https://www.aligncarehealth.org/community_losangeles
Dr. Jeremy Prupas, chief veterinarian for the Los Angeles City Department of Animal Services, helped launch a service called AlignCare in 2019, which aids needy pet owners with veterinary bills they often cannot pay.
“The goal is not just to help the animal. It’s to help the whole family. The idea is that if someone is having problems paying for a pet’s care, there are probably other things going on in that family’s life that they need help with. So AlignCare has [focused on] the human side of this problem.
“That’s really what got my attention at the very beginning. This is really the One Health approach to try to get help for everybody who needs it.”
The concept originated with Dr. Michael Blackwell, a veterinarian at the University of Tennessee veterinary school. “I became friends with him in one of the [veterinary] groups I was in,” Dr. Prupas said. “I learned a lot about AlignCare from him. And I said to him: ‘You know what, Michael, let’s try it. I don’t know why we can’t make it work in LA.’”
The Los Angeles project – the first community trying to implement the program from the ground up. It initially is focused on South Los Angeles, where Downtown Dog Rescue is a major player in pet welfare.
“Basically, the idea is that you form a partnership with community veterinarians, and they agree that they will discount their prices. They submit their invoices on the internet and AlignCare pays them directly.”
Participating hospitals are asked to lower their fees as much as they can, Dr. Prupas said. “I think AlignCare asks them for a 20% cut. But the hospitals decide what they’re going to charge. AlignCare doesn’t interfere with the decisions of the vets or the practice owners.”
The pet owner is responsible for 20 percent of the discounted bill, he said, “so they
still have a stake in it. But it’s a way for the pet hospital to feel that it will get paid. And the veterinarian makes the decisions with the pet owner on what kind of care they’re going to provide.”
“The goal is that if any pet owner comes into a vet hospital or to a shelter asking for help, they’re going to be referred to AlignCare. They would go online and fill out an application. It’s very simple. Basically, the pet owner would just have to prove that he or she is on some form of assistance. If you can prove that it’s almost automatic that you’re accepted into the program. Then the pet owner is told of the hospitals that are part of the program and chooses which hospital to visit.”
He said that AlignCare includes a national team of veterinary “social workers” who will help families by referring them to whatever social services they need and helping them converse with their veterinary teams if there are any issues. There are also “human support coordinators” who can help pet owners sign up for the program and make necessary arrangements such as appointments and arranging transportation to the hospital.
The challenge, he said, can be in where the money comes from to pay the AlignCare part of the bill. “The idea behind it is that the community donates the money to pay the bills. For instance, in LA we’ve been talking to several different animal welfare organizations.
“Making it sustainable is really what keeps me up at night. How will we be able to raise enough money to keep this going as we expand? That’s why we decided to start slow and small.”
And, he pointed out, there are major benefits for pet families who get financial help. Besides helping them avoid the strain on the family budget of a large expenditure, it can prevent the mental – sometimes physical – trauma of losing their pets and it can keep the family structure intact.
The next step for Los Angeles AlignCare will be to expand beyond South Los Angeles and to get more veterinarians involved, Dr. Prupas said. We’re looking for more veterinary hospitals that might want to join. We’ll also need to expand in a way that doesn’t make us run out of money.”
Dr. Prupas has served as chief veterinarian for Los Angeles Animal Services for nearly 14 years. He supervises six shelters that employ six veterinarians and 22 RVTs. He earned his veterinary degree at the University of Pennsylvania and has practiced in Connecticut and San Diego, where he owned a feline practice.
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