Healthvana spokesman Michael Foxworth Blasingame
David taffet | Senior staff writer
Taffet@DallasVoice.com
Overcoming the stigma related to HIV is one of the biggest reasons people use Healthvana for PrEP. Lack of access to a healthcare provider that offers PrEP is another. Simple convenience is a third reason.
And if you’re using Healthvana to access PrEP and have insurance, you’re helping someone without insurance receive the HIV prevention medication as well.
Healthvana spokesman Michael Foxworth Blasingame calls that their one-for-one model. One prescription covered by insurance helps pay for one prescription for an uninsured person.
“The cost is $0,” Blasingame said. “You will never get a bill from us.” And Healthvana will make all the arrangements with your insurance company.
So how does it work? With most PrEP providers, you’d make an appointment with a doctor or one of the HIV agencies offering PrEP.
With Healthvana, make your first contact through the company website. Arrange a tele-health appointment that can be on video, but Blasingame said it can also just be via text message — whatever you’re more comfortable with.
In order to qualify for PrEP, you must be HIV-negative. So they’ll send you a test kit that involves a swab and a finger pin prick. Return the kit by mail and within a couple of days you’ll have your results.
They’ll do a full panel and that includes STI testing. If you have another sexually transmitted infection such as syphilis, they arrange treatment. If you test HIV-positive, it’s too late for prevention, but they’ll prescribe appropriate treatment.
Also a diagnosis of Hepatitis B would prevent immediately starting on PrEP. Blasingame said they’ll treat the Hep B first.
He said most of their PrEP clients are on Descovy, which has the fewest side effects. Nausea, for example, was more of a problem for people on PrEP who were prescribed Truvada, an older HIV medication.
Some organ damage was associated with the older HIV meds, especially kidney and liver function as well as some heart damage. Bone density may also be affected, which could lead to broken bones.
“That’s why we prescribe Descovy,” Blasingame said. There are fewer side effects including organ damage, and it’s a smaller pill so it’s easier to swallow.
Blasingame addressed other barriers to prevention treatment.
For some, it’s accessibility. Not everyone lives in Oak Lawn where multiple agencies and doctors offer PrEP. Many Texans live in smaller cities or rural areas where doctors and hospitals don’t have experience with HIV or PrEP, or there aren’t doctors or hospitals.
And for some, it’s the stigma. Although one in five new diagnoses are among women, HIV is still thought of as a gay men’s disease.
A tele-health appointment in Texas doesn’t have to be on Zoom or another video platform. If text messaging is what you’re comfortable with, that works in this state. In some states that’s not legal.
And receiving medications through the mail will be just as discreet.
“Our medications are shipped to you directly in a plain wrapper,” Blasingame said.
At present, Healthvana isn’t able to prescribe injectables, but they’re looking into the possibility of offering that choice in the future.
Healthvana is part of the coalition of organizations committed to ending HIV. The current goal is to reduce new infections by 90 percent by 2030.
“We are nowhere near that,” Blasingame said, “despite PrEP being virtually 100 percent effective.”
Cuts on the federal level at agencies such as the Centers for Disease Control, the National Institute for Health and others haven’t affected Healthvana, Blasingame said. He credits the company’s one-for-one model for attracting business where some agencies are struggling to keep the doors open.
“If you have insurance, you help us protect someone who doesn’t,” he said. “We don’t turn anyone away.”
To ask a question or make a tele-health appointment with Healthvana, visit Healthvana.com.