Test to Treat is live!!

[dreamshark]

 Scott Raun posted this in a thread on natter (thanks, Scott). Posting it here so I have the link handy if I need it later. Also, I guess, to boost the signal, although I doubt there are very many people who read my Dreamwidth who don't also read natter. I checked out the website and it's amazing! It looks like every pharmacy, clinic, and hospital is listed. There are 135 within 10 miles of my zipcode, including many institutions I have never even heard of. The treatments available at each location are listed: both Paxlovid and molnupiravir are available, although not necessarily at the same locations. 

This is a HUGE leap forward from the convoluted and unworkable procedure that was in place 2 months ago when I asked my doctor about it. 

This is what I have been waiting for to put my mind at ease about COVID. As someone over the age of 70 with a few comorbidities, I should qualify for Paxlovid. Between that and vaccinations and the less virulent Omicron variants, I'm pretty sure I'm not going to die of this thing. 

The Federal Government has a Test-to-Treat program.  You can find
information and participating locations at:

https://aspr.hhs.gov/TestToTreat/Pages/default.aspx

There's at least one, possibly two, anti-virals specific to COVID
available.  The sooner you start taking them, the better.
Test-to-Treat is basically 'walk in, get tested, get treatment if
you're positive'.

 

Comments

[redbird]

bookmarked, thank you

[dreamshark]

I'm currently trying to figure out if it's actually WORKING yet. Found a lot of articles bitching about how badly it's working, but most of those are a few weeks old. I'm running down the path of my closest CVS, and it looks promising. If I wanted to I could get an appointment tomorrow for a rapid antigen test. Another pathway on the same site claims that this CVS has both Paxlovid and molnupiravir in stock. If both those things are true, it seems like a reasonable chance that taking this tack would result in treatment.

[pameladean]

I can't take Paxlovid, but I should check for the sole remaining monoclonal antibody treatment that works.

P.

[dreamshark]

molnupiravir is also widely available. It's an antiviral, not a monoclonal. It's not as effective as Paxlovid but has way fewer drug interactions.

Here's the fact sheet for molnupiravir:
https://www.fda.gov/media/155054/download

I don't think monoclonal antibodies are offered through this program. If that's the only thing you could take you maybe should consult with your doctor about how to proceed if you test positive?

[pameladean]

I mentioned monoclonal antibodies (sotrovimab is the remaining working one) because molnupiravir is specifically recommended only in cases where Paxlovid, sotrovimab, and remdesivir cannot be given.

I did discuss it with my doctor, who had to tell me that the best way to get hold of her is with a MyChart message, because nobody can get through to HealthPartners/Park Nicollet clinics via phone except by sheer luck, and they don't mean to hire more staff to address the problem. My doctor said this was very bad healthcare, and patients should complain if they felt up to it, because nobody will listen to the staff.

She has always been very prompt in answering MyChart messages, so I hope that will suffice. Anyway, I'm not sure where I'd have to go, since they don't do infusions at my actual clinic, but she said it could be managed.

P.

[dreamshark]

"I did discuss it with my doctor, who had to tell me that the best way to get hold of her is with a MyChart message, because nobody can get through to HealthPartners/Park Nicollet clinics via phone except by sheer luck"

That is beyond infuriating. I noticed a couple of years ago that HP had helpfully scrubbed all contact numbers off their website, but until our old doctor retired last year we were still able to get through to his nurse using the old direct number. I picked a new doctor, but haven't tried to communicate with her yet.

MyChart disappeared completely from HP-land a couple of years ago as far as I can tell. Are you just using the old name for something that is now called something else? "My Care" perhaps? There does seem to be a webpage at https://www.healthpartners.com/my/care/messages with a link to "Contact your care team: send a message." Is that what you used?

No, that doesn't work. It leads to a completely useless page which TALKS about getting "free advice" from a doctor (under VERY limited circumstances but doesn't tell you how to do it) and then a long thing about scheduling E-visits (for which they charge $45 to $129).

