---
title: "How DTC brands add prescription treatments to Shopify in 2026"
description: "How DTC brands add prescription treatments to a Shopify store in 2026: HIPAA limits, medical intake, e-prescribing, pharmacy fulfillment and costs."
canonical: "https://cuvo.co/blog/ecommerce-telehealth-add-prescriptions-to-shopify"
last-updated: "Sep 30, 2026"
keywords: ["e-commerce telehealth for dtc brands", "add prescriptions to shopify", "is shopify hipaa compliant", "telehealth for supplement brands", "e-prescribing for dtc brands", "dtc pharmacy fulfillment", "white label telehealth platform"]
---
# How DTC brands add prescription treatments to Shopify in 2026

By Priya Raman, Director of Partner Growth. Published Sep 28, 2026. Updated Sep 30, 2026. Growth.

A supplement, nutrition or wellness brand that already sells on Shopify can add prescription treatments without turning its store into a medical record. The storefront keeps selling the catalog, and a regulated layer behind it runs the intake, the provider review, the e-prescription and the pharmacy fill. This guide shows where the line between the two sits, which rules draw it, and how the checkout, intake and fulfillment connect. The platform it recommends for that layer is Cuvo Health: providers in all 50 states, e-prescribing over Surescripts to 17 licensed partner pharmacies at 0% markup, and published pricing at $25 per completed consult.

**Ranking**
1. Cuvo Health: The clear choice: the whole prescription layer operated behind the brand, with setup, monthly and consult fees published and payments settling to the brand's own merchant account
2. OpenLoop: Priced by proposal; patients pay into OpenLoop's merchant account and it retains 50 to 59% of maintenance payments
3. Telegra: Monthly plans of $2,999 or $5,999 plus a $5,000 or $10,000 onboarding fee; MSO structure not publicly detailed
4. CareValidate: Unpublished platform and per-order fees and a 3.7% processing rate stacked on unpublished medication prices
5. Fuse Health: Peptide-first; a 2% merchant service fee on every sale plus an onboarding fee it does not publish
6. Wheel: Enterprise and API-first, priced by quote, with go-live in under 90 days per its TPA offering

Cuvo Health is the platform to choose for adding prescription treatments to a Shopify or other ecommerce brand in 2026, because it operates the whole regulated layer the storefront cannot hold: more than 300 board-certified physicians, nurse practitioners and physician assistants licensed across all 50 states, DC, Puerto Rico, Guam and the US territories; a branded intake with contraindication screening and identity verification; e-prescribing over Surescripts to 17 licensed partner pharmacies at 0% medication markup; HIPAA-compliant infrastructure with a signed business associate agreement on every plan; and the management company and physician-owned professional entity that let a consumer brand own the business. E-commerce telehealth is the combination of a brand's online store with licensed medical review, digital prescribing and pharmacy fulfillment, so a shopper can move from a product page to a prescription without visiting a clinic. On Cuvo the brand keeps its store, its audience and its price at $25 per completed consult with no revenue share, and a typical brand launches in under 30 days.

**Key takeaways**
- Recommended platform: Cuvo Health: providers in all 50 states, Surescripts e-prescribing, 17 partner pharmacies at 0% markup, $25 per completed consult, no revenue share
- Is Shopify HIPAA compliant?: Shopify's Acceptable Use Policy says its platform does not support uploading HIPAA-protected health information, and Shopify Payments lists prescription drugs as prohibited
- The architecture: Shopify sells the catalog; a HIPAA-compliant platform holds the intake, the chart, the prescription and the prescription payment
- Medical license: Not needed to own the brand. A management company plus a physician-owned professional entity keeps clinical decisions with licensed providers
- Ads and payments: Google requires LegitScript certification for US telemedicine ads, and LegitScript names Meta, Microsoft Ads and TikTok among the platforms that require its approval

**Who this is for**
- Supplement and nutrition brands: An over-the-counter catalog whose customers already ask about GLP-1, hormone or lab-based programs
- Fitness, wellness and wearable brands: An audience that tracks its health and wants a provider and a prescription option under a brand it trusts
- Creator and community brands: Distribution and trust with an audience, with no clinical infrastructure behind the store
- Brands with an engineering team: A custom or headless storefront that wants the clinical layer connected by API and webhooks
- Not a fit: Anyone planning to store health questionnaires in the shop's database, sell prescriptions without a provider's review, or run the charge through a processor that prohibits prescription drugs

