What is the best telehealth platform for small practices?

Doxy.me is the strongest entry-level telehealth platform for small practices — the free plan is HIPAA compliant, requires no app download for patients, and lets providers see patients via video with zero implementation overhead. SimplePractice is better for mental health and behavioral health practices that want telehealth integrated with scheduling, notes, and billing. For practices already using an EHR like DrChrono or athenahealth, the native telehealth feature in those platforms is usually adequate and saves the overhead of a separate tool.

Is Zoom HIPAA compliant for telehealth?

Zoom for Healthcare — a distinct product from the standard Zoom plans — is HIPAA compliant when configured correctly and used with a signed BAA from Zoom. Standard Zoom Business and Enterprise plans also support BAAs, but the configuration requirements are more nuanced. Standard free consumer Zoom accounts are not HIPAA compliant. If you are using Zoom for clinical video visits, you must be on a Business or higher plan with a signed BAA and with HIPAA-compatible settings enabled. Zoom for Healthcare simplifies this configuration and adds clinical workflow integrations.

Does Medicare reimburse telehealth visits?

Yes, Medicare reimburses many telehealth services, though the coverage rules have changed since the COVID-19 public health emergency period. As of 2026, Medicare Part B covers telehealth for qualifying services including mental health, primary care, chronic disease management, and certain specialist visits. Geographic restrictions that previously limited rural telehealth have been extended through legislation. Medicaid telehealth coverage varies significantly by state — verify your state's Medicaid telehealth policy before assuming coverage. Private insurance telehealth parity laws also vary by state.

What is the difference between synchronous and asynchronous telehealth?

Synchronous telehealth is live, real-time care — a video or phone visit where provider and patient interact in the moment. Asynchronous telehealth (also called 'store-and-forward') is when the patient submits information (photos, symptoms, questionnaire responses) that the provider reviews and responds to later without a live interaction. Asynchronous is common in dermatology (reviewing skin photos), ophthalmology, radiology, and certain primary care workflows. Most telehealth software focuses on synchronous video visits; asynchronous capabilities are a more specialized feature.

Can I use telehealth for prescriptions?

Yes, in most cases. Providers with appropriate DEA registration can prescribe most medications via telehealth. The exception is controlled substances under the Ryan Haight Online Pharmacy Consumer Protection Act — controlled substance prescribing via telehealth without an in-person examination requires a DEA telemedicine registration (a relatively new DEA framework introduced in 2023). Non-controlled medications can be prescribed via telehealth without this restriction. Check your state licensing board's telehealth prescribing rules, as state-level requirements layer on top of federal DEA rules.

Best Telehealth Platforms in 2026 — For Providers, Clinics, and Health Systems

The best telehealth platforms and telemedicine software in 2026, compared by use case — from solo providers adding video visits to health systems running enterprise virtual care programs.

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TL;DR: Doxy.me for providers who need a free, HIPAA-compliant video visit tool with zero patient setup friction. SimplePractice for mental health and behavioral health practices that want telehealth integrated with scheduling, notes, and billing. Zoom for Healthcare for practices already on Zoom that want clinical-use configuration and EHR integrations. Mend for practices with high no-show rates who want automated patient engagement around virtual visits. athenahealth and DrChrono when native EHR-integrated telehealth eliminates the need for a standalone platform.

Telehealth software has matured significantly since 2020. The early scramble to set up any video tool with a BAA has given way to a more deliberate evaluation of what actually belongs in a clinical workflow versus what is acceptable as an emergency workaround.

The meaningful choices in 2026 are not “which video platform has the best picture quality” — they are “does this integrate with my EHR and billing system,” “how much friction does it create for patients,” and “does the workflow support the visit types I actually deliver.”

This guide covers the platforms that answer those questions correctly for different practice contexts.

