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Facility
Certification

This certification recognizes emergency and critical patient care facilities that meet or exceed the minimum standards and guidelines formulated by VECCS as centers of excellence.

VECCS offers this certification program as a way to raise the standard of patient care and to increase public and professional awareness of high-quality facilities in which veterinary emergency and critical patient care are practiced.

The facility certification program identifies 3 certification levels based on operating hours, equipment, and personnel.

Level I

A Level I emergency and critical care facility has the specialized medical staff, support personnel, equipment, and training necessary to provide sophisticated emergent and critical patient care. The Level I facility is open to receive small animal emergency patients 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year.

To be certified as Level I, an emergency and critical care facility must comply with all Level I requirements listed in the VECCS Facilities Certification Guidelines.

A level I emergency and critical care facility differs from Level II and Level III facilities as follows:

STAFFING

  • The level I facility must have a Diplomate of the American College of Veterinary Emergency and Critical Care available 24 hours a day.
  • A documented relationship with a Diplomate of the American College of Veterinary Radiology and a Diplomate of the American College of Veterinary Internal Medicine.
  • Must have at least two certified technicians (CVT) employed full time with one of the technicians a certified Veterinary Technician Specialist (Emergency and Critical Care).

SITE CAPABILITIES

  • Have the resources to evaluate and stabilize any small mammal, avian, and reptile (exotic) “pets”.
  • The capability of providing advanced life support with mechanical ventilation and direct blood pressure monitoring
  • The capacity to perform endoscopy and bronchoscopy.
  • Proficiency in abdominal ultrasound and echocardiography.
  • The skills required to provide total parental nutrition.

Level II

A level II emergency and critical care facility has the medical staff, support personnel, specialized equipment, and staff training necessary to provide high-quality emergent and critical patient care 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year.

Level II facilities differ from Level III facilities in that they continuously operate 7 days a week and have specialized facilities and equipment essential to provide high-quality critical patient care. They must have readily accessible consultation with a board-certified imaging specialist.

To be certified as Level II, the facility must comply with all Level II requirements listed in the VECCS Facilities Certification Guidelines.

Level III

A level III emergency and critical care facility is an acute care facility with medical staff, support personnel, specialized equipment, and staff training necessary to provide high-quality emergency and critical patient care. A Level III facility is open to receive emergency patients on nights, weekends, and holidays 365 days a year.

To be certified as Level III, the facility must comply with all Level III requirements listed in the VECCS Facilities Certification Guidelines.

Evaluating Facilities

The VECCS Board of Directors has charged the Facility Certification Committee with the honor and privilege of examining the application documents from all of the emergency and critical care facilities that have sought to become VECCS certified. The authority used by the Committee in its decisions regarding all applications is the current version of the Minimum Requirements for an Emergency and Critical Care Facility, which was approved by the VECCS Board of Directors in the January 2021. The Committee’s task is to evaluate a hospital’s facility, its infrastructure, its business hours, its ER and ICU staff, their respective schedules, the hospital’s commitment to providing training and continuing education for all of those staff who are involved in patient care, medical records, equipment and supplies, and reference books and printed or online resources available to their staff. VECCS and the Committee have no intention to judge the quality of medicine that is practiced within a facility, or to evaluate their business decisions, policies and procedures. To perform its evaluation, the Committee completes a checklist audit. It seeks 100% compliance with the Minimum Requirements before certification is approved for any facility at any level.

Apply for Certification

The certification process is entirely electronic and does not involve site visits. This trust-based approach is designed to reduce the costs of the certification program and requires each hospital to provide written, pictorial, and video documentation of its facilities, staffing, and equipment. All application materials are submitted electronically.

STEP 1: Download Application Guidelines

Please download and review the following documents:

  1. Facility Certification Guidelines
  2. Facility Application Checklists
  3. Facility Application CE log Best Practices

STEP 2: Account Setup

Create your account in our application system. **Please do not utilize social media to create your account**

Account Setup Instructions:

  1. Create an Account
  2. Select ‘Start Entry’
  3. Select a Facility Certification category
  4. Select application type: ‘New Application’ or ‘Recertification Application’.
  5. Name your entry with your practice name or acronym then Cert or Recert-year. (Example: AMCS Cert-2021)

STEP 3: Submit Application

The certification will last for a period of two years. A renewal application is then required, which may involve a change or update of the level of certification and confirmation of accordance with standards. You have 30 days from the date of your facility certification renewal date to submit re-certification forms. If the re-certification forms are not submitted, your VECCS Facility Certification status will be terminated.

The following are REQUIRED:

  1. Application for Facility Certification
  2. Application Checklist
  3. Facility Certification Checklist
  4. Reference Checklist
  1. Veterinarian Employee List & CE Log
  2. Technician Employee List & CE Log
  3. Required documents (See Application Checklist)
  4. Payment

**NOTE**

Clearly name the files, ie. Calibrated burettes, Crystalloids, etc.

Please attempt to make one continuous video. You will need to share your facility video by uploading it to YouTube or Vimeo first. If you need some help with uploading your video, you can see a quick explanation here: Vimeo or YouTube.

New Application Fee:

$500.00; includes a non-refundable application fee of $250.00 and an approval fee of $250.00.

Re-Certification Fee:

$400.00; includes a non-refundable application fee of $200.00 and an approval fee of $200.00.

Still have questions? We’re here to help.

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