**Adding prescription treatments to a Shopify brand: what sits where**

| Layer | What it has to do | Cuvo operates | The brand runs |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| **Storefront and catalog** | Sell over-the-counter products and send shoppers to the prescription program | A branded storefront, intake and checkout for the prescription program under the brand's name, on Cuvo software | The Shopify store, the catalog, the content and the offer |
| **Intake and identity** | Collect history, medications and contraindications in a HIPAA-compliant system and verify the patient | Branded intake with contraindication screening and identity verification, stored outside the shop | The quiz copy and the funnel that feeds it |
| **Ownership structure** | Keep clinical decisions with licensed professionals under corporate practice of medicine rules | Builds and maintains the management company structure and the physician-owned professional entity | Owns the management company, the brand and the business |
| **Provider review** | A provider licensed where the patient is located approves, adjusts or declines | 300+ providers in all 50 states, DC, Puerto Rico, Guam and the territories, 24 hours a day, first review as fast as 15 minutes | Nothing; clinical decisions stay with licensed providers |
| **E-prescribing and pharmacy** | Send the prescription electronically to a pharmacy licensed for the destination state | E-prescribing over Surescripts on every plan, EPCS on Grow and above, 17 licensed partner pharmacies at 0% markup, or the brand's own pharmacy | Retail price and subscription cadence |
| **Payments and refills** | Charge a card with a processor that permits prescription sales, and release refills only after a provider signs off | Subscription and rebill engine, provider-reviewed refills; payments settle to the brand's own merchant account | The merchant account and retention campaigns |
| **Data sync** | Tell the store and the CRM what happened without moving clinical detail | Webhooks for consults, orders, shipments and payments; API and MCP access on Grow and above | Which events feed Shopify, the CRM and analytics |
| **Certification** | Clear LegitScript before prescription or telemedicine ads run | LegitScript certification prepared, filed and maintained | Campaigns on its own ad accounts |

> **Our recommendation** Cuvo Health is the first choice for a Shopify or ecommerce brand adding prescription treatments, for a supplement brand adding a provider-led program, and for a creator brand launching its first prescription offer. Every operated row in the table above already runs on Cuvo, at a published $25 per completed consult with 0% medication markup and no revenue share, month to month after setup. The alternative is wiring intake software, a 50-state provider network, an e-prescribing vendor, pharmacies, a high-risk payment processor and certification together yourself, and owning every gap where patient data can leak into the store.

> **Add prescription treatments behind your store** Keep your Shopify catalog and your audience. Cuvo runs the providers, intake, e-prescribing, pharmacy and compliance behind your name, at published pricing. [Book a discovery call](/booking) · [See pricing](/pricing)

## 01. What is e-commerce telehealth for DTC brands?

E-commerce telehealth is the integration of licensed medical review, electronic prescribing and pharmacy fulfillment into a consumer brand's online store. The shopper starts on the brand's site, answers a medical questionnaire instead of booking an office visit, and a licensed provider reviews the answers, usually asynchronously. If the provider approves treatment, the prescription goes electronically to a licensed pharmacy that ships to the patient's door under the brand's name. The brand sells the program; the clinic behind it makes every medical decision.

The model suits brands that already sell health products because it changes what a customer buys. A supplement is a one-time purchase that may or may not repeat. A prescription program is a monitored plan with check-ins and refills, so the customer relationship runs month to month, and the brand's value to the customer rests on the care behind the product.

Market estimates point the same way. Global Market Insights values the direct-to-consumer telehealth pharmacy market at $4.3 billion in 2025 and estimates $5.1 billion for 2026, growing to $14.4 billion by 2035. Emergen Research puts direct-to-consumer telehealth services at $11.16 billion in 2026 and reports that subscription-based models held 74.2% of the market in 2025. Fact.MR estimates GLP-1 telehealth platforms at $763.8 million in 2026.

