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Dr. Erin Bannink, DVM, Diplomate ACVIM (oncology)

Graduate Diploma in Veterinary Chinese Herbal Medicine

Certified in Veterinary Acupuncture

Integrative Oncology Teleconsults

TeleConsultations for Veterinarians (for pets outside of Michigan)

Dr. Bannink is now offering Integrative Oncology TeleConsultations to provide assistance in creating integrative oncology treatment plans for pets living outside of Michigan. Due to state license regulations, Dr. Bannink cannot prescribe treatments for patients outside of Michigan. All prescribing and communication with Dr. Bannink must be performed through your local veterinarian licensed in your state.

Dr. Bannink does not communicate directly with clients in this Teleconsult service.

This is a professional consulting service for Veterinarians. 

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Teleconsult requests cannot be submitted by pet parents and Dr. Bannink cannot communicate directly about patient care without a Veterinary Client Patient Relationship (VCPR) in place. If a consultation request is made without the cooperation of a local veterinarian to perform all communications, consultation fee will be refunded and no Teleconsult workup will be performed.

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About Integrative Oncology TeleConsults with Dr. Bannink

These Teleconsults are for licensed veterinarians, ideally with training in Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) assessment, who are requesting a Teleconsult with Dr. Bannink for assistance in Integrative or TCM Oncology treatments for one of their current patients who has been diagnosed with cancer. Veterinarians and clients/patients must be located outside of Michigan. (Those living in Michigan, or those who are wanting Dr. Bannink to manage their pet's care directly and are willing to travel to Michigan, can make an Integrative Oncology Consultation with Dr. Bannink at OVRS.)
 

If you are a veterinarian inquiring about an Integrative Oncology TeleConsultation and are not trained in Traditional Chinese Medicine, please email me to inquire about options. I am very happy to help facilitate your local exam to obtain the information we will need.

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The purpose of these Integrative Teleconsults is to provide assistance and support to veterinarians managing patients with cancer. These are also a way that Dr. Bannink can provide consulting for pet parents who are interested in utilizing Traditional Chinese Herbal Medicine as part of their pet's treatment protocol, who live outside of Michigan, who are not willing or able to travel to Michigan for a direct consultation, would like Dr. Bannink's perspective on options for managing their pet's care, AND are currently working with a local veterinarian who is interested in and comfortable with consulting with Dr. Bannink and managing all prescribing based on their clinical assessment of what is appropriate and in the best interest of their patient. 

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*AN IMPORTANT NOTE ABOUT SCHEDULING* These IOC Teleconsults for pets living outside Michigan are scheduled by Dr. Bannink directly. DO NOT call OVRS to schedule this consultation. OVRS only schedules appointments which are going to be seen in person, or teleconsults directly with clients who reside in Michigan. OVRS reception staff DOES NOT take payments for these IOC Teleconsults. The $500 payment must be submitted electronically by the veterinarian at the time the IOC TeleConsult request form is filled out and submitted. These TeleConsults are something Dr. Bannink provides on her own off-clinic time in order to try to accommodate out of state requests for assistance. Once the IOC Teleconsult request form is submitted by the veterinarian, Dr. Bannink will email the veterinarian to inform them of the next available appointment on her Teleconsult Schedule. Please be advised she is typically booking 3-5 weeks out. This is not a service OVRS offers. They are only processing payments for Dr. Bannink. OVRS is in no way involved with the scheduling of these Teleconsults. The reception staff does not understand about these appointments and will not provide accurate information. Please DO NOT call them. Veterinarians can email Dr. Bannink directly at drbannink@mettapets.info with questions. The direct link to submit request and payment for a Integrative Oncology Teleconsult is: https://www.ovrs.com/forms/telemedicine-ioc-form.html

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What is included in an Integrative Oncology TeleConsult with Dr. Bannink?

  • Consultation regarding options for a patient specific Traditional Chinese Herbal Medicine (CHM) treatment protocol that you may elect to prescribe.

  • Upon request, Dr. Bannink can provide scientific literature references on available biomedical research regarding prescribed treatments and mechanisms of action, for use in client education or in communicating with your local oncologist. 

  • Advice on Conventional medicine treatment options, prognosis and integrative options based on Dr. Bannink's 12 years of experience managing patients with integrative Chinese Herbal Medicine (CHM) and conventional therapies.

  • A frank and honest discussion about what we do and don't know yet about integrating CHM with conventional treatments and recommendations based on Dr. Bannink's personal experience regarding response rates, methods to integrate CHM with conventional therapies and what to generally expect with treatment of specific oncological diagnoses.

  • Up to 2 hours of follow-up communications within 6 months of the initial consultation for assistance in ongoing management and follow-up questions.

    • After the initial consultation report has been reviewed by the local veterinarian and pet parent, there is an option to schedule one three-way Zoom meeting with Dr. Bannink, for which the local managing veterinarian and pet parent both must be in attendance. This call is typically scheduled for the following week. This Zoom call will count as part of the 2 hours of follow-up included in the Initial Consultation fee. This is provided in order to thoroughly address any complex or involved questions regarding treatment options, patient care and the cancer itself if direct communication with Dr. Bannink and the pet parent would be helpful in clarifying patient care decisions. (It is typical for the local managing veterinarian to charge the pet parent for their time if the pet parent elects this option.)

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Can Pet Parents communicate directly with Dr. Bannink?

  • All communication takes place between Dr. Bannink and the local managing veterinarian, with the noted exception of the optional single Zoom call noted above.

  • In order to avoid conflict with state licensing regulations, Dr. Bannink cannot consult directly with clients but offers Teleconsults as a way to provide a consulting service for Veterinary colleagues and assist in guiding compassionate and well-informed integrative oncology patient care.

