Telemedicine Licensing

[quincy]

This is mostly where PAs will do consultations in their state (locally and over the phone), send any medication requests to corporate, corporate works with the doctor for the prescription and the partnering compounding pharmacy will mail medication to the patient.

Have you had the opportunity to review the plans with an attorney in your area?

That will be a necessary step for you to take at some point - and it might be smart to take this step sooner rather than later, so you don't spend too much time and energy in wasted development. You want to know what hurdles need to be jumped so you can clear those first.

Good luck.

 

[Zigner]

I think post #4 said it best...really.

 

[quincy]

I think post #4 said it best...really.

Post number four was a very good post.

 

[FreeAdviceGirl]

Thanks everyone for the great replies, I got some more information about the company (I am not affiliated, just observing a business currently running with skepticism, which is why I came here). This is a chain of "clinics" that provide "telephone consultations" and in-person consultations across the country. They are headquartered in Florida and have 1 doctor affiliated with the corporate headquarters. The individual clinics are staffed with 1 Physician Assistant or 1 Nurse Practitioner. They give consultations to customers. The customers order their medication through the centralized website (affiliated with the headquarters) and that corporate headquarters and its solo doctor have an agreement with a compounding pharmacy to fill and ship the orders. The compounding pharmacy then ships the order nationwide. So in this case, the company never "gives a prescription" to a customer to fill, but takes the order on the centralized website, fills it through a solo doctor and compounding pharmacy, and ships the order to the customer.

So ...

1. Customer has consultation through closest local clinic, typically via phone call.
2. Customer orders suggested medication through website.
3. Orders are filled through Corporate Doctor via their Compounding Pharmacy
4. Orders are shipped to customer

Therefore ... no prescriptions are being filled by Physician Assistants or Nurse Practitioners, all orders go through Corporate Headquarters.

 

[quincy]

Thanks everyone for the great replies, I got some more information about the company (I am not affiliated, just observing a business currently running with skepticism, which is why I came here). This is a chain of "clinics" that provide "telephone consultations" and in-person consultations across the country. They are headquartered in Florida and have 1 doctor affiliated with the corporate headquarters. The individual clinics are staffed with 1 Physician Assistant or 1 Nurse Practitioner. They give consultations to customers. The customers order their medication through the centralized website (affiliated with the headquarters) and that corporate headquarters and its solo doctor have an agreement with a compounding pharmacy to fill and ship the orders. The compounding pharmacy then ships the order nationwide. So in this case, the company never "gives a prescription" to a customer to fill, but takes the order on the centralized website, fills it through a solo doctor and compounding pharmacy, and ships the order to the customer.

So ...

1. Customer has consultation through closest local clinic, typically via phone call.
2. Customer orders suggested medication through website.
3. Orders are filled through Corporate Doctor via their Compounding Pharmacy
4. Orders are shipped to customer

Therefore ... no prescriptions are being filled by Physician Assistants or Nurse Practitioners, all orders go through Corporate Headquarters.

Okay. Sounds legally problematic.

Have you spoken to an attorney in your area yet?

 

[justalayman]

PA’s, NP’s, or even doctors rarely fill prescriptions. They write them and a pharmacy fills them. Your terminology doesn’t change the action.

Of course the laws regarding PA’s and NP’s vary across the different states. Different states have different levels of control by a physician over np’s abs pa’s. Np’s and pa’s are not allowed to practice without the oversight of a state licensed physician at some level. They aren’t doctors.

 

[quincy]

A personal review by a legal professional is necessary, as has been recommended all along, but I now am curious why there has been a change in the story from first post to last.

Originally this was about a proposed website and now it is about an actual company operating out of Florida.

 

[Zigner]

Thanks everyone for the great replies, I got some more information about the company (I am not affiliated, just observing a business currently running with skepticism, which is why I came here).

In other words, you really have no clue of the inner workings of this company and you're just going through legal hypotheticals.

 

[quincy]

FreeAdviceGirl, if you believe a company is operating outside the law, you can report the company to your state attorney general for investigation.

That is better than trying to gather information on your own.

Good luck.

 

[justalayman]

FreeAdviceGirl, if you believe a company is operating outside the law, you can report the company to your state attorney general for investigation.

That is better than trying to gather information on your own.

Good luck.

She can report the company to any and all states AGs if she believes they are operating illegally in any state.

 

[quincy]

She can report the company to any and all states AGs if she believes they are operating illegally in any state.

If the company is operating out of Florida, that is a good place to start, though.

The company seems to be trying to avoid laws that regulate prescription drugs.

 

[Zigner]

If the company is operating out of Florida, that is a good place to start, though.

The company seems to be trying to avoid laws that regulate prescription drugs.

No, the OP, with no real idea of how/where the company is organized, licensed, etc., says that the company is doing something to avoid laws that regulate prescription drugs.

 

[quincy]

No, the OP, with no real idea of how/where the company is organized, licensed, etc., says that the company is doing something to avoid laws that regulate prescription drugs.

True.

Florida has been prosecuting many many doctors of late for prescription abuses, though. The company described appears to be operating outside the law - or, at any rate, the way the company is operating would be worth a report to the state to investigate the legality.