This is a practical follow-up to my recent post, Erx Me.
I went through the E-Rx validation process at Practice Fusion. It involved submitting a very simple form, along with my medical license and government issued ID. The instructions were a little confusing, because it asked for a valid medical license, so I wasn't sure if that meant a copy of the license, or the registration, which has the valid dates. I live-chatted with them, and they were immediately responsive, and told me I could use either, and they would verify the dates.
It was a bit difficult to find the right place to submit it, but I got there, eventually. I apologize but I don't remember exactly how I found it.
The instructions said it could take 7 business days to complete the validation process, or more if they were particularly busy. I got confirmation the same day.
So, thus far, overall, Yay! for Practice Fusion.
I also tried to register for I-STOP. But I have a confession to make. I terminated my membership in the APA a year ago. I felt that they were just extorting money for CME, and that my money was better spent on something like UpToDate. Also, they implemented the MOC PIP program, which I find unacceptable.
But I still seem to get emails from the NYSPA, which is how I found out about I-STOP. Of course, since my membership expired, I can't log in. So I wasn't able to register through the NYSPA site for I-STOP.
Well, after some fumpfing around online and fuming at the idea that I might have to rejoin the APA for something that is required by law, I discovered that I didn't need to register through their site. In fact, I didn't need to register at all, since the Prescription Monitoring Program can be accessed through the NYS DOH portal. And I already have an account there, since that's how I order my prescriptions.
The instructions for finding it were moderately helpful. You log in, click on the "Applications" tab at the top, click on the letter "P", and then scroll down to the PMP Registry. That part was easy, once I found the right instructions. As a bonus, the link to order new prescription pads is right below it.
I was then instructed to click on the green "+" sign to the right of the link, to add this to my favorites. I did so, several times, and my favorites still says it has nothing in it.
Summary: It's pretty easy to get started with E-prescribing through Practice Fusion, and you don't need to register for the Rx monitoring program through NYSPA.
Just FYI.