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It’s no secret that California is facing a dire shortage of veterinarians (DVMs) and registered veterinary technicians (RVTs), and this crisis has driven the costs of caring for our beloved companion animals to staggering heights.
As we hear from the veterinary community, factors such as inflation and a labor shortage have led to increased salaries, while the consolidation of small practices into large corporations has only exacerbated the situation. And, depending on your zip code, there is also plain old price gouging.
This financial burden weighs heavily not just on everyday Californians but also on the dedicated rescue community which tirelessly works to save countless cats, dogs, rabbits, and other animals abandoned in public shelters.
One of SCIL's sponsored bills in 2023, ACR 86, resolved to encourage out-of-state DVMs and RVTs to become licensed in California in order to deliver life saving spay and neuter services and other medical procedures.
As a part of SCIL's continued work on this important effort, yesterday we brought together Animal Balance, a provider of high-volume spay and neuter services, and members of the California Veterinary Medical Board (VMB) to walk through the licensing process required for out-of-state DVMs and RVTs to become licensed in California. The goal was to demystify the application process and identify any bottlenecks.
A huge thank you to the VMB Executive Officer, Jessica Sieferman, and the entire VMB team for taking the time to meet with us, and to Emma Clifford of Animal Balance for sharing some of the challenges the out-of-state DVMs her organization employs have faced when trying to get licensed in California.
The VMB has worked on simplifying the process, and this meeting helped to clarify the specific steps. Below summarizes what an out-of-state DVM needs to do in order to get licensed in California. It comes down to five steps for DVMs that have taken the North American Veterinary Licensing Examination (NAVLE) within the previous 5-years:
- Provide the applicant's NAVLE to the VMB.
- Pay fees: $350 application fee, $500 license fee.
- Submit fingerprints.
- Take the Veterinary Law Examination (VLE), which can be taken online at anytime and is "open book" - $100 fee.
- License verification from all other states from which the applicant is licensed in.
In the case of an applicant whose NAVLE was taken longer than 5-years ago, the applicant must do all of the above and any ONE of the following:
- Take the NAVLE again.
- Self-certify 2,500 hours of clinical practice.
- Submit proof of 36 hours of Continuing Education for the current and preceding year.
The documents below give more detail for the these steps and are available on the VMB website: https://vmb.ca.gov/applicants/vet_applicants.shtml
For RVT licensing requirements, visit: https://vmb.ca.gov/applicants/rvt_forms.shtml
The American Association of State Boards (https://www.aavsb.org) has a paid license transfer service called the VAULT, which is intended to help facilitate veterinary licensing transfers from state to state. The Animal Balance team informed us that some of their DVMs have expressed frustration with utilizing the platform.
In an effort to further our goal of getting more licensed DVMs in California, we plan to facilitate a forum with the VMB and AAVSB to fully understand and address any issues that DVMs and RVTs are encountering with the VAULT.
If you are a DVM or an RVT that would like to attend the forum, please keep an eye out for our future announcement.
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