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The medical groups propping up the GLP-1 telehealth boom
It’s relatively simple to go online and get a prescription for a GLP-1 medication for diabetes or obesity thanks to dozens of companies that have stepped in to fill demand for the potentially life-changing treatments. Behind the scenes, just a few networks of clinicians are writing prescriptions for a large number of websites, STAT’s Katie Palmer reports. Some of the sites do not disclose that they don’t employ the clinicians that patients see in visits that often resemble a commercial transaction as much as they do health care. Experts said the lucrative arrangements raise a number of concerns.
“This is a humongous red flag, and very scary to me,” obesity physician Scott Kahan told Katie. “When you set it up in this scenario, the incentives are so misaligned that I can’t imagine it would not be rife with abuse and profit-driven prescribing rather than medical prescribing.” Read Katie’s whole special report here
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