Urgent care won’t prescribe Paxlovid??!!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My dad who is 73 finally caught Covid. He has several pre-existing conditions, so we took him to urgent care to get Paxlovid. They refused to prescribe it although he is symptomatic and has a positive test.

They claimed only his doctor can prescribe it. This does not seem right!

Would appreciate hearing from others, if you’ve had experiences with Paxlovid?

The urgent care doctor doesn't have access to your dad's medical records to confirm or take into account his pre existing conditions.
Urgent care isn't just going to take your word .

[Anonymous]

Yup everyone keeps acting like "gee why aren't more old people taking paxlovid?" it's because they can't get it, or can't get it in time.

It's partly because they don't know if they have liver or kidney issues, I bet.

Everyone should get kidney and liver testing once a year if they want to be able to get paxlovid. keep the records ready to show pharmacies etc.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Keep trying to get it, OP. Call the urgent care back, call his PCP, look up how to get it through the county or state - many have “test to treat” programs that may still be operating. Your dad is the exact population Paxlovid is meant for. He should take it.

Thank you. We’ve already checked several pharmacies in the area — their ads say the pharmacist will provide it, but when we call they tell us no! Very frustrating!

Have you tried calling his PCP?

We did call the PCP answering service but all they did was write down his information and said someone “will call tomorrow” . I can’t believe it but there was no on call doctor! This is with Johns Hopkins community medicine.

There is an ever-expanding shortage of primary care physicians.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:PP again - my 78 year old mom had Covid a year ago and had Paxlovid. It was still really terrible, and she ended up with some lingering heart troubles. The Paxlovid really did help - she began to feel less terrible within a day or two of starting.

I’m glad your mom was able to get Paxlovid and that she is doing ok. I’m very sorry she still has lingering heart issues, though. Very scary.

I’ve called another urgent care and they said it’s “provider specific” whether it would be prescribed or not. So it doesn’t seem worth a trip if they might still not prescribe it. It’s very disheartening!!!!

We’ll call his primary doctor tomorrow and see what happens, I guess. Thanks again!

NO. Do NOT wait until tomorrow. Call now. Also, log into his patient portal and send an email complete with his birthday, full name, and pharmacy phone number and address. Also include your cell so the doctor can contact you if needed. Or his especially if your HIPAA is not on file. Write the email as if it comes from him in case you dont have HIPPA.

[Anonymous]

OP here— great advice from everyone. Thank you! Getting ready to send an online message to his doctor. Right now he’s resting, has been eating soup and breathing is fine. I’m just glad he’s vaccinated at least.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My dad who is 73 finally caught Covid. He has several pre-existing conditions, so we took him to urgent care to get Paxlovid. They refused to prescribe it although he is symptomatic and has a positive test.

They claimed only his doctor can prescribe it. This does not seem right!

Would appreciate hearing from others, if you’ve had experiences with Paxlovid?

Is the patient taking medications for any of these pre-existing conditions? The NIH lists nearly 2 dozen medications that should lead to alternative therapy.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My dad who is 73 finally caught Covid. He has several pre-existing conditions, so we took him to urgent care to get Paxlovid. They refused to prescribe it although he is symptomatic and has a positive test.

They claimed only his doctor can prescribe it. This does not seem right!

Would appreciate hearing from others, if you’ve had experiences with Paxlovid?

Is the patient taking medications for any of these pre-existing conditions? The NIH lists nearly 2 dozen medications that should lead to alternative therapy.

I’m not sure if this is the same list— we went by the FDA list and he’s not on any of the meds listed:

https://www.fda.gov/media/158165/download

[Anonymous]

Try an online doctor. Type paxlovid prescription into google, and you'll get a bunch of suggestions. I did this before, and had a prescription transmitted to my local pharmacy within about an hour. And the online doctor charged me less than my insurance copay would have been. Will probably need to upload a photo of the positive covid test.

[Anonymous]

My mom is 83 and urgent care also wouldn’t prescribe her Paxlovid. This is despite the fact that she takes no medication and had just had a physical which showed she had healthy kidneys, liver, good cholesterol etc.

Her primary care doctor was on vacation so they had referred us to urgent care.

The doctor said she was managing her symptoms fine and didn’t need it. She was very sick for several weeks.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Keep trying to get it, OP. Call the urgent care back, call his PCP, look up how to get it through the county or state - many have “test to treat” programs that may still be operating. Your dad is the exact population Paxlovid is meant for. He should take it.

Thank you. We’ve already checked several pharmacies in the area — their ads say the pharmacist will provide it, but when we call they tell us no! Very frustrating!

You must misread their ad. No pharmacy will provide without proper Rx.

[Anonymous]

I got mine by going to Minute Clinic at CVS.

[Anonymous]

I thought that the Biden administration had advertised "test and treat" at pharmamcies. At any rate, this thread makes it obvious that many of the us can't just "ignore covid" as Ashish Jha recently advised in an opinion piece (we should test and treat with Paxlovid - which IMO means we can't ignore it; I don't need to test and treat for a mild cold).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Try an online doctor. Type paxlovid prescription into google, and you'll get a bunch of suggestions. I did this before, and had a prescription transmitted to my local pharmacy within about an hour. And the online doctor charged me less than my insurance copay would have been. Will probably need to upload a photo of the positive covid test.

Do not do this.

[Anonymous]

OP here with good news— just had a telehealth visit with my dad’s PCP and they immediately recommended he take Paxlovid. On our way to pick it up shortly.

We’ve had several “meh” interactions with the Urgent care. It used to be Righttime which was then bought out by Medstar and has gone way down hill.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My mom is 83 and urgent care also wouldn’t prescribe her Paxlovid. This is despite the fact that she takes no medication and had just had a physical which showed she had healthy kidneys, liver, good cholesterol etc.

Her primary care doctor was on vacation so they had referred us to urgent care.

The doctor said she was managing her symptoms fine and didn’t need it. She was very sick for several weeks.

Oh no, that’s awful.