Appendix G to Part 5 - Criteria for Designation of Areas Having Shortages of Veterinary Professional(s)
42:1.0.1.1.6.0.1.5.7 : Appendix G
Appendix G to Part 5 - Criteria for Designation of Areas Having
Shortages of Veterinary Professional(s) Part I - Geographic Areas
A. Criteria for Food Animal Veterinary Shortage.
A geographic area will be designated as having a shortage of
food animal veterinary professional(s) if the following three
criteria are met:
1. The area is a rational area for the delivery of veterinary
services.
2. The ratio of veterinary livestock units to food animal
veterinarians in the area is at least 10,000:1, and the computed
food animal veterinarian shortage to meet this ratio is at least
0.5.
3. Food animal veterinarians in contiguous areas are
overutilized or excessively distant from the population of the area
under consideration.
B. Criteria for Companion Animal Veterinary Shortage.
A geographic area will be designated as having a shortage of
companion animal veterinary professional(s) if the following three
criteria are met:
1. The area is a rational area for the delivery of veterinary
services.
2. The ratio of resident civilian population to number of
companion animal veterinarians in the area is at least 30,000:1 and
the computed companion animal veterinary shortage to meet this
ratio is at least 0.5.
3. Companion animal veterinarians in contiguous areas are
overutilized or excessively distant from the population of the area
under consideration.
C. Methodology.
In determining whether an area meets the criteria established by
paragraphs A and B of this part, the following methodology will be
used:
1. Rational Areas for the Delivery of Veterinary
Services.
(a) The following areas will be considered rational areas for
the delivery of veterinary services:
(i) A county, or a group of contiguous counties whose population
centers are within 40 minutes travel time of each other.
(ii) A portion of a county (or an area made up of portions of
more than one county) which, because of topography, market and/or
transportation patterns or other factors, has limited access to
contiguous area resources, as measured generally by a travel time
of greater than 40 minutes to these resources.
(b) The following distances will be used as guidelines in
determining distances corresponding to 40 minutes travel time:
(i) Under normal conditions with primary roads available: 25
miles.
(ii) In mountainous terrain or in areas with only secondary
roads available: 20 miles.
(iii) In flat terrain or in areas connected by interstate
highways: 30 miles.
2. Determination of Number of Veterinary Livestock Units
(VLU) Requiring Care.
Since various types of food animals require varying amounts of
veterinary care, each type of animal has been assigned a weight
indicating the amount of veterinary care it requires relative to
that required by a milk cow. Those weights are used to compute the
number of “Veterinary Livestock Units” (VLU) for which veterinary
care is required.
The VLU is computed as follows:
Veterinary Livestock Units (VLU) = (number of milk cows) + .2 ×
(number of other cattle and calves) + .05 × (number of hogs and
pigs) + .05 × (number of sheep) + .002 × (number of poultry).
3. Counting of Food Animal Veterinarians.
The number of food animal veterinarians is determined by
weighting the number of veterinarians within each of several
practice categories according to the average fraction of practice
time in that category which is devoted to food animal veterinary
care, as follows:
Number of Food Animal Veterinarians = (number of veterinarians in
large animal practice, exclusively) + (number of veterinarians in
bovine practice, exclusively) + (number of veterinarians in poultry
practice, exclusively) + .75 × (mixed practice veterinarians with
greater than 50% of practice in large animal care) + .5 × (mixed
practice veterinarians with approximately 50% of practice in large
animal care) + .25 × (mixed practice veterinarians with less than
50% of practice in large animal care).
4. Counting of Companion Animal Veterinarians (that is,
those who provide services for dogs, cats, horses, and any other
animals maintained as companions to the owner rather than as food
animals).
The number of full-time equivalent companion animal
veterinarians is determined by weighting the number of
veterinarians within each of several practice categories by the
average portion of their practice which is devoted to companion
animal care by the practitioners within that category, as
follows:
Number of Companion Animal Veterinarians = (number of veterinarians
in large animal practice, exclusively) + (number of veterinarians
in equine practice, exclusively) + .75 × (mixed practice
veterinarians with greater than 50% of practice in small animal
care) + .5 × (mixed practice veterinarians with approximately 50%
of practice in small animal care) + .25 × (mixed practice
veterinarians with less than 50% of practice in small animal care).
5. Size of Shortage Computation.
The size of shortage will be computed as follows:
(a) Food animal veterinarian shortage = (VLU/10,000)−(number of
food animal veterinarians).
(b) Companion animal veterinarian shortage = (resident civilian
pop./30,000)−(number of companion animal veterinarians).
6. Contiguous Area Considerations.
Veterinary professional(s) in areas contiguous to an area being
considered for designation will be considered excessively distant
from the population of the area or overutilized if one of the
following conditions prevails in each contiguous area:
(a) Veterinary professional(s) in the contiguous area are more
than 60 minutes travel time from the center of the area being
considered for designation (measured in accordance with paragraph
C.1.(b) of this part).
(b) In the case of food animal veterinary professional(s), the
VLU-to-food animal veterinarian ratio in the contiguous area is in
excess of 5,000:1.
(c) In the case of companion animal veterinary professional(s),
the population-to-companion animal veterinarian ratio in the
contiguous area is in excess of 15,000:1.
C. Determination of Degree-of-Shortage.
Designated areas will be assigned to degree-of-shortage groups
as follows:
Group 1 - Areas with a food animal veterinarian shortage and no
veterinarians.
Group 2 - Areas (not included above) with a food animal
veterinarian shortage and no food animal veterinarians.
Group 3 - All other food animal veterinarian shortage areas.
Group 4 - All companion animal shortage areas (not included
above) having no veterinarians.
Group 5 - All other companion animal shortage areas.