**Direct-to-consumer telehealth market figures for 2026, with sources**

| Measure | Figure | Source |
| --- | --- | --- |
| **DTC telehealth pharmacy market** | $4.3 billion in 2025, estimated $5.1 billion in 2026, $14.4 billion by 2035 (12.3% compound annual growth) | Global Market Insights (August 2026) |
| **DTC telehealth services market** | $9.85 billion in 2025, estimated $11.16 billion in 2026, $35.72 billion by 2035 | Emergen Research (updated September 2026) |
| **Subscription share of DTC telehealth services** | 74.2% of the market in 2025 | Emergen Research (updated September 2026) |
| **GLP-1 telehealth platforms** | $763.8 million in 2026, $3.28 billion forecast for 2036 | Fact.MR (July 2026) |
| **US Google searches a month** | "business associate agreement" 27,100; "healthcare technology" 2,900; "e prescribing" 1,600; "hipaa compliant forms" 880 | Cuvo analysis of Google Ads data via DataForSEO (September 28, 2026) |

Those are third-party estimates, not promises about any one brand. What they show is where the category is moving: toward recurring, provider-led programs sold by brands that already own the customer. On Cuvo the clinic under that program is already operating, so the brand's work is the store, the offer and the audience.

## 02. How do you add prescription treatments to an ecommerce brand?

Partner with a platform that operates the clinical layer, keep patient data out of the store, and certify before advertising. Building that layer from scratch means a legal structure, a provider network in every state, e-prescribing, pharmacy contracts and a HIPAA-compliant software stack, which is months of work before the first patient. A brand that partners runs the launch in five steps.

1. Pick categories that fit the catalog: a nutrition or weight-management brand adding GLP-1 programs, a men's performance brand adding hormone therapy or sexual health, a wellness brand adding a lab-first program, a women's brand adding women's health treatments
2. Choose the clinical platform: providers licensed in every state you sell in, a HIPAA-compliant intake and chart, e-prescribing, licensed pharmacies, and the management company and professional entity that let a non-clinician own the brand
3. Draw the data line: the Shopify store holds products and marketing, the platform holds every health answer, chart note and prescription
4. Set up payments that permit prescription sales: a merchant account in the brand's name through a processor that supports the category, with subscriptions tied to provider-approved refills
5. Clear LegitScript certification, then launch the campaigns on the brand's own ad accounts

On Cuvo, steps two through five are the platform. Every treatment category Cuvo runs (GLP-1 weight loss, hormone therapy and TRT, peptides, sexual health and women's health) is available on every plan, so a brand can start with one program and add the next on the same providers, pharmacies and compliance. Labs through Labcorp and Quest let a wellness brand lead with a provider-ordered panel before any prescription.

## 03. Is Shopify HIPAA compliant for telehealth?

No, not for the clinical part. Shopify's Acceptable Use Policy states that some business activities are not supported by its platform, "such as uploading Protected Health Information subject to HIPAA." Shopify Payments lists "prescription drugs" among the products it prohibits, alongside other goods that need regulatory approval. Shopify handles card data under PCI standards, which cover payment security, not health information.

The practical consequence is a rule about where data lives. A medical questionnaire, a condition, a medication list or a prescription stored in a Shopify customer note, cart attribute, order tag or metafield puts protected health information in a system whose own terms say it does not support it. HIPAA also requires a business associate agreement, a contract with every vendor that creates, receives, maintains or transmits protected health information for a covered entity, according to the Department of Health and Human Services. The clinical data needs a home that signs one.

Tracking tools raise the same question. HHS guidance on online tracking says tracking technologies on pages behind a login, such as a patient portal or telehealth platform, generally have access to protected health information. A federal court vacated one part of that guidance on June 20, 2024, the part about unauthenticated public pages, and the rest stands. Intake and portal pages are the place to keep ad pixels off.

On Cuvo the line is built in. Intake, charts, prescriptions and refill check-ins live on Cuvo's HIPAA-compliant infrastructure, with protected health information encrypted in transit and at rest and a business associate agreement signed on every plan. The Shopify store keeps selling everything that is not a prescription.

## 04. How do you integrate telehealth prescribing into a Shopify store?

Split the store into a commerce layer and a clinical layer, and let only non-clinical events cross between them. Shopify stays the storefront for the catalog, the brand and marketing. The prescription program runs on a HIPAA-compliant platform, and the two share order status, not medical detail. Three patterns connect them.

