Mark Cushing, Founder & CEO at Animal Policy Group

What he does: Mark is the Founder & CEO of Animal Policy Group and a long-time political strategist, government regulatory advisor, corporate executive and former litigator.  Mark focuses his advocacy practice on providing high-level strategic advice and services to clients with needs at any level of government, and key trade/industry associations in the U.S., Canada, and Mexico. Mark specializes in animal health, animal welfare, veterinary and veterinary educational issues and accreditation, developing a cutting-edge practice across these sectors. He currently leads several industry coalitions and initiatives, and has guided successful accreditations for a growing list of veterinary colleges, and is co-founder of the Veterinary Virtual Care Association.  Mark is also a published author and frequent speaker at veterinary medicine and other animal policy-related conferences.

 On risk: "There's an acute issue with access to care that affects pet owners in terms of the risks they have with their pets, that they can't get medical advice. But it affects practices themselves and individual veterinarians because most clinics are severely understaffed … Risk plays out often in terms of not doing enough rather than making a mistake and doing something you're not allowed to do. But that's critical, that's just kind of table stakes. If you own a clinic, if you hire people, if you hold yourself out to the public, you can care for their pets you need to know what you're legally able to do and not do … You can play an invaluable service and minimize risk and attack this [access to care, workforce shortage] problem if you can provide care by video, phone, and audio at home. And you now provide potential clients with resources. 70% of all calls to telemedicine veterinarians or telemedicine veterinary nurses solve the problem.  And you're not required to go into a clinic which means you don't add to the burden on an overstressed, understaffed veterinary team. That's another way of managing risk."

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