Documenting diagnoses: What are FDA’s expectations for VFD medications?

The updated veterinary feed directive (VFD) rule does not specifically define how veterinarians writing VFDs must document their clinical diagnoses, according to an FDA veterinarian.

However, “it’s our expectation there would be some medical records maintained regarding the decisions that veterinarians make involving dispensing products,” William Flynn, DVM, MS, deputy director for science policy at FDA’s Center for Veterinary Medicine, told the VFD News Center.

“But again, we’re looking to the standards of practice for veterinarians in terms of them maintaining sufficient records around the services they provide to clients and to the animals they’re treating.”

Documentation of site reports, the veterinarian’s observations and recommendations would be good to have, Flynn added.