PrEP from Nurx

[LookingAround]

Are you in NY? As has been mentioned NY has a database accessible to all health care providers. 

[David1024]

11 hours ago, LookingAround said:

Are you in NY? As has been mentioned NY has a database accessible to all health care providers. 

No, I’m in CA. Nurx is not authorized to practice in a few states and I know that NY is one of them. 

[josh282282]

16 hours ago, LookingAround said:

Are you in NY? As has been mentioned NY has a database accessible to all health care providers. 

Hi All,

I love & respect everyone on this website dearly, but I MUST interject (with direct professional experience).  There is NO such website in our country that people on this thread have mentioned that US physicians can log onto and look up their patients prescriptions from all other physicians.  I practice medicine on the East Coast (not NY) but I have practiced Medicine in multiple states in my career, and I have never come across such a (wonderful) internet tool. 

EXCEPT for scheduled drugs. THIS is what I think some of you are (mistakenly) referring to. YES, there IS a state database of ALL scheduled drugs that a physician can (must) log onto & see all the scheduled drugs that patient has received.  What is a scheduled drug? Drugs that have addiction or diversion potential.  Such as Xanax. Morphine. Oxycontin.  Vicodin. These drugs need a special license for the physician to prescribe, called a DEA license (Drug Enforcement  Agency), and it's from the federal government. That license is different than the individual state license that a physician must obtain from the state he practices in to practice medicine in his/her state. Looking up the patient on the database is done so when a patient asks a doctor for a prescription of say, Xanax, the doctor can go to the website,  look up that patient & see if the patient just got 30 tabs of xanax yesterday from a doctor down the street. This scheduled drug database is to address addiction, diversion issues & doctor shopping. Many (all?) states mandate each time a physician prescribes a scheduled drug, that he/she first looks the patient up on the database. If a red flag shows up, no Xanax is prescribed. Make sense?

BUT these state databases ONLY have scheduled drugs! No diabetes drugs. No blood pressure drugs. No HIV or PrEP meds. None. Those drugs are NOT scheduled drugs.

It's a good idea, though. I'd KILL to have access to it. 

Which goes back to the OP question: how in the world did his physician find out about his PrEP???

My suspicion is that when he was originally online filling out the questionnaire for his PrEP he listed his PCP which Nurx then captured & (somehow) sent to his physician. I think the OP has forgotten he did this.  But that's only a hypothesis. We need more data.

SO, it's really up to YOU David1024 to clear up this Mystery that has grown to (near) Epic Proportions.   Please, pretty please, CALL your doctors office TOMORROW & ask to speak to the office manager. Ask nicely, dont sound mad or threatening. Be honest. Tell them how you are just ever so perplexed on how in world did his office discover you are on Truvada (or was it Descovy?)? Make SURE you prevent/alleviate any concern that you are mad or upset. Say rather, you LOVE your doctor, heck, you even refer him patients! You are just so freaking curious you and your friends have a $50 bet on this! Beg the other person to help YOU win the $50! Get him/her on your side.

THEN, once you get the answer FOR FUCKS SAKE come back here & tell us all & put to rest this Mystery! 

I beg you, please, with honey on it. I beseech thee! And I suspect many on this thread want you to do this, too! So I beg on their behalf, too. 

Hugs to the OP & everyone else,

Josh 

[LookingAround]

Josh was that a Freudian slip when you mentioned EPIC proportions?

Let’s not forget shared electronic medical record services. Although physicians are supposed to have a patient’s permission to access records (such as from EPIC) if they, too, are on Epic, I have had providers in another state access my EMR via EPIC. 

another possibility. 

[josh282282]

Lol. Yes, Epic Proportions. You caught me, I love that. 

Epic is a popular EMR, but there are hundreds of EMRs out there. So we gotta assume Nurx AND the OPs office use it.  I have used it in the past, decent EMR. But I suspect Epic has no more than 5% of the market. So yes, I'm open to what you are saying, I'm still very skeptical that a physician in one part of the US can access another physicians records from a totally DIFFERENT medical group without specific patient authorization.  But I'd like to hear from the OP tomorrow what he finds out if he agrees to go ask his PCP. 

[LookingAround]

1 hour ago, josh282282 said:

Lol. Yes, Epic Proportions. You caught me, I love that. 

Epic is a popular EMR, but there are hundreds of EMRs out there. So we gotta assume Nurx AND the OPs office use it.  I have used it in the past, decent EMR. But I suspect Epic has no more than 5% of the market. So yes, I'm open to what you are saying, I'm still very skeptical that a physician in one part of the US can access another physicians records from a totally DIFFERENT medical group without specific patient authorization.  But I'd like to hear from the OP tomorrow what he finds out if he agrees to go ask his PCP. 

