“Opposition is generally centered around the premise that pets are going to be harmed. But VPAs will still be working under the direct supervision of a veterinarian. We still have veterinarian oversight.”
Rebecca Rose, RVT, Co-author of Career Choices for Veterinary Technicians
Veterinary care in the United States is increasingly difficult to access. According to a 2024 study commissioned by the American Association of Veterinary Medical Colleges, projected veterinary graduates will meet only about 76 percent of the profession’s needs through 2032, and in 2025, the USDA declared 243 rural veterinary shortage areas across 46 states, the highest number ever recorded.
Practitioners feel this shortage regularly. Rebecca Rose has been a credentialed veterinary technician since 1987 and is one of the first two Registered Veterinary Technicians appointed to the Colorado State Board of Veterinary Medicine. In the summer of 2023, she was working as a Relief Practice Manager at CSU Spur Veterinary Hospital in Denver, one of the city’s most affordable veterinary care options, when the clinic began charging $40 for appointments for the first time. The phones opened at 7:00 a.m.
“As early as 7:30, the appointments were full,” she recalls. “After that, 90 percent of the clients were unable to get an appointment. It was heartbreaking, as we were the ‘backup’ and affordable care option for Denver and surrounding cities. There were just so many pets not seen.”
Colorado decided to do something about it. On November 5, 2024, voters passed Proposition 129 with 52.76 percent of the vote, establishing an entirely new veterinary profession: the Veterinary Professional Associate, or VPA. It was a citizen-led ballot initiative, and the debate it sparked has divided the veterinary community ever since. The AVMA alone spent more than $2.3 million opposing it.
Keep reading to learn more about what the VPA is, the concerns surrounding it, and what it could mean for the future of veterinary medicine.
The views expressed in this article are those of Rebecca Rose, RVT, and do not represent the Colorado State Board of Veterinary Medicine or any other organization with which she is affiliated.
Meet the Expert: Rebecca Rose, RVT
Rebecca Rose has been a credentialed veterinary technician since 1987 and has spent nearly four decades working across virtually every facet of the profession. She is the co-author of Career Choices for Veterinary Technicians with Dr. Carin Smith, a book that predicted the emergence of a mid-level veterinary practitioner years before it became a national conversation.
Rose has held leadership positions within the Colorado Association of Certified Veterinary Technicians (CACVT) since 1997 and has been attending Colorado State Board of Veterinary Medicine meetings as an observer for more than two decades. In 2024, when Colorado veterinary technicians became Registered Veterinary Technicians, Rose was one of the first two RVTs appointed to the State Board. She is also the founder of Six Functions of a Purpose-Driven Veterinary Team.
How Colorado Got Here
The VPA did not emerge overnight. The conversation in Colorado started more than 16 years ago, and Rose has been in the room for most of it.
I have held positions in leadership within the Colorado Association of Certified Veterinary Technicians since 1997. I recall Dr. Wayne Jensen delivering a presentation to the ColoVMA in the Fall of 2010, in which he introduced the concept of the mid-level practitioner. That’s how long we have been having this conversation in Colorado.
Dr. Karen McCormick held monthly meetings with Colorado stakeholders regarding the mid-level practitioner. I attended as many as I could. It was hugely educational, with guest speakers from all facets of the industry.
That groundwork matters. While Proposition 129 was a citizen-led ballot initiative backed by over 207,000 signatures, it did not emerge from a vacuum. Colorado had already demonstrated a willingness to make bold legislative moves in veterinary medicine. In 2024, the state passed HB24-1047, one of the most comprehensive veterinary technician scope-of-practice laws in the country, defining the role of the RVT, creating the Veterinary Technician Specialist designation, and establishing clear delegation standards. Colorado was already a state that believed in expanding and protecting the roles of veterinary professionals.
The VPA was the next step in that conversation.
What Is a Veterinary Professional Associate?
The VPA is a newly created veterinary profession requiring a master’s degree and registration with the Colorado State Board of Veterinary Medicine. VPAs practice under the supervision of a licensed veterinarian and are limited to companion animals, specifically cats and dogs. Rose says the scope is narrower than many people assume.
“If I’m managing a veterinary practice, there’s really great potential in filling the gap between where my veterinarian is overworked, and my veterinary technician is not permitted by law to practice. The VPA role is specifically for companion animals, and it’s very defined. They have a narrow scope of surgeries they can perform. Prescriptions, I think, have yet to be seen, because there are logistics around that. But if I was working in a well-managed practice and I was managing teams, I would find a place for this person,” says Rose.