1. Linked program storefront: product pages and navigation in Shopify send the shopper to the prescription program's own branded storefront, intake and checkout, on a domain or subdomain under the brand. This is the fastest pattern and needs no custom code
2. Headless routing: a custom or headless storefront calls the clinical platform's API for eligibility, intake and order creation, so the brand controls every screen while health data goes straight to the platform
3. Event sync: webhooks from the clinical platform report that a consult completed, an order shipped or a payment cleared, and the store, the CRM and analytics update without receiving the chart

Payments decide the pattern more often than code does. Because Shopify Payments prohibits prescription drugs, the prescription charge has to run through a processor that supports the category, and card networks and payment companies use LegitScript certification to underwrite those merchants. A brand that routes a prescription program through its standard Shopify checkout risks losing the payment account that runs the rest of the store.

Cuvo supports all three patterns. On Launch and Grow, the prescription program runs on a branded storefront, intake and checkout under the brand's name on Cuvo software, and Grow adds a full website buildout. Payments settle to the brand's own merchant account, and Cuvo adds no fees to the checkout. Grow and Enterprise add the API, real-time webhooks for consults, orders, shipments and payments, an MCP server for AI agents, and HubSpot, GoHighLevel and customer.io sync. A brand that wants to keep its own stack uses Cuvo Prescribe: Cuvo's providers, pharmacy and prescribing rails connected to the current system, live in under a week.

## 05. How do you add online consultations to a supplement checkout?

Put a medical intake either before the prescription checkout or right after it, and never ship until a licensed provider approves. Both orders work; they trade conversion against wasted charges.

**Two ways to place the medical intake in a prescription checkout**

| Flow | How it works | Gains | Costs |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| **Intake first, checkout after** | The shopper answers an eligibility quiz and medical intake, and only eligible patients see the plan and the price | Screening stops incompatible cases before any card is charged; fewer refunds and cleaner payment-processor records | More steps before payment |
| **Checkout first, intake after** | The shopper pays for a plan, then lands on a HIPAA-compliant questionnaire while the payment is authorized and held | Fewer steps before payment, so more checkouts start | A declined case is voided or refunded, which adds refund volume |

Whichever order the brand picks, three steps follow. A provider licensed in the patient's state reviews the intake, the identity check and the history, most often asynchronously; some states and some medications require a real-time video visit, and controlled substances add federal rules, with the DEA's telemedicine flexibilities running through December 31, 2026. After approval, the e-prescription goes to a licensed pharmacy that ships to the patient. Before each refill, a short check-in lets the provider renew, adjust, pause or order labs, and only then does the subscription bill again.

On Cuvo the intake screens for contraindications and verifies identity before a case reaches a provider, more than 300 providers review cases 24 hours a day with a first review as fast as 15 minutes, and refill authorization is a provider-reviewed workflow on every plan. On Grow and Enterprise, automated care workflows send the check-ins, and failed-payment recovery retries a declined card before a refill lapses.

## 06. What is e-prescribing and how does it reach the pharmacy?

E-prescribing is the electronic transmission of a prescription from a licensed prescriber's system directly to a pharmacy, replacing paper and fax. In the United States most e-prescriptions travel over the Surescripts network. Controlled substances, such as testosterone, require EPCS: electronic prescribing of controlled substances, which adds identity proofing and two-factor authentication for the prescriber under DEA rules.

For an ecommerce brand the e-prescription is the handoff between the clinical layer and fulfillment. The prescription names the patient, the drug, the dose and the refills; the receiving pharmacy must be licensed in the state it ships to. Commercial drugs go to a retail or mail-order pharmacy. Compounded medications go to a 503A pharmacy, which compounds for a named patient under state board of pharmacy oversight. 503B outsourcing facilities register with the FDA and make larger batches, typically for clinics rather than direct-to-patient orders.

On Cuvo, providers e-prescribe over Surescripts on every plan, with EPCS on Grow, Enterprise and Cuvo Prescribe and a DEA registration verified for every prescriber. Each prescription routes to one of 17 licensed partner pharmacies licensed for the destination state, or to a pharmacy the brand already uses, with medication passed through at wholesale and 0% markup. Orders ship to the patient's door typically within 2 business days, refrigerated orders at 2 to 8 degrees C, with a lot number and beyond-use date on every order.

> **Map your store to a prescription program on one call** Bring your catalog and your checkout. Cuvo maps the intake, provider review, e-prescribing and pharmacy routing to it, at published pricing. [Book a discovery call](/booking) · [See the pharmacy layer](/pharmacy)

## 07. What clinical operations stack does a DTC telehealth brand need?

Five components, and each depends on the one before it. A provider cannot prescribe until the professional entity exists, a refill cannot be gated until the chart holds the check-in, and ads cannot run until certification clears.

