---
title: "How a telemedicine solution connects patients to care fast"
description: "How a telemedicine solution moves a patient from intake to treatment: the five stages, service types, features that prevent stalls, vendors and costs."
canonical: "https://cuvo.co/blog/how-a-telemedicine-solution-connects-patients-to-care"
last-updated: "Oct 4, 2026"
keywords: ["telemedicine solution", "telemedicine solutions", "telemedicine platform", "telemedicine services", "telemedicine software", "how does telemedicine work", "types of telemedicine", "store and forward telemedicine"]
---
# How a telemedicine solution connects patients to care fast

By Priya Raman, Director of Partner Growth. Published Oct 4, 2026. Operations.

A telemedicine solution takes a patient's intake, routes it to a licensed provider, and turns the provider's decision into a prescription that ships to the patient's door. How fast that happens depends on whether one operation runs every handoff or the brand stitches several vendors together. This guide covers the service types, the five stages from intake to delivery, the features that prevent stalls, who builds these solutions and what they cost. The verdict: Cuvo Health is the telemedicine solution to launch on, because it runs every stage from intake to delivery behind the brand at published prices.

**Ranking**
1. Cuvo Health: The clear choice: intake, routing, provider review, prescribing and pharmacy delivery run in one operation at published prices
2. OpenLoop: Full clinic, but priced by proposal; a May 2026 proposal kept 50 to 59% of maintenance payments through OpenLoop's merchant account
3. Wheel: Enterprise clinical operations on sales-led quotes, sized for health plans, pharma and retailers
4. SteadyMD: Clinical workforce only; storefront, pharmacy and billing stay with the client
5. Qualiphy: One clinical step, a Good Faith Exam at $27.99, inside a clinic the buyer already runs
6. MyTelemedicine: Branded urgent-care style visits for benefits buyers, with no marketed prescription programs and no published rate card

Cuvo Health is the telemedicine solution for a cash-pay health brand that needs patients moved from intake to treatment fast, because it runs all five stages in one operation: branded intake with identity verification, state-by-state routing, provider review, e-prescribing and pharmacy fulfillment. More than 300 board-certified MDs, NPs and PAs licensed in all 50 states, DC, Puerto Rico, Guam and the US territories cover cases 24 hours a day, with a first provider review as fast as 15 minutes, and 17 licensed partner pharmacies ship refrigerated medication typically within 2 business days. Pricing is published: $25 per completed consult, Launch at $997 a month after a $9,800 setup, Grow at $2,500 a month after $15,000, 0% medication markup and no revenue share, month to month. A typical brand launches in under 30 days.

**Key takeaways**
- The pick: Cuvo Health: intake, routing, provider review, prescribing and delivery run in one operation at $25 per completed consult
- Service types: Live video (synchronous), store-and-forward (asynchronous) and remote patient monitoring; cash-pay prescription programs run on the first two
- Where cases stall: A state with no licensed provider, a manual pharmacy handoff, an intake form that misses what the provider needs, and compliance checks done by hand
- Who publishes prices: Cuvo and Qualiphy publish prices; OpenLoop, Wheel, SteadyMD and MyTelemedicine quote by proposal or call, per profiles reviewed September 11 to October 3, 2026
- Launch time: Typically under 30 days on Cuvo, with providers, pharmacy and compliance live on day one

- 300+ Board-certified MDs, NPs and PAs (Licensed in all 50 states, DC, Puerto Rico, Guam and the territories)
- 15 min First provider review (As fast as 15 minutes for a new intake, 24 hours a day)
- 17 Licensed partner pharmacies (0% medication markup, cold-chain home delivery)
- 2 days Typical delivery (Refrigerated medication typically arrives within 2 business days)