The first cohort of VPA students is currently enrolled at Colorado State University. The first graduates are expected in approximately two years.
Concerns About the VPA Role
Proposition 129 did not pass without a fight. The American Veterinary Medical Association spent more than $2.3 million opposing it, and the opposition included the Colorado Veterinary Medical Association, NAVTA, and dozens of specialty organizations. Their central argument was that allowing inadequately trained individuals to perform surgery on animals poses a serious risk to patient safety. As recently as March 2026, NAVTA published a formal position statement opposing the VPA model at a national level.
Rose shares,
Opposition is generally centered around the premise that pets are going to be harmed. But VPAs will still be working under the direct supervision of a veterinarian. We still have veterinarian oversight. There will only be 30 of them right now. We still have two years till they graduate to figure this out. We still have two years for the profession to embrace this idea, and we are being scrutinized and magnified right now to see what this looks like, which is fantastic.
And 50 years ago, when veterinary technicians entered the field, when we were animal health technicians, there was similar opposition and the worry that veterinary medicine’s never going to be the same. And we’ve managed.
How the VPA Could Expand Access to Care
One of the central arguments in favor of the VPA is that it expands the total volume of care available, rather than redistributing work that veterinarians and vet techs are already doing. Rose sees particular promise in shelter medicine.
“Because of the sheer volume that shelter medicine sees, they just do not have the veterinarians to fulfill those positions. There’s still going to need to be a supervising veterinarian, but it’s going to ease the load on the veterinarians doing what they need to do within that shelter,” shares Rose. “This position can, for a lot of people, be that next tier in their career. Those folks who do have a bachelor’s degree and do want to take that next step, becoming a VPA could be a beautiful place for them to go,” says Rose.
Rose is also candid that the VPA is not a silver bullet for rural access. The same barriers that make it difficult to recruit veterinarians and vet techs to rural areas, including housing, pay, and lack of family support systems, apply equally to VPAs.
The VPA Program at Colorado State University
Colorado State University is the only institution in the country currently training VPAs. The program, called the master of science in veterinary clinical care, was more than a decade in the making and launched its first cohort in spring 2026. Students train at CSU’s $230 million Veterinary Health and Education Complex and receive instruction using the same course objectives and assessment standards as the university’s DVM program. The curriculum focuses on common infectious and physiological diseases of dogs and cats, technical skills, client communication, and leadership.
Rose notes that students entering the program are not coming in cold. They are arriving with existing credentials and a clear understanding of what the role does and does not offer.
“People are coming in with a lot of education already, whether it’s a bachelor’s degree or a Veterinary Technician Specialist credential. There’s already a level of interest and desire. They’re going in with their eyes wide open. There’s been no misrepresentation, I would think, about what this looks like, who’s going to hire you, or where you can go,” says Rose.
The first VPAs are expected to graduate in approximately two years.
What Still Needs to Be Figured Out
The VPA is law in Colorado, but many of the most fundamental questions about how it will function in practice remain unanswered. The Colorado State Board of Veterinary Medicine is still working through the rules and oversight structure that will govern how VPAs practice, but it is still very much in flux.
“What does that oversight look like? That has yet to be seen. That’s what we’re working through right now,” says Rose.
The question of pay is equally unresolved. What a VPA earns will come down to individual practices and how well they budget for and value the people on their team. That, Rose notes, is nothing new in veterinary medicine.
Looking Ahead
For all the debate surrounding the VPA, Rose is optimistic about what the role could become:
In those well-managed practices, I would like to see a well-managed, well-supervised veterinary professional associate. And then, in animal shelters with a supervising veterinarian, I would like to see a veterinary professional associate working alongside that team as well, relieving some of the load on those veterinarians. And the whole team, both in veterinary hospitals and in shelter medicine, embracing this new position. Because just because something is new doesn’t mean it’s bad.
Colorado may be the only state with a VPA for some time. “I’ve worked in the veterinary community for almost 40 years, and I have learned we are a slow-to-adapt community,” says Rose.
That is not necessarily a criticism. It is the reality of a profession that takes its responsibility to animal health and public safety seriously. The VPA is new, the rules are still being written, and the first graduates are still two years away. There is time for the profession to find its footing.