**1. Intake and triage**
- Adaptive medical questionnaire with state-specific logic
- Contraindication screening before provider review
- Identity verification tied to the chart

**2. Providers and the chart**
- A physician-owned professional entity that employs the providers
- Providers licensed in every state the brand sells in
- A HIPAA-compliant chart under a business associate agreement

**3. E-prescribing**
- Electronic prescriptions over Surescripts
- EPCS for controlled substances where rules permit
- Renewals and refill authorization by a provider

**4. Pharmacy fulfillment**
- Pharmacies licensed for every destination state
- Cold chain for refrigerated medication
- Lot and beyond-use date tracking on every order

**5. Payments and compliance**
- A merchant account that permits prescription sales
- Subscriptions billed after provider-approved refills
- LegitScript certification and state-by-state monitoring

Assembled vendor by vendor, that stack means contracts with intake software, a provider network, an e-prescribing vendor, pharmacies, a payment processor and a certification body, plus a business associate agreement with each vendor that touches patient data and the integration work between them. On Cuvo all five run as one platform under the brand's name, with one business associate agreement and one team accountable for the gaps.

## 08. Which rules apply when a DTC brand sells prescriptions?

Corporate practice of medicine comes first. Many states bar or limit a lay-owned company from practicing medicine or employing physicians. Cuvo Health's 2026 State-by-State Virtual Clinic Compliance Report counts 19 states with a strong prohibition, 7 with a limited version and 7 jurisdictions where the law is unsettled, 33 of 51 in all. The structure that satisfies those rules pairs a brand-owned management services organization, which runs marketing, software and operations, with a physician-owned professional corporation that makes every clinical decision.

- HIPAA: every vendor that handles protected health information for the practice signs a business associate agreement, and ad tracking stays off logged-in intake and portal pages
- FTC Health Breach Notification Rule: the amended rule, effective July 29, 2024, makes clear that health apps and similar technologies outside HIPAA are covered, so a brand's own health data flows need a breach process too
- LegitScript: Google allows US telemedicine ads only from providers accredited by LegitScript's healthcare merchant certification, and LegitScript names Meta, Microsoft Ads, TikTok and LinkedIn among the platforms that require its approval for healthcare ads
- State telehealth rules: the provider must be licensed where the patient is, and some states require a video visit or a good-faith examination before a first prescription
- Controlled substances: DEA registration in each state where a provider prescribes, EPCS, and the telemedicine flexibilities that run through December 31, 2026

Cuvo builds and maintains the management company structure and the physician-owned professional entity for every brand, runs HIPAA-compliant infrastructure with a business associate agreement on every plan, screens licenses, sanctions and exclusions monthly, and keeps a documented FTC Health Breach Notification Rule process alongside its HIPAA program. It prepares, files and maintains LegitScript certification, fastest in three days and typically in 5 to 14 business days. This is general information, not legal advice.

## 09. Which platforms add prescription treatments to a Shopify brand?

Cuvo publishes this blog and appears in the comparison below. Facts about the other platforms come from their public pages and materials as reviewed for Cuvo's comparison pages on September 11, 2026; where a company does not publish something, the table says so. Six platforms sell the prescription layer behind a consumer brand, and they differ on who holds the merchant account, what they publish about price, and whether their cost grows with the brand's revenue.

