Submission Number: 560891-00271 

Received: 9/6/2012 10:32:07 PM
Commenter: Alan Baum
Organization: Crawford Animal Hospital
State: New York

Agency: Federal Trade Commission
Initiative: Request for Comments and Announcement of Workshop on Pet Medications Issues, Project No. P121201
Attachments: No Attachments
Submission Text
Comment # 1--- there is no evidence for federal legislation requiring veterinarians to provide prescriptions. I have practiced for almost 50 years and through all the entire time have provided prescriptions to clients when they requested it or it was in their best interest to have it. I truly believe most clients know that they can fill prescriptions on line or at a pharmacy if they so desire because of the tremendous amount of advertisements on national TV. I know that there are quite a few instances where quote unquote the discount pharmacies charge a greater amount of money than the average veterinarian would. Many times they are lured by cheap prices for popular items and charged excessively for lesser known items. Obviously if you passed HR 1406 it would increase the costs for veterinarians as they would spend more time writing out prescriptions for those who would never use them and would rather purchase the items at a veterinary hospital.