Zava is an online medical practice from Great Britain, on whose platform German customers can also make appointments with affiliated medical practices seven days a week. A completely new feature is that patients can have prescriptions issued without having to consult a doctor. Here, the area of medication is decisive; at present, the focus is still on specific clinical pictures and active ingredients. These include, for example, chronic diseases (such as asthma, type 2 diabetes and elevated cholesterol levels) as well as complaints from the categories of general medicine and men’s, women’s and sexual health. Which indications are represented in each case is to be investigated in Zava.
A prescription fee of 19 euros is always payable by Zava, regardless of the indication and the issuing of the prescription with the active ingredient that is appropriate for the disease. The drugs, for example for migraine, start with prices of 15.68 euros. When patients make inquiries, doctors are consulted to see if there are any concerns when the patient orders and takes the drug. To do this, they click on the „Request prescription“ button, so that a list of questions taps into all the important problems when taking the drug (e.g. the diagnosis of a previously treating doctor, the time of the indication, concomitant diseases, interactions and allergies). The list of medications – depending on the type of indication – can be long. The fact that in some cases important therapeutic questions are not recorded is criticized by the online medical practice provider’s system. By clicking „Order“, the selected patient groups can then choose between free standard shipping by a mail-order pharmacy that is not mentioned by name or collection from a stationary pharmacy. If the medication is to reach the patient very quickly, an additional ten euros must be paid for express shipping. In some cases, medication is handled differently for Zava, because in the category of type 2 diabetes, metformin is the only active ingredient available for therapy from numerous manufacturers in different package sizes. For skin problems, Zava also offers its customers a so-called photo diagnosis for ten euros, in which two skin images must be uploaded so that a doctor can make an immediate assessment of the skin condition.