VCPR and Telemedicine Rules in Washington
Washington bars establishing a VCPR by telehealth alone.
The relationship starts with a physical examination of the animal within the last year, or with medically appropriate premises visits, and only then does telehealth open up — once established, the rule lets a veterinarian use any form of it at their discretion.
Washington also enumerates the narrow things telehealth may do with no VCPR at all, and caps them with real numbers.
The rule was last amended in August 2025.
Verify before you rely on this
At a glance
A physical examination of the animal within the last year, or sooner if medically appropriate, or acquaintance with the keeping and care of the animals through an examination or medically appropriate and timely premises visits.
Barred in terms — the rule states that the veterinarian shall not establish a VCPR solely by telehealth.
Once a VCPR has been established, all forms of telehealth may be used at the discretion of the veterinarian.
Four narrow things are allowed absent a VCPR: teleadvice, teletriage, pre-visit sedation that is not a controlled substance, and dispensing another veterinarian's existing prescription within hard limits.
The no-VCPR dispensing exception is capped at a ten-day supply per animal per year and at five percent of the dispensing practice's annual dosage units.
Excluded from the no-VCPR telehealth exception altogether — controlled substances may be dispensed only if prescribed by a veterinarian licensed under chapter 18.92 RCW.
WSR 25-15-034, filed 8 July 2025, effective 8 August 2025 (prior version WSR 16-11-004, effective 4 June 2016).
In-person exam or premises visit required — Board rule or administrative code.
WAC 246-933-200, adopted under the authority of RCW 18.92.030
What actually establishes the relationship
Washington gives two routes and attaches a clock to the first.
A veterinarian may have physically examined the animal within the last year — or sooner where that is medically appropriate, which is a professional-judgment qualifier rather than a fixed shorter deadline — or may be personally acquainted with the keeping and care of the animals through an examination or through medically appropriate and timely premises visits.
For a companion-animal practice, the twelve-month examination is the operative fact and it is the one that goes stale; for herd and production work, the premises-visit route is the one that carries.
Either way the relationship has a physical component at its root, and a practice building an intake workflow should be able to point to which of the two routes each client file rests on.
“[h]as physically examined the animal within the last year, or sooner if medically appropriate; or... is personally acquainted with the keeping and care of the animals by virtue of an examination... or by medically appropriate and timely visits to the premises.”
You cannot start the relationship over telehealth
This is one sentence and it is unambiguous, which is worth saying because the drafting in this area often is not.
The word doing the work is solely: telehealth may be part of how a veterinarian gets to know a patient, but it cannot be the whole basis on which the relationship is formed.
That forecloses the direct-to-consumer model where a client downloads an app, has a video consultation with a veterinarian who has never seen the animal, and receives a diagnosis and a prescription.
It does not foreclose a practice using video with a patient it has physically examined inside the last year.
“The veterinarian shall not establish a VCPR solely by telehealth.”
Once it exists, telehealth opens up completely
Washington draws the establish-versus-maintain line about as cleanly as any rule in this series.
Having barred electronic establishment, the rule then places no modality restriction at all on what follows: once a VCPR has been established, all forms of telehealth may be used at the discretion of the veterinarian.
There is no requirement that follow-up be synchronous, no audio-video floor, and no separate cap on how much of an established relationship may be conducted remotely.
The constraint that remains is the establishment clock in subsection (1)(b) — the underlying examination has to stay current, so a relationship maintained entirely by telehealth still has to come back to a physical examination on schedule.
“Once a VCPR has been established, all forms of telehealth... may be used at the discretion of the veterinarian.”
The four things telehealth may do with no VCPR at all
Washington does not leave this to inference, which makes it unusually workable for a practice writing a policy.
Absent a VCPR, telehealth is limited to teleadvice, teletriage, pre-visit sedation that is not a controlled substance, and a narrow dispensing of another veterinarian's existing prescription.
Teleadvice and teletriage are the general-information and urgency-routing functions that do not involve a patient-specific diagnosis, so they sit outside the relationship by definition.
Pre-visit sedation is the practical carve-out for a fractious or aggressive patient who cannot be safely brought in unmedicated.
The dispensing exception is the one with numbers attached, covered next.
