Telemedicine Consent

1. Telemedicine on Our Platform

In telemedicine, electronic communication takes the place of an in-person visit as the way clinical care is delivered. On Peoples First Rx, every visit is asynchronous and happens in writing.

Here is what that looks like:

• You begin with a written medical intake, a set of structured questions about your health.
• Before any prescribing decision, a physician licensed in your state goes through every answer you gave.
• You will not need to attend a video or phone appointment, and none will ever be booked.
• Should your physician want more information, you will get a message on the platform and can reply in writing.
• Your physician may decide that an in-person exam is needed, or that it would not be clinically appropriate to treat you. In either case, they will explain this in a platform message and will not issue a prescription.

2. Your Physician and Our Partners

Three companies are involved in your care alongside Peoples First Rx. Of these, Remedora Inc. is the one we have a partnership agreement with, in its role as our pharmacy and fulfillment partner. The other two work with Remedora Inc., as follows:

• LocumTele supplies the physicians. Its network is made up of board-certified physicians, including ones who hold licenses in your state. Its clinical and compliance infrastructure, including medical oversight and licensure verification, supports each visit.
• Rush Pharmacy holds a state pharmacy license and dispenses every prescription written on the platform, then ships it to you. Your paperwork and your shipment both name Rush Pharmacy, which uses its own professional judgment when dispensing.

The physician reviewing your visit comes from the LocumTele network. They are board-certified, hold an active license for the state you are in and work as an independent practitioner who relies on their own professional judgment. No one but a physician issues prescriptions through Peoples First Rx.

We provide the telemedicine platform that puts you in touch with your physician. We do not practice medicine or direct clinical decisions, and we pay no physician for issuing a prescription.

3. How Telemedicine Can Help You

When your needs match the care we support, telemedicine brings some real advantages:

• No travel and no time off work are needed to have a licensed physician look at your case.
• Compared with many in-person options, the wait is shorter.
• A brief appointment often misses parts of your history that a structured intake captures.
• Everything your physician decides is documented in writing, including why, for you to refer to later.
• If you are prescribed medication, Rush Pharmacy, a licensed pharmacy, dispenses it and sends it to you discreetly.

4. Risks and Shortcomings

Please weigh these points before you agree:

• There is no physical examination. Certain conditions need one, or imaging or lab work, before they can be safely assessed.
• Your physician depends on your answers being complete and accurate. Gaps or errors in them could lead to a wrong assessment or an unsafe recommendation.
• A misdiagnosis or a missed condition is possible. You may also be sent for in-person care instead of being treated.
• Your care could be interrupted or postponed if the technology fails, for example through a delay, a transmission problem or a lost connection.
• Even with reasonable safeguards, electronic health information carries some risk, whether it is being transmitted or stored.
• Emergencies need immediate help, so they fall outside what telemedicine is appropriate for.

5. When Care Cannot Wait

Some problems cannot wait for a written visit. Call 911 or get to the closest emergency room right away for any medical emergency, including:

• Chest pain
• Trouble breathing
• Severe bleeding
• A suspected overdose
• A severe allergic reaction
• Thoughts of harming yourself or anyone else

Emergency and urgent care are not available through our platform, so please do not request them here. If you are waiting on an online reply, that is never a reason to delay in-person care.

6. Your Location and Our Service Area

Telemedicine law differs from state to state, and it ties every visit to your physical location: only a physician licensed in the state you are in at the time can complete your visit. Our service reaches 49 states, which is every U.S. state except California. We cannot accept patients located in the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico or any other U.S. territory. Shipping is limited to addresses inside the United States. You are required to tell us the state you are actually in. Giving an inaccurate location can make the visit invalid, and it may then be unlawful to dispense to you any prescription issued from it.

7. Consent Is Not a Prescription

Giving consent and being approved for treatment are two separate things. You receive a prescription only if your physician concludes it is medically appropriate to treat you. Other outcomes are possible too: your physician could turn your request down, come back to you for more details, require a live visit, advise you to get in-person care or refer you to care elsewhere. Any fee for a visit is payment for a physician's professional judgment, whatever that judgment turns out to be.

8. FDA Status and Off-Label Prescribing

If ivermectin or mebendazole is prescribed for you through our platform, it comes as compounded oral capsules, which Rush Pharmacy dispenses and ships. Because these capsules are compounded, which means a licensed pharmacy prepares them for an individual patient, they have no FDA approval. In other words, the FDA has not reviewed their safety, effectiveness or quality ahead of marketing.

The term off-label covers another situation entirely. It applies when a medicine that already has FDA approval is lawfully prescribed for a purpose the agency has not looked at. Before you make any decision, your physician will tell you if compounding, off-label use or both apply to the treatment you are considering. Each medication page on this site also spells this out.

9. What You Agree to Do

When you consent to telemedicine, you also take on these commitments:

• Give accurate, complete and up-to-date details of your symptoms, allergies, medical history, supplements and current medications.
• Keep your physician informed of new side effects and of any change in your condition.
• Follow what your pharmacy label tells you to do.
• Never share medication that was dispensed to you with anyone else.
• Follow any advice to get care in person.

10. Your Rights as a Patient

At every stage of your care, you are entitled to the following:

• Taking back your consent to telemedicine whenever you choose. Doing so will not affect your right to receive care later.
• Asking for in-person care instead. We may not be in a position to provide that care ourselves.
• Clear, understandable answers to your questions about your assessment, your treatment and other options.
• Getting copies of your visit records when you ask for them.
• Saying no to any treatment a physician recommends.

11. Who Keeps Your Records

Two HIPAA-covered entities hold the records created during your visit: the physician who treats you and, if medication is dispensed, the pharmacy that dispenses it. Each is bound by the privacy and record-retention requirements that apply to it, and each of the two gives you its own Notice of Privacy Practices directly. When Peoples First Rx, LocumTele or Remedora Inc. handles your information, it does so as a platform operator or business associate; our Privacy Policy explains the details.

12. Who to Tell About a Side Effect

Please report every side effect or unexpected reaction to your care team, even one that seems minor. That way the prescribing physician and Rush Pharmacy are able to note it in their records.

If a reaction is severe, get emergency help first by calling 911 or going to the closest emergency room. Severe reactions include:

• Trouble breathing
• Swelling of your face, lips or throat
• Chest pain
• Fainting
• A severe rash

Reporting to the FDA yourself is also an option, through MedWatch at 1-800-FDA-1088 or the FDA website. You can report this way at any time, without involving us.

For the complete set of reporting options, visit our Patient Safety & Complaints page.

13. No Audio or Video Recording

No audio or video recording is made, because the whole visit takes place in writing. Your medical record keeps what you wrote in your intake along with your physician's notes. You are welcome to ask for a copy of it whenever you like.

14. Contact Us With Questions

Not sure about something on this page? Ask us before you begin a visit, at support@peoplesfirstrx.com or +1 (877) 908-1485. You can also put the question to your physician at the beginning of your visit. Confirming your consent is a step your physician takes with you during the visit.