[pameladean]

A lot of the staff still call it a MyChart message.

It's My Care, Messages, then Send a message in the block that says Contact Your Care Team, then under E-Visit pick "Consult with my doctor." I have never been charged for one of these inquiries, whether they were answered by a nurse (usually) or by my doctor (occasionally). Insurance has always paid. And as it says, if a nurse responds, there isn't any charge.

It's a dumb system, but I've used it successfully a number of times, whether to ask for a prescription renewal because the pharmacy somehow couldn't manage to contact the doctor (GOSH, I WONDER WHY) through asking about whether I could get a prescription for a medication I'd been buying over the counter for months because what I was taking before was all recalled and at that time there was no supply of the prescription version because everybody got switched over to it at once. Also, I used the same method as a proxy for my mother, asking what we should do about her bad booster reaction. A nurse answered, she wasn't charged. I've also used it, at the request of my doctor, to send blood pressure and blood sugar numbers during times when I refused to go in to the clinic in person.

P.

[dreamshark]

SO... you hit ACCEPT on the big green button which seems to be demanding promises to pay? Then when a "How May We Help?" page pops up with a zillion helpful suggestions (Pinkeye? Menopause?) do you just scroll past it or select "Other"?

And then scroll to the bottom to "Who would you like to send this E-Visit to?" and pick someone from the dropdown box?

[pameladean]

Yep. I was thinking of the Accept button as more about providing accurate information etc., but yes, it does agree to pay. I've just never had to.

And I just hit Other, not yet having had a specific complaint among the ones listed.

P.

[dreamshark]

Thanks! This is VERY helpful. I would NEVER have found this. Even if I hadn't stopped when I hit what appeared to be a paywall, I would have been stopped dead by the laughably incoherent final step: "Who do you want to send this E-visit to?"

I guess they didn't want to just say "email" or "message" because that might encourage people to start sending cat pictures or something? And they didn't say "who do you want to schedule this E-visit with?" because... you actually aren't scheduling anything?

[pameladean]

I was highly motivated by the fact that I needed my prescription soon, and also by the fact that my doctor had specifically said I was welcome to email her via MyChart, so even if there was no MyChart per se, there must be a way.

Also, frankly, there was a long period when we didn't even have health insurance but some medical things simply had to happen so I wouldn't die, so I got a little cavalier about that aspect of it, especially since the instructions do say that most e-visits are paid for by insurance, and that if a nurse responds, which I already knew is very often the case generally, it doesn't cost anything.

P.

[dreamshark]

You have now inspired me to start updating my health provider contacts, and I have made some progress. I think I'll post a new DW entry about it. Be sure to take a look at it - I think you'll find it helpful. You and I may be the only ones who find it interesting, but since I'm making notes anyway I might as well make it available to others.

Possible source for clinic phone#

[dreamshark]

Incidentally, although the HealthPartners website has diligently scrubbed all phone numbers that might allow you to call anywhere directly, I did find a number that MIGHT be the direct phone number to my clinic (Blaisdell and Franklin).

Each Park Nicollet clinic still has its own website, which you can find only by googling. It is actually on the HealthPartners site, but deeply hidden. There is a clinic phone number there. I didn't try calling it because why bother them pointlessly, but I noted it down. You might try that with your clinic. I just googled "park nicollet minneapolis clinic" and got a link to the website.

Re: Possible source for clinic phone#

[pameladean]

That's my clinic too, and I generally just google it to start with because hours differ among the clinics and I can never remember the details. Also they used to have both an Urgent Care and a pharmacy and I was always needing the pharmacy hours and occasionally the Urgent Care. But yeah, if you begin with the HealthPartners website it is very difficult unless you actually use Find a Clinic, which I wouldn't think of because I know which clinic is mine and where it is, even if HP doesn't like to admit that it exists unless I'm making an appointment.


P.

Re: Possible source for clinic phone#

[dreamshark]

Well, there's a phone number for the clinic listed right there, but nowhere else on the HP page that I could find.