The dispensing caps, and where controlled substances sit
The no-VCPR dispensing exception carries two hard limits that a practice manager can actually audit: no more than a ten-day supply per animal per year, and no more than five percent of the practice's annual dosage units dispensed.
The second is a practice-level ceiling rather than a per-client one, which means it is a number someone has to be tracking rather than a rule each veterinarian can apply case by case.
Controlled substances are excluded from this exception entirely — they may be dispensed only where prescribed by a veterinarian licensed under Washington's own veterinary chapter.
Read alongside the federal note below, that exclusion is the narrower of the two constraints a practice will hit.
“consistent with RCW 18.92.012, controlled substances can be dispensed only if prescribed by a veterinarian licensed under chapter 18.92 RCW.”
This rule moved in 2025
The current version was filed on 8 July 2025 and took effect on 8 August 2025, replacing a version that had stood since June 2016.
That is worth knowing for two reasons.
Any guidance, vendor summary or internal policy written before August 2025 describes a rule that has since been replaced, and this series' quarterly re-read exists precisely because a date like this one appears somewhere in the country every few months.
Check the effective date on anything you are relying on before you rely on it.
There are two VCPRs, and the federal one does not move
What This Page Does — and Doesn’t — Cover
This page describes Washington’s own text — WAC 246-933-200, adopted under the authority of RCW 18.92.030 as read for this series, current as of September 2026, with the provision itself last changed WSR 25-15-034, filed 8 July 2025, effective 8 August 2025 (prior version WSR 16-11-004, effective 4 June 2016). It does not cover licensure, scope of practice, or the terms of a specific prescription, and it is not a compliance sign-off for a telemedicine service.
VCPR and telemedicine rules are the fastest-moving area this site covers — nine states changed theirs between 2024 and 2026, and bills are live in others. Confirm the current text with the board before you build an intake policy, a prescribing workflow or a remote-care service on it, and read the federal note above alongside it rather than instead of it.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can a Washington veterinarian establish a VCPR over video?
No. WAC 246-933-200(2) states that the veterinarian shall not establish a VCPR solely by telehealth.
The relationship has to rest on a physical examination of the animal within the last year, or sooner if medically appropriate, or on medically appropriate and timely visits to the premises where the animals are kept.
Telehealth can supplement that but cannot replace it.
Confirm the current rule text with the Washington board before building a service on it.
Once a Washington VCPR exists, what telehealth is allowed?
All of it, at the veterinarian's discretion — subsection (5) places no modality restriction on an established relationship, so there is no synchronous-video floor and no cap on how much may be conducted remotely.
The constraint that remains is the underlying examination clock: the relationship rests on a physical examination within the last year, so it still has to come back to one on schedule.
Verify with the board.
What can a Washington veterinarian do by telehealth without a VCPR?
Four things: teleadvice, teletriage, pre-visit sedation that is not a controlled substance, and a narrow dispensing of another veterinarian's existing prescription.
That dispensing is capped at a ten-day supply per animal per year and at five percent of the practice's annual dosage units.
Controlled substances are excluded from the exception entirely.
These are narrow carve-outs, not a general remote-care allowance — confirm the current text with the board.
Does satisfying Washington's VCPR rule make a practice federally compliant?
No, and this is the trap.
The federal VCPR at 21 CFR 530.3(i) is a separate relationship governing extralabel drug use and Veterinary Feed Directives, it requires that the veterinarian has recently seen the animal or visited the premises, and the FDA has said it cannot be met solely through telemedicine.
It applies regardless of what Washington permits.
Extralabel use is routine, so this is not an edge case.
Check both.
When did Washington's veterinary telehealth rule last change?
The current version of WAC 246-933-200 was filed on 8 July 2025 under WSR 25-15-034 and took effect on 8 August 2025, replacing a version in force since June 2016.
Any summary, vendor guidance or internal policy written before August 2025 describes the superseded rule.
This is the fastest-moving area this site covers, so check the effective date on anything you rely on, and confirm with the Washington board.
More Washington VCPR & Telemedicine Resources
Sourced from Washington’s own statute or board rule (see the citations above). Verified September 2026. This page is general information, not legal advice — confirm current rules with the Washington board before relying on them.