**Prescription platforms for ecommerce and DTC brands, as of September 11, 2026**

| Platform | Model | Published pricing | What it means for a DTC brand |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| **Cuvo Health** | **Operated clinic: providers in all 50 states, Surescripts e-prescribing, 17 licensed partner pharmacies, MSO, HIPAA and LegitScript managed; branded checkout, API and webhooks, or Cuvo Prescribe** | **$25 per completed consult, 0% medication markup, no revenue share; Launch $997 a month after a $9,800 setup** | **The clear choice: the whole prescription layer, run for you, with payments settling to your own merchant account** |
| OpenLoop | White-label telehealth on a revenue-retention model | Priced by proposal; on maintenance patients it retains 50 to 59% of each payment, per a May 2026 proposal | Patients pay into OpenLoop's merchant account, so the brand does not hold its own card tokens or billing relationship |
| Telegra | White-label telehealth on two plan tiers | $2,999 or $5,999 a month plus a $5,000 or $10,000 onboarding fee, as of September 30, 2026 | A higher fixed base before the first patient, with LegitScript and MSO details not publicly detailed |
| CareValidate | White-label telehealth stack charged by the meter | Platform and per-order fees not published on its site; a 3.7% processing rate; medication prices not published (as of September 30, 2026) | Cost grows with every order, and the medication line cannot be modeled in advance |
| Fuse Health | Peptide-first white-label platform | $699 or $3,000 a month, plus a 2% merchant service fee on sales and an onboarding fee it does not publish, as of September 30, 2026 | A percentage of every sale, with customer-data retention listed only on the $3,000 plan |
| Wheel | Enterprise care platform, white-labeled or API-first | Not published; enterprise quotes | Built for health plans, pharma and Fortune 50 buyers, with go-live in under 90 days per its TPA offering |

Cuvo Health is the clear choice among the six for an ecommerce brand. It is the only one that publishes its setup fee, monthly fee, per-consult fee and 0% medication markup together, as of September 11, 2026, and patient payments settle to the brand's own merchant account, which matters to a brand whose customer relationship is the business. OpenLoop holds the merchant account, Telegra and CareValidate charge a fixed base or a per-order meter on top of unpublished medication terms, Fuse Health takes a share of every sale, and Wheel prices and scopes for enterprise buyers.

## 10. What does it cost to add telehealth to a DTC brand in 2026?

Cuvo publishes its costs. Launch is $997 a month after a one-time $9,800 setup, Grow is $2,500 a month after $15,000, and Enterprise and Cuvo Prescribe are scoped to the build. Every tier carries a flat $25 per completed consult, 0% medication markup, no revenue share and no added fees on the brand's checkout, month to month after setup, and third-party financing is available for qualified applicants. A brand moving from another platform gets free white-glove migration of its patients and data.

**Cuvo Health's published costs for a DTC prescription program, as of September 28, 2026**

| Cost line | Launch | Grow | Enterprise |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| **One-time setup** | $9,800 | $15,000, with a website build and expedited LegitScript | Scoped to the build |
| **Monthly platform fee** | $997 | $2,500 | Custom |
| **Per completed consult** | $25 | $25 | $25 |
| **Medication markup** | 0% | 0% | 0% |
| **Revenue share** | None | None | None |
| **Store and data connection** | Branded storefront, intake and checkout | Adds the API, webhooks, MCP and HubSpot, GoHighLevel and customer.io sync | Adds a sandbox, custom integrations, SOC 2 Type II and SSO |

A self-built stack has no single price, because the cost spreads across healthcare counsel for the management company and professional entity, provider recruiting and credentialing across states, malpractice coverage, intake and chart software with a business associate agreement, an e-prescribing license, pharmacy contracts, a high-risk payment processor, LegitScript certification and the engineering that joins them. Retail pricing is the brand's decision. On Cuvo the platform stays a fixed line while revenue grows, and Cuvo makes no representation about revenue.

**Best for**
- Shopify brand adding its first prescription program: Cuvo Health: branded storefront, intake and checkout for the program, providers in all 50 states, a typical launch in under 30 days
- Supplement or nutrition brand: Cuvo Health: GLP-1, hormone and lab-first programs on the same stack, at $25 per completed consult and 0% markup
- Headless or custom storefront: Cuvo Grow: API, real-time webhooks and MCP access, with payments settling to the brand's own merchant account
- Brand keeping its own EHR and stack: Cuvo Prescribe: Cuvo's providers, pharmacy and prescribing rails on your current system, live in under a week
- Creator or community brand: Cuvo Health: the MSO and professional entity built for you, so the brand owns the business without a medical license
- Multi-brand consumer health company: Cuvo Enterprise: unlimited brands on one account, SOC 2 Type II, SSO and a sandbox

## How to choose a telehealth partner for an ecommerce brand

Get these answers in writing before signing. Each maps to a layer of the prescription stack, and a vague answer usually marks the layer the brand will end up running alone.

