Hey doctors, considering telemedicine? Check if the company is legit first

Telemedicine companies and white label medical groups are tempting doctors with six-figure remote prescribing gigs.

But as with any industry, there are some legit businesses and some sketchy ones.

On March 20, Alabama-based doctor Tommie Robinson was sentenced to over a year in prison for signing off on prewritten medical orders for durable medical equipment and genetic testing for telemedicine companies. The orders were prepopulated from telemarketing calls with patients who he had “no provider–patient relationship” with, per a Department of Justice (DOJ) release.

That’s an extreme example, of course. Many telehealth providers are simply expanding access to necessary services. But that instance shows the importance of following the law to avoid criminal prosecution or a state medical board investigation.

Legal experts told Healthcare Brew that physicians need to make sure both they and their employer are doing things by the book to protect themselves and their patients.

“It’s really on physicians to know what they’re doing and to be comfortable with what they’re doing,” Daniel Cody, a member of the healthcare and life sciences practice at law firm Mintz, told Healthcare Brew. “At the end of the day, it’s their license on the line.”

Covering the basics. One firm rule is physicians have to be licensed in the state their patient is located. The good news: There’s an agreement among 40+ states, Guam, and Washington, DC, called the Interstate Medical Licensure Compact that streamlines new licenses for physicians who already have one in a member state.

Other laws around telehealth vary by state and by drug classification. Controlled substances, for instance, have historically required an initial in-person visit, though that requirement has been waived since the 2020 Covid-19 state of emergency. The flexibility has been extended until the end of 2026, and it’s something many telehealth providers want to make permanent.

Signs of sketchiness. Along with state laws, there are flags that, while not a sure sign of illegal activity, providers should keep an eye on.

This includes companies that don’t expect doctors to follow up with patients, specifically advertise “free or low out-of-pocket cost items or services,” or only provide one type of product, “potentially restricting a practitioner’s treating options to a predetermined course of treatment,” per a 2022 fraud alert from the Department of Health and Human Services Office of Inspector General.

Prescribers should “do their diligence on the business model and how the platform actually operates clinically and not just how they’re described in, say, recruiting emails or materials that they receive from the company,” Ting Cheung, senior litigation counsel for employment law firm Sanford Heisler Sharp McKnight, told Healthcare Brew.

Clinicians should ask questions about patient intake, ensuring there are “real guardrails” when screening patients for drug eligibility. For instance, a patient shouldn’t be able to “simply retake a questionnaire” until they qualify for a drug, Cheung said.

Providers should also be especially wary of companies that tie compensation to prescription volume or refill rates, Cheung said.

One extreme example? Digital health company Done Global. In November 2025, a San Francisco federal jury handed a criminal conviction to founder and CEO Ruthia He and psychiatrist and Clinical President David Brody after they provided subscribers “easy access” to over 40 million Adderall pills and other controlled substances, per a DOJ release.

The platform offered nurse practitioners “up to $60,000 per month to refill prescriptions without clinical interaction” while using “auto-refill” technology. But oversight was so inadequate that prescriptions were issued for dead patients, per the release.

“As providers…they have a responsibility to patients. So if the design of the business model undermines their standard of care, that is a risk that they need to be mindful of,” Cheung said.