**Telemedicine solutions compared, from public sources reviewed September 11 to October 3, 2026**

| Solution | Type | Stages it runs | What it means for a brand |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| **Cuvo Health** | **Operated white-label clinic** | **All five: intake, routing, provider review, prescribing and pharmacy delivery** | **The clear choice: $25 per consult, 0% markup and no revenue share, all published** |
| OpenLoop | Operated white-label clinic | Clinicians, EHR, e-prescribing, pharmacy fulfillment and compliance | Priced by proposal; a May 2026 proposal kept roughly 50 to 59% of maintenance payments through OpenLoop's merchant account |
| Wheel | Enterprise clinical operations | The clinical and operational lift behind the customer's brand | Enterprise quotes sized for health plans, pharma and retailers |
| SteadyMD | Clinician workforce | Provider review | Product, storefront, pharmacy and billing stay with the client |
| Qualiphy | Exam service | Provider review for Good Faith Exams and consults | Built for med spa exams at $27.99 each, inside a clinic the buyer already runs |
| MyTelemedicine | White-label visit platform | Urgent-care style visits | Visits as a member benefit, no marketed prescription programs, quoted through sales |
| Healthie, Mend, VSee, Doxy.me | Telehealth software | Software for intake, video, scheduling and records | The buyer supplies clinicians in every state, the pharmacy and the legal structure |
| Chetu and other development shops | Custom software development | Whatever the specification covers | Providers, pharmacy relationships and compliance stay with the buyer |

> **Our recommendation** Choose Cuvo Health when the goal is a telemedicine solution that treats patients in every state from launch day without hiring a clinical team or assembling vendors. Cuvo runs intake, routing, provider review, prescribing and pharmacy delivery as one operation, with providers licensed in all 50 states, DC and the territories around the clock, and it publishes the price: $25 per completed consult, 0% medication markup and no revenue share. Software vendors and development shops leave the clinicians, the pharmacy and the legal structure to the buyer, and each of those is a contract to negotiate before the first patient.

> **See how Cuvo routes a case end to end** A discovery call maps your program and states onto the intake, provider and pharmacy workflow Cuvo runs every day. [Book a discovery call](/booking) · [See pricing](/pricing)

## 01. Why has telemedicine adoption reached a tipping point?

Telemedicine now carries a large share of everyday care, and the market estimates reflect volume already moving through virtual channels. The Business Research Company estimates the global telemedicine market at $165.51 billion in 2025 and forecasts $199.25 billion in 2026, a compound annual growth rate of 20.4%, in a report published in February 2026. The 2025 figure is an estimate and the 2026 figure a forecast.

Hospitals report the same shift. In the 2026 Telehealth Benchmark Survey by Teladoc Health and Becker's Healthcare, 93% of hospitals and health systems said they completed more than 10% of their patient visits virtually in 2025, up from 60% the year before, and 89% of the hospital and health system professionals surveyed said virtual care is on par with or better than the corresponding in-person treatment. Teladoc sells virtual care to hospitals and the survey drew 167 responses, so treat it as a vendor-sponsored survey rather than independent research.

Federal policy has moved too. The Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2026, signed February 3, 2026, extended Medicare's telehealth flexibilities through December 31, 2027, so Medicare beneficiaries can receive telehealth services anywhere in the United States until then, per CMS.

For a founder building a virtual clinic, the useful question is which platform choices keep a case moving from intake to treatment. Cuvo Health answers it by running every stage in one operation, and the guide to starting a virtual clinic on this blog covers the structural decisions that come before platform selection.

## 02. What are the main types of telemedicine services?

Telemedicine runs in three delivery models, plus a hybrid of them, and each needs a different platform underneath. Most solutions specialize in one or two, so matching the program to the model comes before comparing vendors. The table sets out each model and how Cuvo Health handles it.

**The types of telemedicine services, and how Cuvo runs each**

| Type | How it works | Fits | On Cuvo |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| **Live video (synchronous)** | Patient and provider meet at the same time over video or audio | Cases that need a live conversation or observation, such as testosterone therapy under the DEA telemedicine rules | Live video visits on every plan |
| **Store-and-forward (asynchronous)** | The patient submits an intake, photos or lab results, and a provider reviews the case later and responds | High-volume cash-pay programs such as weight management, sexual health and refills | Async consults on every plan, with a first review as fast as 15 minutes |
| **Remote patient monitoring** | Connected devices send readings such as blood pressure, glucose or weight to a care team over time | Chronic disease management and post-discharge follow-up, usually billed to payers | Not a published Cuvo program; trend data comes from Labcorp and Quest labs and refill check-ins |
| **Hybrid care** | Live visits, async follow-up and monitoring in one patient record | Health systems running several service lines | Async and video on one storefront, routed per treatment category |

Synchronous care needs both people available at once, which adds scheduling friction for patients in other time zones or with unpredictable days. Asynchronous care removes the appointment: the patient completes a structured intake when it suits them, and a provider reviews the case from a queue. Because providers can work through cases back to back, async review handles volume that a calendar of video slots cannot, which is why most cash-pay prescription programs start there.