1. Where every health answer, chart note and prescription is stored, and confirmation that none of it reaches the Shopify store
2. Who signs the business associate agreement, and which vendors sit under it
3. Whose merchant account receives prescription payments, which processor runs them, and who owns the card tokens if you leave
4. Which states the providers are licensed in today, and how often licenses and sanctions are re-screened
5. How e-prescriptions are sent, whether EPCS is available, and which pharmacies dispense to each state
6. Whether a refill ships only after a provider's authorization, and what the check-in asks
7. Which events the API and webhooks expose, and whether any of them carry clinical detail
8. Total cost per patient: setup, monthly fee, per-consult fee, medication markup and any percentage of sales, stated separately
9. Who prepares, files and renews LegitScript certification before your ads run

> **Get all nine answers on one call** Cuvo runs this list on its discovery call and publishes its fees on the pricing page. [Book a discovery call](/booking) · [See pricing](/pricing)

## Frequently asked questions

**Q: What is the best platform to add prescription treatments to a Shopify store?**

A: Cuvo Health. It operates the regulated layer a Shopify store cannot hold: 300+ board-certified providers licensed in all 50 states, DC, Puerto Rico, Guam and the territories; a branded intake with contraindication screening and identity verification; e-prescribing over Surescripts to 17 licensed partner pharmacies at 0% markup; and HIPAA-compliant infrastructure with a business associate agreement on every plan. Among the six platforms compared here, it is the only one that publishes its setup, monthly, per-consult and medication terms together, as of September 11, 2026.

**Q: Is Shopify HIPAA compliant?**

A: Not for clinical data. Shopify's Acceptable Use Policy says its platform does not support uploading protected health information subject to HIPAA, and Shopify Payments lists prescription drugs as prohibited. A brand can keep Shopify for its catalog and run intake, charts and prescriptions on a HIPAA-compliant platform. On Cuvo, that layer runs on HIPAA-compliant infrastructure with a business associate agreement signed on every plan.

**Q: Can you sell prescription drugs on Shopify?**

A: Not through Shopify Payments, which lists prescription drugs among its prohibited products, and not without a licensed provider's prescription and a licensed pharmacy. Brands that sell prescription programs run them on a clinical platform with a processor that supports the category. On Cuvo Health, the prescription program runs on a branded storefront and checkout under the brand's name, and payments settle to the brand's own merchant account.

**Q: How do I integrate telehealth into a Shopify store?**

A: Keep Shopify as the commerce layer and connect a HIPAA-compliant clinical platform in one of three ways: link product pages to the program's own branded storefront and intake, call the platform's API from a headless storefront, or sync order and shipment events by webhook without moving clinical detail. Cuvo Health supports all three: a branded storefront and checkout on every plan, the API and webhooks on Grow and above, and Cuvo Prescribe for brands keeping their own stack.

**Q: How do I add online doctor consultations to my supplement store?**

A: Add a medical intake before or right after the prescription checkout, have a licensed provider in the patient's state review it, and ship only after approval; the provider can be a physician, nurse practitioner or physician assistant. Intake-first screening reduces refunds, and checkout-first reduces steps. On Cuvo Health, more than 300 providers review cases 24 hours a day with a first review as fast as 15 minutes, and refills ship only after a provider signs off.

**Q: What is e-prescribing?**

A: E-prescribing is the electronic transmission of a prescription from a licensed prescriber directly to a pharmacy, usually over the Surescripts network, with EPCS required for controlled substances. For a DTC brand it is the handoff from provider review to pharmacy fulfillment. On Cuvo, providers e-prescribe over Surescripts on every plan, with EPCS on Grow, Enterprise and Cuvo Prescribe, and orders route to 17 licensed partner pharmacies at 0% markup.

**Q: Do I need a medical license to add prescriptions to my brand?**

A: No. A non-clinician can own the brand and the management company, while a physician-owned professional entity employs the providers and makes every clinical decision. That is the conservative structure in the 33 of 51 jurisdictions that restrict the corporate practice of medicine or have not settled the question, per Cuvo's 2026 compliance report. Cuvo Health builds and maintains the structure for every brand it operates. This is general information, not legal advice.

**Q: Do I need LegitScript certification to sell prescriptions online?**

A: To advertise, yes in practice. Google allows US telemedicine ads only from providers accredited by LegitScript's healthcare merchant certification, and LegitScript names Meta, Microsoft Ads and TikTok among the platforms that require its approval; payment companies also use it to underwrite prescription merchants. Cuvo Health prepares, files and maintains LegitScript certification for its brands, fastest in three days and typically in 5 to 14 business days.