Telehealth Platforms at a Glance

Use case	Best pick	Why
Solo or small practice, low overhead	Doxy.me	Free HIPAA-compliant tier, no patient install
Mental health / behavioral health	SimplePractice	Telehealth + scheduling + notes + billing
Practices on Zoom wanting clinical compliance	Zoom for Healthcare	HIPAA config, clinical integrations
Reducing no-shows and improving patient access	Mend	Automated engagement, pre-visit intake
Already using DrChrono or athenahealth EHR	Native EHR telehealth	Unified workflow, no separate tool

What Changed in Telehealth Since 2020

The pandemic-era telehealth surge created two categories of providers: those who adopted telehealth as a permanent workflow and those who dropped it when in-person visits returned to capacity. The providers who kept telehealth did so because it reduced no-shows, enabled visits that would not have happened in person (patients in rural areas, patients who cannot take time off work, follow-up visits that do not need to be in-clinic), and in behavioral health, often improved therapeutic outcomes because patients were seen in their own environment.

The platforms that survived the pullback are the ones that delivered on integration — connecting video visits to scheduling, documentation, and billing without creating a parallel administrative workflow. A standalone video tool that does not connect to the practice management system means the visit exists in one place and the record exists in another.

The Best Telehealth Platforms in 2026

Doxy.me

Best for: Individual providers and small practices that want HIPAA-compliant video visits with minimal setup

Doxy.me is the simplest entry point into HIPAA-compliant telehealth. The free plan covers the core workflow: the provider has a persistent room URL that patients join in a browser — no app download, no account creation, no QR code. The provider opens their Doxy.me room, shares the link, and the patient clicks it on any device.

The free plan includes a BAA, HIPAA-compliant encryption, waiting room functionality, and one-to-one video. Paid plans add multi-provider group practices, customizable patient waiting rooms, SMS reminders, and analytics.

What Doxy.me does not do is integrate deeply with EHR or billing systems — it is a standalone video tool, not a practice management platform. For practices that want visit documentation and billing to connect to the video visit, a platform with native EHR integration (or a standalone tool with EHR integrations) is a better fit.

Pricing: Free (single provider, core features). Professional at $35/provider/month. Clinic at $50/provider/month.

Where it falls short: No scheduling, no billing, no documentation. Works best as the video layer within a broader practice management workflow.

SimplePractice

Best for: Mental health practitioners, therapists, counselors, and behavioral health practices

SimplePractice is the dominant practice management platform for solo and group mental health practices — and its telehealth integration is the reason. The video visit is launched from the session record, documentation (progress notes, treatment plans) is completed within the same interface, and billing flows from the session to the insurance claim or patient invoice without a manual step.

For a therapist seeing 25 clients per week, the operational difference between SimplePractice’s integrated workflow and a standalone video tool plus separate EHR is measured in hours of administrative time per week.

SimplePractice also includes online scheduling with client self-booking, a client portal, automated appointment reminders, insurance claim submission, and superbill generation for clients seeking out-of-network reimbursement.

Pricing: Starter at $29/month (1 provider, up to 3 active clients). Essential at $69/month. Plus at $99/month (full feature set, insurance billing). Group practices start at $158/month.

Where it falls short: Focused on behavioral health — not the right fit for primary care or medical specialties. Billing is designed for behavioral health coding, not complex medical billing.

For a detailed comparison of SimplePractice versus its closest competitor, see our SimplePractice vs TherapyNotes guide.

Zoom for Healthcare

Best for: Practices already using Zoom for internal communication that want HIPAA-compliant clinical video visits

Zoom for Healthcare is a distinct product configuration (not a separate application) that adds HIPAA compliance capabilities and clinical workflow integrations to the standard Zoom platform. It requires a Business or higher Zoom plan with a signed BAA.

The advantage for practices already using Zoom: no new video technology to learn, no patient onboarding to a new platform, and the ability to integrate with EHR systems via Zoom’s healthcare-specific API. Zoom for Healthcare integrates with Epic, Cerner, and several other major EHRs to launch visits directly from the patient schedule.

Patient experience is strong — Zoom is one of the most familiar video platforms for consumers, which reduces the support burden of telehealth adoption.

Pricing: Zoom Business at $199.90/user/year (required base). Zoom for Healthcare configuration and BAA available at Business+ tier. Add-on costs vary.

Where it falls short: Not a practice management platform — it is a video layer. Documentation, billing, and scheduling require integration with existing EHR and PM systems. More configuration overhead than Doxy.me for simple use cases.

