AVMA House of Delegates Report

House of Delegates Report

By Chuck Barry, DVM and Carol Ryan, DVM

July 29-30, 2021 Your MVMA, delegates to the AVMA met along with the representatives of 52 Jurisdictions and 18 Allied Groups for a blended online / in person meeting in Chicago over 2 days to conduct the governance business of the AVMA. Your association is now over 97,000 members strong. It remains fiscally sound and continues to protect the profession and promote and expand member benefits. The governmental relations division was successful in keeping the FtPOA (Wal-Mart Rx bill) from being introduced in Congress for the first time in several years. Our Trust reported on new member / clinic staff benefits in the form of Retirement Plans and a Small-Group Employee Benefits Program. Another new benefit recently introduced is no-exam, expidited issuance of Term Life Insurance of up to $500K of coverage. In addition the office of the Vice President announced a new educator outreach with the creation of a digital Community with a topic driven speaker series available to veterinary medicine educators. We all understand this is our profession. What we need to also realize is that it is up to us to decide who will “own” our profession. Will it be us, or will it be PETA, HUSUS or some other group. The AVMA PAC and the AVMA GRD work to educate legislators regarding issues, policies and legislation which impacts animal welfare and the practice of veterinary medicine. The AVMA PAC update clearly showed the year of Covid had a tremendous negative impact on PAC funding, If every AVMA member gave $10 the AVMA could have a tremendous impact. Currently the average is only $2 per member. Let’s be the ones that own our profession. Please consider joining me in supporting the AVMA PAC at pac.avma.org Dr. Lori Teller, from Texas, was elected president-elect for the AVMA. In addition 12 other AVMA leadership positions for the House Advisory Committee and various Councils were filled. In other business the House of Delegates addressed the 2021 resolutions #8 through #16. The following actions were taken regarding these resolutions: • Resolution # 8 regarding depopulation procedures was referred back to the Board of Directors and the depopulation committee for further review and study. • Resolution # 9 regarding rules for AVMA elections was adopted. • Resolution # 10 regarding policy on compounding medications was referred back to the BoD and Council on Biologic and Therapeutic Agents. • Resolution # 11 regarding research animals was adopted. • Resolution # 12 regarding the policy on antimicrobial discussions, was adopted. • Resolution # 13 regarding the policy of violative residues in foods of animal origin, was adopted. • Resolution # 14 regarding the policy on prescription drugs was adopted • Resolution # 15 regarding the role of HOD members communicating AVMA member value was referred back to the House Advisory Committee to study and provide additional tools. • Resolution # 16 regarding workplace economic, staffing, and morale issues was adopted. If you have any questions regarding the AVMA, member benefits, or governance, please feel free to contact me or Dr. Carol Ryan. Respectfully Submitted, Chuck Barry, DVM Carol Ryan, DVM

Drs. Chuck Barry and Carol Ryan representing Missouri at the AVMA’s 2021 Convention in Chicago, IL.