Gary Crump
- Director, AOPA Pilot Information Center Medical Certification Section
- 28 years assisting AOPA members
- Former Operating Room Technician, Professional Firefighter/Emergency Medical Technician
- Pilot since 1973
As our population ages, aches, pains, and multiple medical issues multiply requiring us to see not only our primary care providers on an increasingly frequent basis, but also other physician specialists. The paper form provided limited space to report visits to healthcare specialists including physicians, physician assistants, nurse practitioners, psychologists, clinical social workers, or substance abuse specialists for treatment, examination, or medical/mental evaluation.
However, with MedXPress, there is an abundance of space to report all those visits by clicking the “ADD” button to make another entry. An important thing to remember, though, is that you do not have to add every single visit to the same doctor or specialist for the same condition. Follow-up visits as part of the treatment plan, or routine office visits to your primary care doctor, such as for tendonitis, a refill of an expired prescription, the flu, or a sprain, can all be combined into one report. You do need to type in one date of visit, then, in the “Reason” line, you can just type something like “multiple routine office visits.”
One last suggestion for completing MedXPress—each item has a question mark icon attached to it. Click on that icon if you have a question about what the FAA is looking for and it will link to the instructions page for completing that particular item.
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The FAA Application for Airman Medical Certificate and Student Pilot Certificate (FAA Form 8500-8) online version is one of the most maligned federal applications. Complaints include how vague some questions are posed, form layout (less of a problem now with MedXPress, the online version), and the lack of room to report medical conditions or health care professional visits. It is item 19 on the application—visits to healthcare professionals—which continues to generate questions from members.
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