal protection
shelter.
A veterinarian could terminate a veterinarian-client-patient relationship by notifying the owner
that he or she no longer wishes to serve the animal and the owner. If the animal has an ongoing
medical or surgical condition, the veterinarian would have to refer the owner to another
veterinarian for diagnosis, care, and treatment and would have to continue to provide lifesaving
support as needed until a new veterinarian-client-patient relationship was established.
Delegation of tasks
The bill would allow a veterinarian to delegate the performance of an act, task, or function if
both of the following requirements were met:
• The veterinarian has established a veterinarian-client-patient relationship for that
animal (as described above). However, a relationship would not be required if either of
the following applies:
o The purpose of the delegated act, task, or function is to render or attempt to
render, in good faith, emergency treatment or urgent care to an animal that has
been brought to the veterinarian by a person other than the owner and the
veterinarian does not know who owns the animal or is unable to contact the
owner before a decision must be made regarding that treatment or care.
o The purpose of the delegated act, task, or function is to render or attempt to
render emergency treatment or urgent care to an animal that is in the custody
of an animal control shelter or animal protection shelter and whose owner
cannot be identified.
• The supervising veterinarian is monitoring the individual’s performance of the act,
task, or function to the degree necessary to ensure that it is within the scope of an order,
assignment, or prescription of the supervising veterinarian.
Animal would mean an animal other than a human being and include all fowl, birds,
fish, and reptiles, wild or domestic, living or dead, which may be carriers of infectious
diseases.
Owner would mean the actual owner of an animal, an agent of the owner of the animal,
or a person with the apparent authority to act as the owner or as the agent of the owner
of an animal.
Practice of veterinary medicine
The bill would add certain tasks to those classified under “practice of veterinary medicine,”
including performing physical therapy, performing a dental procedure, and providing a
complementary, alternative, and integrative therapy.
Complementary, alternative, and integrative therapy would mean a preventative,
diagnostic, and therapeutic philosophy and practice that is not considered part of
conventional, Western veterinary medicine and would include all of the following:
• Veterinary acupuncture, acutherapy, and acupressure.
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 • Veterinary homeopathy.
• Veterinary manual or manipulative therapy.
• Veterinary nutraceutical therapy.
• Veterinary phytotherapy.
Dispensing prescription drugs
Under the bill, upon request of an animal’s owner, a veterinarian would have to issue a
prescription for a recommended prescription drug instead of dispensing the drug.
Emergency veterinary services
A licensee could not represent that a facility is an emergency veterinary hospital unless all of
the following requirements were met:
• The facility’s primary function is receiving, treating, and monitoring animals that are
emergency patients during its designated hours of operation as an emergency
veterinary hospital.
• A veterinarian is in attendance during all hours of the facility’s operation and sufficient
staff are available to provide timely and appropriate care.
• The number of licensees, instruments, medications, and supplies is sufficient to provide
animals with the appropriate level of emergency care.
• The facility is a full-services hospital or provides either independent, after-hours
emergency veterinary services or independent, 24-hour emergency veterinary services.
Telehealth services
Finally, the bill would amend section 16284 of the code, which generally prohibits a health
professional from providing a telehealth service without directly or indirectly obtaining consent
for treatment, to provide that it does not apply to a veterinarian.
(The bill would retain a current exception from this provision for a health professional
providing a telehealth service to an inmate under the jurisdiction of the Department of
Corrections who is housed in a state correctional facility.)
MCL 333.16215 et seq.
Neither bill would take effect unless both bills were enacted.
FISCAL IMPACT:
The bills would have no fiscal impact on state or local government.
Legislative Analyst: Emily S. Smith
Fiscal Analyst: Marcus Coffin
■ This analysis was prepared by nonpartisan House Fiscal Agency staff for use by House members in their
deliberations and does not constitute an official statement of legislative intent.
House Fiscal Agency HBs 4912 (H-4) and 5804 Page 3 of 3


Statutes affected:
House Introduced Bill: 333.16284
As Passed by the House: 333.16284