Dr. Tommie Robinson of Alabama pleaded guilty to his role in a $6 million telemedicine scheme involving unnecessary durable medical equipment and genetic testing. Prosecutors said Robinson worked with telemedicine companies to sign medical documentation without contact or relationships with patients, resulting in fraudulent Medicare claims.

Shakeenya Cooper of New Orleans has been arrested and charged with impersonating a health care worker and issuing prescriptions without a nursing license. She is accused of using a nurse's registered number to work at a hospital, a nursing home and a jail for close to a year without the required credentials.

Pharmacist Jeffrey Jack Bates of Indianola, Iowa, has surrendered his license after being charged with stealing $71,000 worth of drugs from a Hy-Vee pharmacy. Authorities say that Bates created fake prescriptions for Adderall and other drugs and billed insurers for the medications, which he allegedly took out of the store at the end of his shift.

The CMS debuted a beta version of the national provider directory at the Health Tech Ecosystem Connectathon in Washington, D.C. This directory aims to help beneficiaries locate providers that accept Medicare, marking a significant step in the CMS' interoperability initiative, launched in collaboration with the White House. This initiative focuses on voluntary industry standards to improve health care data transfer and patient access.

Michigan lawmakers have advanced a bipartisan package of bills designed to address the growing problem of medical debt across the state. The proposed legislation would require hospitals to create financial assistance programs based on patients' income and insurance status, and prohibit consumer reporting agencies from including medical debt in reports. Additionally, the proposal calls for regular reporting of assistance data to the state health department.