How to use AlignCare to expand access to vet care - Ep53

Shelter Success Simplified

GUEST: T' Fisher is director of operations for AlignCare Health, a program of the University of Tennessee that aims to expand access to veterinary care nationwide. She was founder and director of the Companion Animal Initiative of Tennessee at the University of Tennessee College of Veterinary Medicine, as well as vice president of animal welfare at the Houston SPCA. She has a bachelor’s degree in cultural anthropology and bachelor of science degrees in computer technology (with a specialty in graphic design and 3D animation) and in animal science. MAIN QUESTION: What is AlignCare and how can it help organizations expand access to veterinary care even if they don't have their own clinic? TAKEAWAYS:

• AlignCare and other access-to-care programs help to keep animals who just need veterinary care with their families and out of shelters. This enables shelters to focus resources on animals who are homeless and really need the shelter.
• AlignCare benefits private practice veterinarians in the community, as they hate to see an animal euthanized for financial reasons.
• AlignCare is one way for helping with these situations. It covers 80% of veterinary costs for pets who are sick or injured whose people are on a means-tested public assistance program such as Medicaid, food stamps, or Section 8 housing.
• Animal organizations without public clinics can refer people to AlignCareHealth.org to apply for help at a participating clinic near them. (You can check with AlignCareHealth.org to see if the program is operating in your community, or you can help to get it going there.)
• AlignCare and other access-to-care programs typically works with veterinarians to provide incremental care that does not start with “gold standard” care that often involves lots of upfront costs, like diagnostic tests. Instead it relies on veterinarians’ experience to determine the best, most cost effective initial courses of action for sick or injured pets, if additional help is needed, then tests can be ordered. It’s a tiered diagnostic and therapeutic approach to veterinary medicine, similar to the way shelter veterinarians work.

LINKS:

• AlignCare
• Program for Pet Health Equity at the University of Tennessee
• Leadership recommendation: Adopters Welcome Manual by HSUS