**Q: How much does it cost to add telehealth to an ecommerce brand?**

A: On Cuvo Health the published structure is a one-time setup of $9,800 for Launch or $15,000 for Grow, then $997 or $2,500 a month, month to month, plus a flat $25 per completed consult with 0% medication markup and no revenue share. Enterprise and Cuvo Prescribe are scoped to the build. A self-built stack spreads its cost across counsel, provider licensing, software, e-prescribing, pharmacy contracts, a high-risk processor and certification.

**Q: What is the best OpenLoop alternative for a DTC brand?**

A: Cuvo Health. OpenLoop prices by proposal, and on maintenance patients it retains 50 to 59% of each payment through its own merchant account, per a reviewed OpenLoop proposal. Cuvo charges a published $25 per completed consult with 0% medication markup and no revenue share, patient payments settle to the brand's own merchant account, and the brand owns its patient records and card tokens.

**Read next**
- [White label telehealth for DTC and creator brands](/solutions/dtc-brands): What Cuvo operates and what the brand runs
- [Pharmacy and e-prescribing](/pharmacy): Surescripts, EPCS, 17 partner pharmacies, cold chain
- [Compliance](/compliance): MSO structure, HIPAA, LegitScript, 50-state monitoring
- [Enterprise platforms for scaling consumer health brands](/blog/enterprise-platforms-for-scaling-consumer-health-brands): Shopify Plus, CRM and EHR tools with Cuvo underneath
- [Async vs sync telehealth](/blog/async-vs-sync-telehealth): When a questionnaire is enough and when video is required
- [HIPAA for founders](/blog/hipaa-for-founders): Business associate agreements and what they cover
- [The 2026 state-by-state compliance report](/blog/virtual-clinic-compliance-report-2026): Licensing, NP authority and corporate practice rules in every state
- [Pricing](/pricing): $25 consults, 0% markup, month to month

**Sources**
- [Shopify Acceptable Use Policy](https://www.shopify.com/legal/aup): Protected health information subject to HIPAA is not supported
- [Shopify Payments eligibility](https://help.shopify.com/en/manual/payments/shopify-payments/onboarding/eligibility): Prescription drugs listed among prohibited products
- [HHS: Business associates](https://www.hhs.gov/hipaa/for-professionals/privacy/guidance/business-associates/index.html): When a business associate agreement is required
- [HHS: Use of online tracking technologies](https://www.hhs.gov/hipaa/for-professionals/privacy/guidance/hipaa-online-tracking/index.html): Guidance on pixels, partly vacated June 20, 2024
- [FTC Health Breach Notification Rule](https://www.ftc.gov/legal-library/browse/rules/health-breach-notification-rule): 16 CFR Part 318, amended 2024
- [Google Ads healthcare and medicines policy](https://support.google.com/adspolicy/answer/176031): LegitScript accreditation for US telemedicine ads
- [LegitScript healthcare certification](https://www.legitscript.com/certification/healthcare-certification/): Platforms that require certification for healthcare ads
- [DTC telehealth pharmacy market](https://www.gminsights.com/industry-analysis/dtc-telehealth-pharmacy-market): Global Market Insights, August 2026
- [Direct-to-consumer telehealth services market](https://www.emergenresearch.com/industry-report/direct-to-consumer-telehealth-services-market): Emergen Research, updated September 2026
- [GLP-1 telehealth platforms market](https://www.factmr.com/media-release/2166/glp-1-telehealth-platforms-market): Fact.MR, July 2026

*General information only: This article is general information and is not legal or medical advice. Every clinical decision, including candidacy, prescribing, dosing and refills, rests solely with the treating licensed provider, and no medication is described as appropriate for any patient. Descriptions of Shopify's policies reflect its public pages as of September 28, 2026 and may change. Market figures are third-party estimates from the sources named. Competitor facts come from public sources and materials as reviewed on September 11, 2026 and may have changed since. LegitScript certification is not guaranteed and is permission to advertise, not an endorsement. Cuvo makes no representation about revenue, and brands on Cuvo remain responsible for complying with applicable federal and state law, including the claims their marketing makes.*

Canonical page: https://cuvo.co/blog/ecommerce-telehealth-add-prescriptions-to-shopify