USVI-On-Line

Greetings everyone,

My wife and I cooked up a last minute trip about a week ago - no trip insurance, it's in a couple of weeks, what could happen! , and yesterday discovered that she needs to get on a new med for at least a month or so that requires a blood test to adjust the dosage (blood thinner, FWIW, test is for INR, measures coagulation), which could take a couple of tests or ?!?! The Dr. said that it will usually be properly adjusted quickly, but everyone is different. He also said if it is jumping around he would not want her traveling.

Just trying to think ahead here, but wondering if a routine blood test like this would be reasonable to do at the clinic. We'd have the meds, they adjust dosage up/down as needed, but also want to ensure they avoid a dangerous over thin situation where even a minor cut could be a serious event. I assume a test result and a phone call with the office would allow for any needed adjustment, or peace of mind.

I've read that people have had good experiences with the clinic, and thought I read about someone traveling with an individual with a health condition that might require attention, but for the life of me I am terrible at using multiple words with the search engine, I tend to get so many posts I can't find what I'm interested in.

Wasn't sure I would even bother posting, but the prescription thread had me thinking what the heck, maybe someone has been in this situation. If getting a test on island would be enough to get us to go vs. not, I wouldn't be worried about the insurance issue. This is a common test, I assume they'd do it, or it might need to be done on STT.

Thanks for any info folks might have.

irbgolfin

Our feeling is that this is a common blood test and should be available through them. PIA is right. Call on Monday. Ask for the lab. Ask for the supervisior and find out if they offer it and what you would need to do to get it done. Since your DR is probalbly not recognized in the VI, will you have to get a local DR give the lab the orders or will they accept his/her orders? Then you might need a Rx from a VI Dr to get the Rx changed. You might need to carry the meds with you with directions to change the dose or frequency.

Good luck.

JIM

Here's a quick follow up in case anyone searches for this in the future, thought it might be a good reference.

Called the clinic, yes they will take the blood and do the test, just need to bring a Dr.'s scrip/prescription/whatever... the appropriate authorization from the doc that he wants the test done - to clarify your home doc is good, doesn't have to be VI. Results should be available in a day. This particular question was for a PT INR. She didn't know the cost right off but thought it was nominal, in the $20 range. Said they would process through insurance, I figured if we needed it I'd just pay and get the receipt and file when I got home to see if I could get anything, count towards out of network deductible, whatever, not worried about the money.

In our case, we won't need to give the service a try. The numbers are stable and the doc says two weeks is no problem, get one done on return. Only reason to consider one sooner is if for any reason you take another med on a regular basis that can interfere with the blood clotting proteins, which includes a long list of things you are advised not to take while on blood thinner.

Thanks for the replies...

STJ, soon come...

irbgolfin

have a great trip!

Sorry I didn't see this before used to do this all the time with my wife The test she needed cost 6.50 they would call the doc in the states with the results and his office would call our villa with med changes

in terms of meds--my husbands doctor;s office was able to call in from NY to chelsea drug in STT with no problem--we called from the airport--script was waiting for us when we got on island--they did not accept his insurance--but we can resubmit from here--so no biggie

One of our anticoagulation patients was traveling to St. John and needed to have his INR drawn while there. As I remember, the fax machine at the clinic was down that day, so the patient had to ask for the value and phone it up to us at the doctor's office in Massachusetts. A little unorthodox, and I dont' even want to think about what a malpractice attorney would do with it, but hey, it's the islands.