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Vet-to-Vet Collaborative Teleconsulting
Are you managing a veterinary behavior case and would like some assistance? Feeling a little in over your head?
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While not the same as a consultation directly with us, teleconsulting can help clients who:
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live too far to benefit from our services in person
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you feel like you can largely manage on your own, but would like a little support
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or those that probably need us but are simply not ready to come see us yet.
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Happy pets. Happy vets.
Please note: All recommendations are to the doctor on the case - information relayed to the client is ultimately the primary care veterinarian's responsibility. Look over the recommendations and decide what is best for your patient. If you have concerns or questions about a recommendation, please do not hesitate to reach out. With all teleconsults, our team does not dispense medical advice directly to the client nor prescribes medications.
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Teleconsulting is only available for our feline and canine patients at this time.
Urgent appointments can be arranged.
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Could use something else from us? Just let us know!
The No Fuss Phone Teleconsult
$99
This quick consult is designed to be a no fuss, efficient way for you and your client to get some tips to help move the patient in the right direction. In this 20 minute phone appointment, you round us on the case and we give you whatever feedback we can in the time allotted to help you move the case forward. Follow up phone appointments can be scheduled as needed as new information is obtained. We charge your clinic the teleconsult fee, which then you can pass on to your client with your fees tacked on.
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Helpful checklist of information to have on hand before these appointments:
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Signalment
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Presenting complaint
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Description of events or representative event, including body language, who is present, who behavior is directed at, when events occur, triggers, etc.
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The names of any trainers involved, if applicable
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Underlying medical conditions/PE results
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Current medications
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Diagnostics performed and important results
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Treatments already trialed
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Click here for a downloadable Teleconsult History Prep Sheet for your convenience.
The Partnership Consult
This Collaborative service is designed to develop an integrated care team to support your client and pet through their behavior problems. Our Behavior Therapy Technician does a thorough Behavior Intake with the client so we can ask the questions we need to to understand the complexity of the behavioral history. Clients leave that first appointment with the urgent management and lifestyle changes needed to maximize safety and minimize sufferring. Dr. Fagen then reviews a form you submit, any videos, trainer notes and the medical record to formulate suspected diagnoses, make specific diagnostic and medication recommendations, and craft a plan. You have the choice to optionally schedule a phone conversation if you need to with Dr. Fagen to connect verbally if you feel it would benefit the case. Then, Dr. Fagen will write up a report and email it to you so you have it all in writing. Then, you do your thang - diagnostics, physical, medication management - at your discretion, based off the recommendations. If follow up doctor to doctor support is needed additional phone conversations can be scheduled for further tweaking.
For this consult we charge the client directly for our side of the Partnership Consult. You should charge the client appropriately for your time investment as well (and we are letting them know you will!)
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Once you submit your form initiating the process, we take care of all the details, communicating directly with the client to obtain the information we need.
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Cost to client is $349 for the whole Partnership Teleconsult, Intake appointment included.
Beyond the teleconsult...
After the Vet-to-Vet Collaborative Service, the client can elect to move forward with our fully remote or in person Behavioral Coaching services. This combo of Vet-to-Vet and Behavioral Coaching support makes the patient part of our one of a kind Hybrid Program. Rest assured, that when your patients participate in our Hybrid Program you can feel confident that they are getting gold standard behavioral therapy guidance. This maximizes the chance that your medication plan can work the way its supposed to. Let us help with all the hard and time consuming stuff, and you can do the part you do best. All Vet-to-Vet Teleconsults also come with 14 days of complementary doctor to doctor email support for quick follow up or clarification questions if needed.
Frequently Asked Questions
Q: Which consult should I choose for my patient?
The "No Fuss" Teleconsult is great for:
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When you have a handle on the case overall you just need a little guidance or have some questions
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You need some guidance super urgently
- The patient is already working with a skilled behavior modification trainer
- You are largelly comfortable managing behavior cases
- The case is not super dire
- You aren't sure yet if a full Partnership Teleconsult is indicated or not and want to talk through service options with the doctor to relay a formal recommendation to the client (note, you can always discuss our various service streams with the front desk at no charge)
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The "Partnership Teleconsult" is great for:
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If its too difficult to coordinate a chat by phone doctor-to-doctor, our lives are busy!
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If there are trainer notes that you want me to review directly
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The case seems relatively standard but you would really value having a written report
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You or the client wants videos reviewed
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You don't have a clear understanding of the patient's body language during problematic times
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You are having trouble collecting or have limited time to collect history from the client and would rather they directly answer our questions on the form
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Any patient who is not already working with a very skilled behavior modification trainer and needs direct support with this
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When you don't feel equipped to evaluate what the patient really needs
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When you need to offload the information gathering to our team
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Distance cases that do not and will not have access to a veterinary behaviorist if needed
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When it is simpler for you to charge the client directly for your services and for us to charge the client directly for our services
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When there are difficult conversations that need to be had, our technicians can handle it, they have seen it all
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Any case where behavioral euthanasia or rehoming is part of the discussion; any case where there is injury potential to an at risk human or animal in the home; any court case - note, if an in person veterinary behavior evaluation is at all an option for these cases that is definitely the better approach, but if its not an option, this is the next best thing.
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Q: Do we have to offer all these options to a client?
A: Absolutely not. Offer what works for you, your practice and what you think might be best for the case. The multiple options are designed so that you can tailor the service to what you need.
Q: For the No Fuss Teleconsult, what kind of information should I collect before we speak so I can get the most out of this?
