More than five years in the making, the National Veterinary Medical Service Act (NVMSA) is about to become a reality. Soon, the legislation to provide loan repayment for veterinarians who practice in underserved areas will become a living, breathing program.
"Make no mistake about it – it has taken us five years of reaching out, reaching in, wrangling, rebuking, begging, banging, teaching and testifying on Capitol Hill and to the Executive Branch for NVMSA to become a reality," said Gregory S. Hammer, AVMA’s President.
Dr. Hammer testified on NVMSA before a US House of Representatives subcommittee earlier this year, urging implementation of this long-standing, but dormant, program to address a critical shortage in the number of veterinarians who protect the country’s food supply. At that time he emphasized the need for USDA to follow through on NVMSA, which Congress first approved in 2003 and has funded for the past three years, despite USDA’s inaction.
Ultimately, the feat of bringing NVMSA to reality was accomplished by a Congressional mandate – inserted in the Farm Bill approved this spring – that motivated the USDA to move forward.
"The language we got inserted in the Farm Bill was very direct," said Mark T. Lutschaunig, VMD, Director of AVMA’s Governmental Relations Division. "It gave the USDA a timeline to promulgate the regulations and prohibited the USDA from using the appropriated funds for loan repayment programs other than NVMSA."
In the rules it must write within the next 270 days, USDA will determine how to define underserved geographic areas and specific eligibility for the loan repayment. The initial push in the program will be on those veterinarians who serve in rural areas and work with large animals, but the program will likely be open to any geographic or professional area that’s underserved.
To date, Congress has appropriated $1.8 million for NVMSA.
"Hopefully, by next fall, veterinarians can start applying," said Dr. Lutschaunig. "This is a huge step toward filling voids in food safety and rural veterinary medicine."
"We are extremely grateful to the executives of state and allied VMAs who responded to our action alerts over the last few years and generated grass roots activity with their members," Dr. Lutschaunig added.
Source: AVMA Newsletter, July 15, 2008