Three 3 ways to get COVID pills, if you've just tested positive

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Here are three ways to access COVID pills, if you're eligible to get them.

Contact your primary care doctor

For those with health insurance and access to their primary care providers or health care team, you can make an in-person or telehealth appointment to get tested (or share your positive test results), assessed for risks and medications and, if eligible, obtain a prescription for the pills.

You'd then get the prescription filled at a nearby pharmacy.

Having a provider that knows your medical history, as well as the details of your current situation, can be very helpful, says Dr. Ulrika Wigert, a family medicine physician at CentraCare in Sauk Center, Minnesota. "Did you test the first day [of symptoms]? Did you test the second day? How sick were you when you tested?" And, if you're starting to feel better by the time you get the medication, do the benefits of taking the medication outweigh any risks? "Having a provider help navigate that on the individual patient basis" can help guide you through an appropriate course of care, she says.

Visit a test-to-treat site

Another route to getting Paxlovid is visiting one of the 2,300 health centers, urgent care clinics and pharmacies that are designated by the government as "test to treat" sites. These are locations that have on-site prescribing capabilities and pills on-hand.

"For individuals who do not have a health care provider, or are unable to access their health care provider within a short time frame...test-to-treat locations offer testing and evaluation with a health care provider to determine if that medication is appropriate, and can dispense the medication on-site," says Sullivan of HHS.

Test-to-treat locations can be found on this map.

Before you go, "check with your health plan to make sure that they are in-network with your plan," says Sabrina Corlette, co-director of the Center on Health Insurance Reforms at Georgetown University, "So theservices you receive there will be fully covered, or at least you'll be subject only to a nominal copayment."

For those without insurance, some of the test-to-treat sites are federally qualified health centers that can provide low cost COVID testing and treatment services to the uninsured.

Try online urgent care

For those who prefer telehealth visits – and may not be able to get an appointment quickly through their primary health care provider – virtual healthcare platforms such as Plushcare, eMed and Truepill offer online visits to test, assess and prescribe COVID medications. The appointments are available at all hours, and may come with some out-of-pocket costs. A prescription can be sent to a nearby pharmacy, or filled and shipped to you, depending on what the service offers.

"The pro of this approach is that it's designed just for this purpose – of testing and treating for COVID," says Montefiore's Nori. "You'll efficiently get the service you need." The cons, she says, are that they don't know your full situation, such as your home context and your medical history. "They're relying on you to convey all your medications, herbal remedies," she says, but it can provide you with timely access to treatment.

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