A: The general list of information to have on hand includes:
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Signalment
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Presenting complaint
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Description of events or representative event, including body language, who is present, who behavior is directed at, when events occur, triggers, etc.
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The names of any trainers involved, if applicable
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Underlying medical conditions/PE results
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Current medications
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Diagnostics performed and important results
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Treatments already trialed
For a downloadable history form to guide your questioning, click here.
Q: What is the client responsible for getting to you with these Partnership Teleconsults?:
A: Don't worry about it, we will work with them directly to get what we need. If you want to know this is what we ask of them:
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Filling out this form: Teleconsult Client Questionnaire
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Submitting 3-5 short (<3 minute) videos demonstrating the behavior problem +/- a tour of the environment it occurs in. The videos should each be labeled with the patients first and last name so we know who its for. Please instruct clients that aggressive episodes should not be incited or prolonged just to get a video. These should be uploaded to a personalized Dropbox folder for the patient. To request access to their personalized Dropbox folder, have the client click: Dropbox folder.
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Any notes/homework assignments from any trainers involved, if applicable. Emailed over to info@vetbehaviorcenter.com is great.
Q: My patient is in urgent need of help. In what timeline can this happen?
A: Barring vacations/holidays, generally we can get you the help you need within the week. If additional urgency is needed, let us know and we will do what we can. If Dr. Fagen is out for any reason, you do have the option to proceed with one of our other practitioners if the case is too urgent to wait until she is back. We are here to help you! For the No Fuss Teleconsult consult, call as soon as you know you are interested so we can schedule a time.
Q: How does charging work?
A: For the No Fuss Teleconsult fees are charged directly to the clinic and then you can turn around and charge your client whatever your practice decides compensates for your time as well. The easiest approach is for us to collect credit card information with your first teleconsult then we are able to store a reference to the card on file for future charging so its simple each time thereafter. If you let us know who to reach out to, our team can contact the appropriate front desk person or manager to get it all sorted. For the Partnership Teleconsult, we charge the client directly for our time, you should do so as well.
Q: How much should we charge our clients?
A: Pricing is up to each clinic. One common approach is to tack on an additional fee equivalent to the amount of doctor time spent engaging in the teleconsult. The history forms associated with the Partnership Teleconsult and reviewing the report likely will take around 15-30 minutes total for the average case. Depending on the case and consult type, there is the time associated with collecting history and communicating the treatment plan to the client (which is communication time you may have had anyway). Some clinics choose to tack on the equivalent of their appointment fee as an easy guesstimate. Some clinics also schedule appointments to collect the necessary history and/or to discuss the plan after the consult. Let us know what works well for you because we are always curious to hear!
Q: What kind of follow up is included in case something is not going well or we have additional questions?
A: Each consult includes 14 days of email communication directly vet-to-vet for anything that may come up. For complicated cases, some people are choosing to use the "No Fuss Teleconsult" option as a way to schedule follow up after an initial teleconsult for ongoing support.
Q: What you recommended is not working! What do we do??!
A: Treatment success is not guaranteed. Behavioral medicine commonly involves treatment trials, tweaking plans and troubleshooting. Sometimes our plans are simple and sometimes they are complicated and interdependent, depending on the severity of the case and capacity of the clients. Medications work in combination with management and behavioral therapies to effect change and if one piece of the puzzle isn't succeeding then we can see lack of progress. Behavioral plans often require clients to adjust elements of how they interact with their pet or run their lives. "Buy in" from the clients to get on board with plans and the establishment of appropriate expectations is sometimes best achieved with the in person connection we are able to build during appointments. Not all patients respond to treatments the same. We do our best to provide you with straight forward advice and options when needed based off the information we have at the time of the consult. If something is not working, the case may need direct individualized attention and we recommend they come in for an Intake Appointment so we can get them the help they need.
Q. What if I choose a consult service type and after your review of the information you feel it was not the correct consult type for the patient? Can we switch?
A: If an in person assessment is really what is needed, and the patient is in our service area, we will let you know and are happy to apply our fee to the cost of a Comprehensive Evaluation or Psychiatry Intake. If the patient is not in our service area, then we will help you as best we can with the info we have and let you know the prognosis is guarded without the support of a veterinary behaviorist in person.
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Q. If we start a case as a teleconsulting case and then the client decides to proceed with working directly with you, can they do that?
A. Of course! We welcome it! At any time we can transfer them over to our Comprehensive Care track. While the client/patient will still progress through our appointment flow like normal, the information we have gathered from you will expedite the treatment process and we will get them deeper into their plan faster.
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Q. What kind of contact does Dr. Fagen have with the client?
A. Our doctors do not communicate any medical advice to the client for all of these cases as we do not have a VCPR. All recommendations are directly to the veterinarian, not to the client. Behavioral advice and guidance can be provided by our Behavior Therapy Technicians but the client will be referred back to you for all medical concerns.
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Q: What responsibility do I have as a veterinarian seeking out this teleconsult service?
A: The veterinarian managing the case has the VCPR, we do not. You may know details that we do not. It is the veterinarian's responsibility to take the recommendations we provide and use their best professional judgment in making recommendations to the client. Recommendations are not intended to be comprehensive. It is the expectation that if a veterinarian is unfamiliar or uncomfortable with a treatment that they would do their own due diligence to understand the treatment better. For example, not all contraindications, doses, side effects, common misapplications or details of a treatment may be covered. We are not present to ensure communication of all risks and relevant information is occurring with a client. As a result, we are not liable for any outcomes, use or misuse of our recommendations.