For the most part, any properly licensed physician can write any legal prescription, although there are some exceptions. Some insurers will only pay for specialty drugs that have been prescribed by a network physician in the relevant specialty, such as a neurologist for an MS med. Most doctors will not write a script for a drug they are not familiar and comfortable with. So it can be complicated, and really, you have to check with the individual physicians you would be seeing to ask how they feel about your prescribing situation.
In the past, my PCP has written my Copaxone prescriptions, as well as other MS-related medications, once I had a neuro consult and my plan of care. Several years ago I moved to a new state and when I found a new PCP, guess what? She has MS too, and she knows a lot more about MS than some neurologists I have dealt with! So there are some primary care physicians who do know quite a bit about MS and MS medications, and she wrote all my meds until I got set up with a new neuro - the same one she sees.
Years later, I continue to see that same neurologist even though I now work in another state (we move a lot). I would have to pay a higher co-pay if my neuro in North Carolina wrote the prescription for the Gilenya I receive where I work in Arizona, but thanks to the Novartis assistance program my co-pay is covered, so it doesn't matter.
My North Carolina neuro HAS to write my Provigil prescription because the hospital group where my PCP works does not allow any of their doctors to write for "stimulants." That has nothing to do with state or federal law, or with malpractice, it's just a hospital rule.
In the past, my PCP has written my Copaxone prescriptions, as well as other MS-related medications, once I had a neuro consult and my plan of care. Several years ago I moved to a new state and when I found a new PCP, guess what? She has MS too, and she knows a lot more about MS than some neurologists I have dealt with! So there are some primary care physicians who do know quite a bit about MS and MS medications, and she wrote all my meds until I got set up with a new neuro - the same one she sees.
Years later, I continue to see that same neurologist even though I now work in another state (we move a lot). I would have to pay a higher co-pay if my neuro in North Carolina wrote the prescription for the Gilenya I receive where I work in Arizona, but thanks to the Novartis assistance program my co-pay is covered, so it doesn't matter.
My North Carolina neuro HAS to write my Provigil prescription because the hospital group where my PCP works does not allow any of their doctors to write for "stimulants." That has nothing to do with state or federal law, or with malpractice, it's just a hospital rule.
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