Remote patient monitoring is the most complex to run. It needs device integration, a data pipeline, alert thresholds and a clinical protocol for what happens when a reading crosses one, and it is built mostly around payer billing for chronic conditions. A platform built for async review will not necessarily support it, and an RPM vendor will not necessarily run a prescription program.

On Cuvo, each treatment category routes to the visit format its rules call for. GLP-1 weight loss intake can stay asynchronous where state law allows, and a testosterone patient goes to a live video visit, on the same storefront, provider network and pharmacy network. The async versus sync guide on this blog compares the two formats by conversion and staffing cost.

## 03. How does a telemedicine solution route a patient to treatment?

A patient passes through five stages between the first click and the medication at the door, and every handoff between stages is a place a case can wait. Whether that wait is minutes or days depends on the operation behind the platform. The table shows what each stage involves, where it stalls, and how Cuvo Health runs it.

**The five stages from intake to treatment, and how Cuvo runs each**

| Stage | What happens | Where it stalls | On Cuvo |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| **1. Intake** | A branded questionnaire collects the concern, history, medications, allergies, photos or documents, and identity | Forms that miss what the provider needs, so the case goes back to the patient | Branded intake with identity verification; custom intake and clinical protocols on Grow and above |
| **2. Eligibility and routing** | The platform checks the patient's state and routes the case to a provider licensed there | No licensed provider in that state, so the case waits or is refused | Providers licensed in all 50 states, DC, Puerto Rico, Guam and the territories, 24 hours a day |
| **3. Provider review** | An async chart review or a live video visit | Queue depth at night and on weekends | First review of a new intake as fast as 15 minutes |
| **4. Prescription** | The provider decides, and the prescription goes electronically to a pharmacy | Paper or manual handoffs, and no EPCS for controlled substances | E-prescribing over Surescripts on every plan; EPCS on Grow, Enterprise and Cuvo Prescribe |
| **5. Fulfillment** | The pharmacy fills the order and ships it, refrigerated where needed | A pharmacy not licensed for the patient's state, or a markup on every fill | 17 licensed partner pharmacies at 0% markup, cold-chain delivery typically within 2 business days |

Intake design decides whether the provider can act on the first pass. A good form collects everything a provider needs to make a decision in one pass and branches on the patient's answers, showing only the questions that apply to the stated concern. That shortens completion time, cuts abandonment, and spares the provider a round of follow-up messages before the case can move.

Routing depends on licensure. A provider must generally be licensed in the state where the patient is located at the time of the visit, so a platform with gaps in its network holds a case from an uncovered state until someone licensed there is free, or turns the patient away. On Cuvo the network covers every state, DC, Puerto Rico, Guam and the territories, so no case waits on a license.

Prescribing and fulfillment are where a weak pharmacy connection shows. When the platform sends the prescription electronically to a fulfillment pharmacy licensed for the patient's state, the patient never carries a paper prescription to a retail counter, and the order reaches the pharmacy as soon as the provider signs it. The pharmacy network also decides which medications are available, at what price and how fast they ship, and a markup on medication is one of the less visible ways a platform takes margin from operators and patients. Cuvo passes medication through at 0% markup.

Every delay in this sequence traces back to a specific gap: an incomplete provider network, a weak pharmacy integration, a compliance check done by hand, or an intake form that misses a question. On Cuvo Health all five stages run inside one operation, so a case never waits for one vendor to hand it to another.

> **Watch a case move from intake to delivery** See a patient move from intake to provider review, prescription, pharmacy and follow-up under a brand's name. [Watch the demo](/demo) · [Book a discovery call](/booking)

## 04. What features should a telemedicine solution have?

The features that matter are the ones that keep a case moving between stages. A platform can look complete in a demo and still create a bottleneck the moment real patient volume runs through it, so test each feature below against your program and get the answer in writing.