Mend

Best for: Practices with high no-show rates and patient engagement challenges around telehealth visits

Mend is a telehealth and patient engagement platform built around reducing the gap between scheduling and actually completing a visit. Its differentiating features are automated patient engagement workflows: pre-visit intake forms sent and completed before the appointment, automated reminders via text and email that increase show rates, and AI-powered no-show prediction that identifies at-risk appointments for proactive outreach.

The video visit itself is browser-based and requires no patient app. Mend integrates with major EHRs and practice management systems, positioning itself as the patient engagement and telehealth layer rather than a replacement for existing clinical software.

For behavioral health, FQHC, and mental health practices where no-shows are a significant revenue and care continuity problem, Mend’s engagement layer can meaningfully improve visit completion rates.

Pricing: Contact sales for current pricing — Mend uses custom pricing based on practice size and feature selection.

Where it falls short: The value proposition is strongest for practices with measurable no-show problems. For practices with strong show rates and straightforward video visit needs, Mend’s feature breadth may exceed what is necessary.

VSee

Best for: Specialty telehealth, remote patient monitoring, and complex workflow integrations

VSee is a clinical-grade telehealth platform with a broader feature set than typical video-visit tools. It supports multi-party video (useful for specialist consults or multidisciplinary team visits), waiting room management at scale, EHR integrations, remote patient monitoring data display within the video interface, and customizable intake workflows.

VSee is used by both independent practices and health systems — the product scales from single-provider practices to enterprise deployments with high concurrent visit volumes and complex payer reporting requirements.

Pricing: Free plan (1 provider). Small Practice at $49/provider/month. Higher tiers for enterprise with custom pricing.

Native EHR Telehealth

Best for: Practices already on a major EHR that includes integrated telehealth

If your EHR includes telehealth — and most modern platforms do, including DrChrono, athenahealth, AdvancedMD, Kareo/Tebra, and Epic — the native telehealth integration should be your default evaluation. A visit launched from within the EHR workflow keeps documentation, billing, and the visit record in the same system, eliminating the sync issues that standalone tools introduce.

The native telehealth feature in most EHRs is adequate for standard synchronous video visits. The gaps appear when you need specialized functionality: large-scale concurrent visits, asynchronous store-and-forward, complex patient engagement workflows, or multi-party specialist consultations. In those cases, a specialized telehealth platform layered on top of the EHR makes sense.

Telehealth Billing: What to Verify

Telehealth billing is more complex than in-person billing because coverage rules vary significantly by payer, service type, and state. Before deploying telehealth, verify:

Place of service codes: Telehealth claims typically use POS code 02 (telehealth provided other than in patient’s home) or POS 10 (telehealth provided in patient’s home), depending on where the patient connects from. Using the wrong POS code generates denials.

GT and 95 modifiers: Some payers require procedure code modifiers (GT, 95, or others) to identify claims as telehealth. Requirements vary by payer — verify with your top five payers before assuming uniform rules.

Medicare telehealth coverage: Medicare Part B covers a defined list of telehealth services. Services not on the covered list are not reimbursed regardless of clinical appropriateness. Verify that your visit type is on the current covered services list.

State parity laws: Many states have insurance parity laws requiring private payers to reimburse telehealth at the same rate as in-person visits. Others do not. Know your state’s rules before setting patient expectations about cost.

For the broader compliance and HIPAA framework around telehealth, see our HIPAA compliance software guide.

Choosing Between a Standalone Telehealth Tool and an Integrated EHR

The right choice depends on one question: does your telehealth visit need to connect to a clinical record and a billing workflow in the same system?

If yes — and for most practices, the answer is yes — prioritize EHR-integrated telehealth, whether native to your EHR or through a platform with tight integration. The administrative overhead of reconciling visit records across disconnected systems is a hidden cost that compounds with visit volume.

If telehealth is a lightweight addition to a primarily in-person practice and the visit type does not require complex documentation, a tool like Doxy.me provides HIPAA-compliant video with zero integration overhead.

For the EHR side of this decision, see our best EHR software guide.