Telehealth antibiotic dispensing fuels concerns about antibiotic resistance

Ho Anh had just started at Lemonaid Health when he was hit in a lurch.

In 2017, after receiving reports about the telehealth site, a California Medical Board investigator logged into Lemonaid under an alias. “Mark Peters” filled out a short questionnaire about his imaginary symptoms, and Anh responded in a message: “Mark” probably had a bacterial sinus infection, the doctor said, writing a prescription for 10 days of amoxicillin. Another undercover investigator, ‘Mary Peters’, was given antibiotics for a non-existent urinary tract infection.

That concern, the medical council charged in 2018 was negligent: Anh did not collect vital signs, obtain a reliable medical history, or in any way verify that his patients were actually ill and needed antibiotics. The doctor, who later served in leadership roles at Hims and Cerebral, walked away with a reprimand and a promise to take a prescribing practices course in 2020.