**Seven features to check in a telemedicine solution, and Cuvo's published answer**

| Feature | Why it matters | What to ask | On Cuvo |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| **Provider network coverage** | A missing state means cases queue or get refused | The state list and active prescribers per state | 300+ providers in all 50 states, DC, Puerto Rico, Guam and the territories |
| **Pharmacy integration** | Electronic routing removes the patient from the prescription handoff | Which pharmacies, which states, compounded medications, and the markup | 17 licensed partner pharmacies at 0% markup, or bring your own pharmacy |
| **Compliance and legal structure** | State prescribing rules, HIPAA, and the MSO and professional entity | Who builds and maintains the MSO and the professional entity | MSO and physician-owned professional entity built and maintained by Cuvo; HIPAA with a BAA; LegitScript managed |
| **Branded patient experience** | Patients should see the brand, never the vendor | Whether intake, portal, emails and texts carry your brand | Branded storefront, patient portal and communications; mobile app add-on at $4,999 a year |
| **Async and video support** | Each category needs the right visit format | A live walkthrough of the async review flow | Async consults and live video on every plan |
| **Analytics** | Without data, nobody can see which stage is slow | Which dashboards each plan includes, and data export | Basic dashboards on Launch; full revenue, retention and LTV plus cohort and forecasting on Grow and above |
| **Pricing transparency** | Unit economics can be modeled before a sales call | Every fee, the markup and any revenue share | Published: $25 per consult, 0% markup, no revenue share |

Compliance is the feature most often missing from software-only offers. A non-physician owner generally cannot own a medical practice outright in states with corporate practice of medicine rules, so the clinical side runs through a physician-owned professional entity managed by a management services organization. If the platform does not supply that layer, the operator builds it with healthcare counsel before launch, which adds cost and legal exposure. Cuvo builds and maintains both entities as part of setup.

Pricing transparency is the quickest filter. A platform that publishes its fees lets a founder model unit economics before the first call; a platform that quotes every deal individually makes that comparison impossible until late in the process. MyTelemedicine, for example, publishes no rate card, per its profile reviewed September 11, 2026, and the Cuvo vs MyTelemedicine comparison sets the two models side by side. Cuvo publishes every plan, the consult fee and the medication markup on its pricing page.

## 05. Which companies build telemedicine solutions?

The companies that build telemedicine solutions fall into four groups, and they differ in how much of the five-stage route they run. Operated white-label platforms run the whole route behind a brand. Clinician workforces and exam services supply provider review for one stage. Telehealth software and custom development shops supply technology and leave the clinical operation to the buyer.

Operated white-label platforms supply the provider network, pharmacy connections, legal structure and software as one package, and the operator markets the program. OpenLoop sells this scope by proposal: in the May 2026 proposal Cuvo reviewed, implementation cost $9,000, the monthly fee was $1,500 from the first patient seen, the initial term ran 12 months, and OpenLoop retained roughly 50 to 59 percent of each maintenance payment through its own merchant account. Wheel handles the clinical and operational lift behind a customer's brand through enterprise sales, with under 90 days to go live on its TPA offering, as of September 30, 2026. Cuvo Health runs the same scope at published prices, month to month, with patient payments settling to the brand's own merchant account.

Clinician workforces and exam services cover one stage. SteadyMD staffs a clinical workforce quoted per engagement as of September 11, 2026, while the client runs the product, storefront, pharmacy, billing and marketing. Qualiphy sells a Good Faith Exam widget at a published $27.99 per exam for med spas and clinics, and its help center lists providers in 48 states and DC, as of October 3, 2026. MyTelemedicine sells branded urgent-care style visits that employers and member organizations offer as a benefit, with no marketed GLP-1, hormone or peptide programs. A brand selling prescriptions needs the other four stages too, which Cuvo runs.

Telehealth software vendors such as Healthie, Mend, VSee and Doxy.me sell the video visit, scheduling, patient engagement and EHR layer. They fit a practice that already employs its clinicians in every state it serves. None of them supplies licensed providers in every state, a physician-owned professional entity, pharmacy fulfillment or LegitScript certification, so a founder starting from zero still has to assemble the clinical operation around the software.

Custom software development shops build the technology to a specification and supply no providers, pharmacy relationships or compliance structure. Chetu, a software outsourcing company headquartered in Sunrise, Florida, says it has more than 2,800 developers and builds telehealth software for clients. As of October 4, 2026 it holds 4.3 out of 5 on Clutch across 82 reviews and 3.6 out of 5 on Trustpilot across 66 reviews, where several reviewers describe missed timelines and disputed billing. A custom build gives full control of the software and leaves the clinical and compliance layers to the buyer, and complex engagements carry the timeline and budget risk any custom project does. Cuvo Prescribe is the alternative for a company that wants its own software: Cuvo's providers and pharmacy connect to the existing app or EHR in under a week.

