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Most veterinarians are already providing some forms of telehealth, but it is worthwhile creating hospital guidelines regarding the delivery of such services. It is also important to ensure that all aspects of the telehealth consultation are recorded appropriately in the medical records.

There are essentially two different ways in which virtual health can be delivered – synchronous and asynchronous. Synchronous consultations occur on a real‐time basis and technology is typically used to provide an audiovisual encounter. In most cases the client is using their own smart device to communicate, but in some cases visiting paraprofessionals may be remote and act as telepresenters on the client's behalf, providing more hand‐on evaluation. With asynchronous telemedicine, sometimes referred to as “store‐it‐forward” care, the consultations do not happen in real time. The client can submit questions, images, videos, laboratory results, etc. for the veterinary team to comment on and respond at a later time. While this lacks the personal touch of synchronous consultations, it is often much easier for both busy clients and veterinary team members to accommodate in their schedules.

Other than teleconsultations, the most common forms of telehealth relate to things like provision of prescriptions based on VCPR, recheck evaluations, after‐hours care, postsurgery check‐ups, patient monitoring through wearable devices and other technologies, and even following up on hospice care patients and others for which in‐hospital visits are not possible or not convenient.

Telehealth can be provided directly by a hospital (e.g., telephone, teleconferencing, email, etc.), but there are now several companies, programs, platforms, and applications that facilitate the interaction and monetization of the process.