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TELECONSULTING
Are you managing a veterinary behavior case and would like some assistance? Feeling a little in over your head?
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.
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.
With the exception of our Hybrid Program, all fees charged directly to the clinic.
Teleconsulting is only available for our feline and canine patients at this time.
Urgent appointments can be arranged.
Could use something else from us? Just let us know!
The No Fuss Phone Teleconsult
$69
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.
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
Click here for a downloadable Teleconsult History Prep Sheet for your convenience.
The E-consult
$99
This email teleconsult allows our doctor to receive the background info needed and for you to get a written report. Once we receive all of the following items, we will review the case and send back a report with recommendations within the week. We charge your clinic the teleconsult fee, which then you can pass on to your client with your fees tacked on.
Required items:
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Teleconsult Client Questionnaire filled out by the client.
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Teleconsult Vet Questionnaire filled out by you.
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Your full medical record/any specialist's medical records that may be relevant - include labwork results and any other diagnostics
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3-5 short (<3 minute) videos demonstrating the behavior problem +/- a tour of the environment it occurs in uploaded to a personalized Dropbox folder for your patient. 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.
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Any notes/homework assignments from any trainers involved, if applicable.
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Any information you believe is important to share.
Note: After the background information is reviewed, if the doctor strongly feels a different teleconsult option is in order, we will inform you and give you the opportunity for your client to upgrade.
The Partnership Consult:
Hybrid Program
This teleconsult is for patients that will be participating in our Hybrid Program. In this program, we provide you with the teleconsult support to effectively manage the case, while our Behavior Therapy Technicians provide the hands-on behavioral therapy coaching we know your patients need. The beautiful part of this service is that we can take on the complex behavioral histories, help you formulate a diagnosis, make specific diagnostic and medication recommendations, and offload the hard part onto our Team. You continue what you do best - physical exams, diagnostics and prescribing.
How it works:
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Your client/patient complete an Intake Appointment with us
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We review the medical record in advance - include labwork results and any other diagnostics
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We develop a plan
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We discuss the plan with you via a 20 minute phone consult
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We submit a report to you with our recommendations
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Your client proceeds with Treatment Appointments directly with our Behavior Therapy Technicians
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!).
Cost to client is $149 for the Partnership Teleconsult after they do their Intake Appointment when paying a la carte.
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
The "E-consult" 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
The "Partnership Consult" is great for:
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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
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
-
Underlying medical conditions/PE results
-
Current medications
-
Diagnostics performed and important results
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Treatments already trialed
For a downloadable history form to guide your questioning, click here.
Q: I've looked at the info - for the E-consult, what am I as the veterinarian responsible for?
A: Payment, sending over the full MR and filling out this form: Teleconsult Vet Questionnaire
Q: And what is the client responsible for?:
A: They have the harder job.
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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. 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: For the E-consult, since we aren't scheduling an appointment, how do we start the process and when do we get the report back?
A: For the E-consult, your Teleconsult Vet Questionnaire or the Teleconsult Client Questionnaire initiates the process. Once we receive either of these, we will be keeping an eye out for all the other documentation. Feel free to drop us a line too if you would like! If we do not receive all the necessary documentation (from the clinic and the client) within 2 weeks of receiving the first questionnaire then we will gladly reach out to you and let you know what we are missing so we can sort out if it is still on its way and determine if we should proceed without it. Once we receive all documentation (or decide we will proceed without certain information), then we will return the report within 2 business days.
Q: How does charging work?
A: For all but the Partnership Consult, 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. We can collect this card info at the time of the first consult if the doctor has access to it, or we can contact the appropriate manager in your clinic before or after the appointment. For E-consults, when you are submitting your forms you can call us with the information or we can reach out to you when the consult is initiated. Payment does need to be collected before we can generate a report. For the Partnership Consult, we collect our fee directly from the client. Please charge the client as you deem appropriate to cover your time in the process.
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 E-consult and Multimedia Combo consult and reviewing the report likely will take around 15 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, we will recommend an Intake Appointment.
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 an Intake Appointment can be scheduled. 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.
Q. What kind of contact does Dr. Fagen have with the client?
A. Our doctors do not communicate any medical advice to the client as for all of these cases 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.
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.