Hospital Policies

Leashes & Carriers

We request that your dogs are on leashes and your cats are in carriers when you visit our clinic. We are located next to a busy street and we would not want any of your pets escaping. Please be sure to have your children ask permission to touch other client's pets, not all animals are friendly with strangers.

Our receptionists may ask you to hold your pet in your vehicle if we suspect they may have a contagious disease, such as kennel cough, to avoid contamination of our waiting room.

Appointments

We strive to keep a schedule that allows us to provide you and your pet adequate individual time with our doctors and staff. Your set appointment time is reserved especially for you, thus it is imperative that patients arrive to their appointments on time.

Cancellations

We strongly uphold a 24-hour cancellation policy and ask that you adhere to this policy. If an appointment is missed or not cancelled before the 24-hour cancellation time frame, there will be a missed appointment fee.

Payments

Our "Pay at the Desk" policy helps avoid the high costs of billing, thus keeping your visits less costly. Please be prepared to pay at the time of service. Understand that we do not offer payment plans or revolving credit accounts but we do accept Care Credit, (some restrictions apply). We accept cash, checks, Visa, MasterCard or debit.

Vaccinations

Because this is a hospital, all animals must have current vaccinations before being admitted for any elective procedures such as spays, neuters, dentals, grooming, or other surgeries. Please plan accordingly.

Dispensing Medications

California Code of Regulations, Section 2032.1. A veterinarian may prescribe and dispense a medication only to his/her animal patient after the establishment of a veterinarian-client-patient relationship (VCPR). This requires an examination of the animal patient(s) or herd, a diagnosis of the medical condition, assumption of responsibility for making clinical judgments regarding treatment, discussion of the treatment with the animal owner, and availability for follow-up evaluation. As a prescriber, the veterinarian can dispense directly to that patient.

Therefore, it is illegal for our hospital to refill or dispense medications to a client from another veterinarian even if they have a written prescription because there has not been an established VCPR nor is the veterinarian a pharmacist. We are able to prescribe and dispense prescription drugs only for our own patients. Often, clients who are traveling or have temporarily relocated to our area will ask to have a prescription refilled and regretfully state and federal laws prohibit us from dispensing prescription medications to anyone with whom we do not have a VCPR.

Even in an emergency situation it is illegal for a veterinarian to dispense medications to an unexamined patient, and prescribe or refill a drug for more than 1 (one) year from the date that the veterinarian has examined the animal patient and prescribed such drug.

In summary, dispensing of veterinary prescription medications is a privilege granted to licensed veterinarians by state and federal laws, since failure to do so could result in revocation of the license of a veterinarian, revocation of the license of a registered veterinary technician, and other disciplinary action against our hospital. Here at Evers Veterinary Clinic we are bound by the California Code of Regulations, Section 2032.1 for dispensing of medications.

Reference:

California Code of Regulations (CCR), Section 2032.1
Business and Professions Code (BPC), Section 4024 and Section 4051
The California Veterinary Practice Act, Section 2033