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Scheduling an Integrative Oncology TeleConsult

***NOTE: Teleconsult requests cannot be submitted by pet parents and Dr. Bannink cannot communicate directly about patient care without a legal doctor-patient relationship. If a consultation is made without the cooperation of a local veterinarian to perform all communications, consultation fee will be refunded and no Teleconsult work-up will be performed.***

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Payment must be collected at the time the consultation request form is submitted and Dr. Bannink will contact you regarding scheduling. *Please be aware, Dr. Bannink is currently booking out 3-5 weeks weeks for new Teleconsults.*

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Dr. Bannink performs these consultations on Fridays and is able to accommodate a maximum of two consultations each Friday (with the exception of conferences, vacations and holidays). These consultation must be scheduled in advance, as she works up these cases on her personal time outside of clinic hours. Most communication will take place via email, although phone and video conferencing is an option when necessary. 

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TeleConsultations are requested through the OVRS Website at this link.

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Rates

The cost of a Telemedicine Integrative Oncology consult with Dr. Bannink is $500. This fee includes up to 2 hours of follow-up communication within the first 6 months after consultation.

(Link to Telemedicine Request form)

 

Additional follow-up communications are provided for an additional hourly rate of $100/hour.

(Link to 1-hour follow-up request form)

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About Dr. Erin Bannink

In addition to her board certification in veterinary oncology, Dr. Bannink holds a graduate diploma in Veterinary Chinese Herbal Medicine through CIVT and is certified in veterinary acupuncture through the International Veterinary Acupuncture Society (IVAS). She began integrating Classical Chinese Medicine with conventional cancer therapies during her oncology residency and has been offering these therapies as part of an integrative approach to cancer care in a multi-specialist hospital setting since 2007. Dr. Bannink is a faculty member of the College of Veterinary Integrative Therapies (CIVT) and lectures to worldwide audiences about Integrative Cancer therapy using Traditional Chinese Medicine. 

TeleConsults: What to Expect

***Dr Bannink's next available Teleconsult is February 2021*** For inquiry about urgent cases, the managing veterinarian can email Dr. Bannink. Dr. Bannink cannot respond to inquiries from clients directly. 

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Here is how the Integrative Oncology Teleconsult process works:

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1. SUBMIT TELECONSULT REQUEST FORM: The local managing veterinarian submits the IOC Teleconsult request (this cannot be submitted by the client) and $500 consultation fee is paid at the time the consultation request form is filled out and submitted. https://www.ovrs.com/forms/telemedicine-ioc-form.html
 
2. RECORD REVIEW DATE: Once the teleconsult request form and payment is received, I will respond to the managing veterinarian with the next available date I have to work up the case thoroughly. Please be advised I am generally booking out a few weeks. This date is not something that is scheduled with the veterinarian or the client. You do not need to be available for this. This is just time blocked off on my days off to do the record review, case assessment and write up the treatment recommendations. This gives you a timeline on when to expect the report. The completed report is typically e-mailed to the managing veterinarian by the following Monday morning.

 

3. TEST RESULTS: In order to provide an accurate assessment of the case, I will require recent CBC and chemistry panel (within the past 3-4 weeks), thoracic radiographs (or report), reports of any staging tests or imaging studies (cytologies, biopsies, ultrasound, CT, etc) if these were not attached to the IOC Teleconsult request form you have already submitted. These can be emailed to me at drbannink@mettapets.info ***If there are tests results that are missing from the submission I will generally contact you (the managing veterinarian) on the day of the scheduled record review and this may delay the consultation report as I will need complete patient records prior to doing the record review.***

 

4. CURRENT THERAPIES: Please provide a complete list of current therapies, including conventional and "alternative" treatments and any plans for conventional oncology therapies such as chemotherapy (indicate drug type and treatment start date), surgery, or radiation. If the patient is receiving any supplements or herbal therapies, I will need a list of the ingredients for each product and the dose the patient is currently receiving if those were not submitted with the IOC Teleconsult request form submitted and it is being requested that these be considered in the consultation report. This can be emailed to me at drbannink@mettapets.info

 

5. CONSULTATION REPORT: The consultation writeup will include:

  • TCM herbal recommendations/considerations

  • Conventional medicine options, when applicable or requested if a previous medical oncology consultation has not been pursued elsewhere. Please indicate if you would like conventional options, integrative options, or just herbal options. 

    • advice on integrating these if an integrative approach is being taken

  • Additional supplements 

  • Scientific literature references (where available)​

  • Diet - if specifically requested, Dr. Bannink can advise on dietary considerations and resources

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6. FOLLOW-UP: 1 week later, after the managing veterinarian and the client have had time to review the writeup I send, there is the option to schedule a zoom meeting with the both managing veterinarian and the client in attendance to verbally/visually discuss any additional questions or concerns about treatment recommendations, the cancer itself, prognosis and my experience treating this type of cancer. This time will be deducted from the 2 hours of follow-up which is included in the $500 TeleConsult fee. (It is expected that the managing veterinarian would collect the appropriate compensation from the client as standard practice for their time.) Alternatively, the managing veterinarian and the client can choose to have the managing veterinarian email me (I do not communicate directly with the client via email or phone) with additional follow-up questions. Time to read and respond will be deducted from the 2 hours of follow-up time. Contact me via my drbannink@mettapets.info email to express interest in setting a Zoom call up or for follow-up email communication.


7. Chinese Herbal formulas require a license to purchase from a Chinese Herbal Medicine dispensing company, as I strongly advise against purchasing these over the counter or over the internet on open sources for a variety of reasons related to difficulty in verifying safety, potency and purity. If the local managing veterinarian does not have access to an account for purchasing Classical Chinese Herbal formulas from a reputable company, the managing veterinarian can contact Dr. Bannink to discuss options . 

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