You think it’s no more than 5% market share? 😂

EPIC has a third of the market, sir. 

https://www.beckershospitalreview.com/ehrs/ehr-market-share-2021-10-things-to-know-about-major-players-epic-cerner-meditech-allscripts.html

[josh282282]

1 hour ago, LookingAround said:

You think it’s no more than 5% market share? 😂

EPIC has a third of the market, sir. 

Nope. That's HOSPITAL based EMRs, not outpatient clinics like the primary care clinic that the OP doctor works in (or mine).

Below is from the very article you posted.  But I would love to see a recent survey of the breakdown of EMR use in the outpatient primary care setting. I've seen previous year surveys but I just searched & couldnt find one, although I know surveys such as those do come out.

"For its "U.S. Hospital Market Share 2021" report, KLAS examined EHR purchasing activity and contracts across the country from Jan. 1 to Dec. 31, 2020. This includes EHR market share data for acute care specialty hospitals and other specialty hospitals. "

[LookingAround]

Keep trying Josh. 
All of my docs are affiliated with major medical centers/hospitals, as an example. I’m sure somewhere there’s an isolated sole practitioner (maybe you’re one of the few) without an affiliation. But I don’t believe that’s the norm. 
 

Edited August 30, 2021 by LookingAround

[josh282282]

On 8/25/2021 at 4:32 AM, LookingAround said:

All medications you are on are part of a national database so any physician or nurse practitioner with a computer can access it and see what meds you’ve been prescribed. 

Hi LookingAround

1 hour ago, LookingAround said:

Keep trying Josh. 
All of my docs are affiliated with major medical centers/hospitals, as an example. I’m sure somewhere there’s an isolated sole practitioner (maybe you’re one of the few) without an affiliation. But I don’t believe that’s the norm.

Hi LookingAround

I must state, and I write this to you out of respect, that you seem rather self-assured in a field where you are not an expert. If that comes off as disrespectful,  my apologies.  Tone can be challenging to convey online & I mean you no disrespect.

You stated the existence of a "national database" that I, as a physician (and all other US physicians & NPs), can access and see what meds my patients are taking. You come up with nothing but heresay nor proof of said existence.   By all means, prove me wrong. Could you link me to the login to this website? I'll register & start using it. For real. It would help my patients receive better care.

I then bring up the possibility that the database you reference is the scheduled drug database that each physician can get access to, meaning this is what you mistakenly refer to.  But these databases only contain scheduled drugs, not PrEP drugs. You are strangely silent on this. 

You then bring up that surely most physicians are linked up via our EMRs. You even bring up Epic, showing that a third of hospitals use it to support how linked up we physicians are. But I then clarified for you, with a quote from the VERY article YOU linked, that it was a survey of what EMRs hospitals use, not outpatient clinics such as what the OP uses. And Nurx is not a hospital, either. 

Can you provide that link that shows all these amazing things you say exist?  You have never been an EMR user as a physician,  so I'm quite curious to see what you know, that I do not. Please educate me. But with concrete support as I have done so with you. And I hope I offer my comments respectfully as there is no reason to fight. Debate yes, fight no.

My point to everyone reading this thread is there is some inaccurate idea among patients that the medical community here in the US is linked up in one way or another.  I sadly report to you that, no, it doesn't exist. A huge, vast majority of the time when you see your physician,  unless he/she is part of a large medical group,  the EMRs from other groups do NOT auto-communicate. I wish they did!!!  

But I offer more evidence that this flummoxing issue is resolved in that Nurx communicated directly with the OP PCP. I think the OP just forgot that he gave Nurx his PCPs name. I'm still hopeful that the OP calls his PCP tomorrow & inquires for us.  

I went to Nurx website and found this in their FAQ:

Does Nurx share information with my primary care physician?

If you want us to, we can share your information with your primary care physician. We believe it is a good idea for your primary care physician to have a full picture of your health, and encourage you to share the health information we have about you with your primary care physician. You’re in control though, so we will not send them anything without your express permission.

[BtmBearDad]

I was surprised when I started reading this thread that there is some new “National Database” that tracks all of our prescriptions. I was aware of the database for scheduled drugs, and only because I’ve been prescribed some, and my doctor told me about it as he looked me up in it. 

My first thought regarding the OPs question was “it must have come from his insurance carrier”. I know my PCP (I always have to remember not to use “GP” anymore lol) often logs into my insurance carrier’s website during consultations for reference, so if the OP went thru his insurance carrier, that prescription would show up under what the carrier has covered. But I’m not a physician, so I have no idea if this is indeed the case 🤷🏼‍♂️

Right now, other than my podiatrist, and optometrist, all my doctors are part of the same hospital network/practice. They can all see my appointments, what the other is prescribing me, what tests have been run, what the results were, etc.. I find it handy. But they all ask me at each appointment if I’ve taken or started any new medications, which itself is proof enough for me that there is no “National Database” tracking all this. 

If you find out how your PCP found out, do let us curious kitties know, OP! 

 

BBD