For help with lifestyle issues like smoking cessation, people can turn to online medical facilitators.

It is no secret that many Americans wish there were more options for reasonably-priced, efficient ways to get the health care they need. While the marketplace is starting to answer that need, with services like small clinics inside drugstores and supermarkets, there are still many health care needs that go unmet, including health care and medications associated with lifestyle issues, such as:

• Hair loss
• The desire to quit smoking
• Allergies
• Skin care conditions like acne
• Acid reflux problems

Many people want to deal with these health concerns, but they don’t always think it’s worthwhile to schedule an appointment with a physician, take several hours off work, then spend another hour cooling their heels while they wait on a pharmacist to dispense their medication. With an in-store clinic, it’s hard to predict how long the wait will be, and of course, there’s still a trip to the pharmacy afterwards. Fortunately, there are alternatives. One alternative is the online medical facilitator.

Not Just an Online Pharmacy

An online medical facilitator is not just an online pharmacy. Online pharmacies (some of which are perfectly legitimate) have gained a negative reputation in the minds of many people, and with good cause. Many of them do not contract licensed pharmacists and don’t actually sell the drugs they claim to sell. Counterfeit prescription drugs are a multi-billion dollar-per-year industry, and there is no shortage of people around the world who want to get in on the action.

Unrealistically low prices are a hallmark of shady online pharmacies, as are generics for drugs where legal generics don’t yet exist.

The FDA regularly tries to find these unscrupulous online pharmacies and shut them down, but it isn’t always easy, because they are always popping up in dozens of countries around the world. In September 2012, the FDA shut down around 20,000 online pharmacies for selling fake drugs and leading consumers to believe they could get drugs like Viagra without a doctor’s prescription. Some have even successfully sold fake cancer drugs to doctors in the USA.

Not a Seller of Super Cheap “Generics” That Don’t Legally Exist

Some online pharmacies have a poor reputation because they pretend to sell generic versions of drugs that do not have legal, approved generics in the United States. For example, any search engine query about Viagra will inevitably turn up dozens of sites offering generic Viagra. The problem is that no approved generic for Viagra exists in the US, and due to recent patent infringement cases in the US, none will exist until at least the year 2020.

But erectile dysfunction drugs are not the only ones sold as “generics” when no legal generic exists. So-called generic Tamiflu (a drug used to treat flu) is another popular seller. When batches of this drug have been confiscated, they’ve been found to contain either no active ingredient at all, or antibiotics similar to penicillin, a drug that many people are allergic to.

Contractor with Licensed USA Physicians

In contrast to an online pharmacy, an online medical facilitator contracts with physicians licensed in the USA, connecting them with consumers so that they can evaluate each case individually and determine if a particular medication — such as Metro Gel for rosacea or Viagra for erectile dysfunction — is an appropriate choice for a particular patient. If so, the medical facilitator has a licensed USA pharmacist dispense the medication according to the doctor’s prescription and the medical facilitator ships it to the customer.

An online medical facilitator does not dispense prescription medications without a prescription from a doctor, unlike the rogue online pharmacies that the FDA tries to shut down. Medical facilitators also do not try to gain customers by advertising unrealistic prices for name-brand FDA-approved medications. While their prices may be quite competitive, they are not trying to convince consumers they can get Viagra for a couple of dollars per pill, because this is simply not possible with today’s pharmaceutical price structure.

Contractor of Licensed USA Pharmacists

Prescriptions at legitimate online facilitators are dispensed by US-licensed pharmacists, just like at your neighborhood pharmacy.

Legitimate online medical facilitators work with USA-licensed pharmacists to dispense medications according to prescriptions, just like pharmacists do at your neighborhood pharmacy. They do not dispense prescription medications without a prescription, and where no legal generics exist, they do not offer illegal (and potentially unsafe) generics developed in other countries.

Another service online medical facilitators offer is consultation with a pharmacist by phone. If you have a question about a medication you have ordered, you can speak by phone with a pharmacist to get real answers. Finally, one characteristic of any legitimate US online medical facilitator is that it will have a valid street address and phone number right here in the United States.

Provider of an Alternative for Certain Healthcare Niches

The number of options available to US residents seeking health care is increasing, as physicians and pharmacists develop safe, legal ways to provide health care to consumers in a convenient, private manner. The medical facilitator model works well with “lifestyle” health care, allowing consumers to safely obtain medications that can make their lives better.

If you have allergies, if the acne you once successfully treated with Retin A comes back, or if you’re a man who has erectile dysfunction, you have the option of working with an online medical facilitator to obtain the medications you need as long as they are prescribed by a licensed physician. You won’t have to put up with gimmicks like “generics” from other countries, and you will end up with name-brand, FDA-approved medications delivered right to your home.

In Conclusion

Awareness of online health care fraud is increasing, as the FDA cracks down on non-legitimate rogue online pharmacies and as consumers learn the facts about which medications are available as generics and which are not. When problems like the introduction of counterfeit cancer drugs hit the news, more consumers start to realize that online sources offering unrealistically low prices are scams that are only designed to separate them from their hard-earned money.

Rogue online pharmacies care about one thing, and it isn’t your well-being.

With a trusted online medical facilitator like AccessRX.com, which contracts with USA licensed physicians and pharmacists, today’s health care consumers have an online resource for health care that is safe, legal, and backed by years of service to satisfied customers. Trusting your health to a questionable online pharmacy for the sake of saving a few dollars or skipping the step of getting a physician’s prescription is too big a risk to take.

Photo Credits: Fried Dough, Elliot Brown, NNECAPA Photo Library, Andrew Magill