## 06. What rules govern telemedicine prescribing in 2026?

Five sets of rules decide what a telemedicine program can do in 2026, and a telemedicine solution has to track every one of them. Cuvo Health includes 50-state regulatory monitoring and DEA and telehealth rule tracking on every plan, so the platform's workflows follow the rules in force. The table gives the status of each as of October 4, 2026.

**Telemedicine rules and their status as of October 4, 2026**

| Rule | Status | What it means for a program |
| --- | --- | --- |
| **State licensure** | A provider generally must be licensed in the state where the patient is located at the time of the visit | Coverage in every state the brand sells into; Cuvo covers all 50 states, DC, Puerto Rico, Guam and the territories |
| **DEA telemedicine flexibilities** | The fourth temporary rule (90 FR 61301) allows Schedule II through V prescribing without a prior in-person evaluation, if its conditions are met, through December 31, 2026; the special registration rule proposed January 17, 2025 (90 FR 6541) is not final | Controlled-substance programs such as testosterone need a plan for 2027 |
| **Medicare telehealth flexibilities** | Extended through December 31, 2027 by the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2026 (Public Law 119-75) | Matters to Medicare-billed practices; cash-pay programs are unaffected |
| **Private-payer parity** | 44 states, DC, Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands have a private-payer telehealth law, and 24 states and Puerto Rico had explicit payment parity, per CCHP's Fall 2025 report | Matters to insurance-billed programs; cash-pay programs set their own prices |
| **Corporate practice of medicine** | Many states keep clinical decisions with licensed providers and limit who may own a medical practice | A non-physician owner needs an MSO and a physician-owned professional entity, which Cuvo builds and maintains |

The DEA date is the one a cash-pay brand should watch. If neither a fifth extension nor a final rule is in force when the temporary rule expires at the end of December 31, 2026, the Ryan Haight Act's in-person requirement applies again to new controlled-substance patients. Semaglutide and tirzepatide, sildenafil and tadalafil, and the estradiol and progesterone used in menopause therapy are not controlled substances, so programs built on them sit outside the DEA telemedicine rules, while state telehealth law still applies. The DEA guide on this blog covers the timeline in detail.

A program that depends on a specific flexibility should confirm the current rule with healthcare counsel, because extensions often come in short increments: Medicare's flexibilities ran on a short-term extension to January 30, 2026, signed November 12, 2025, before the full-year act passed. On Cuvo, the prescribing workflow updates when a rule changes, so a brand does not rebuild its program on January 1, 2027.

## 07. What does a telemedicine solution cost?

Telemedicine solutions are priced in five shapes, per profiles reviewed September 11 to October 3, 2026: a flat per-consult fee plus a platform fee (Cuvo, $25 per completed consult with $997 or $2,500 a month); a fee per exam (Qualiphy, $27.99); revenue retention through the vendor's merchant account (OpenLoop's reviewed proposal); quotes by engagement or enterprise contract (Wheel, SteadyMD and MyTelemedicine); and software subscriptions or project fees, where the buyer still pays separately for clinicians, pharmacy and legal work.

Model the per-consult fee first, because it scales with volume. On Cuvo it is $25 at every volume and medication passes through at wholesale with 0% markup, so a brand completing 500 consults a month pays $12,500 in consult fees plus the platform fee, with no percentage of revenue on top. A software-plus-staffing build carries costs a software quote never shows: recruiting and licensing providers in every state, covering nights and weekends, contracting a pharmacy for each state, and forming the MSO and professional entity.

**Cuvo's published pricing, as of October 4, 2026**
- Launch: $997 a month after a one-time $9,800 setup
- Grow: $2,500 a month after a one-time $15,000 setup, with website buildout and expedited LegitScript included
- Enterprise and Cuvo Prescribe: Priced to the build
- Every plan: $25 per completed consult, 0% medication markup, no revenue share, month to month after setup
- Add-ons: Branded iOS and Android app at $4,999 a year; third-party financing of the setup fee for qualified applicants

## 08. When is a white-label telemedicine platform the better choice?

A white-label operated platform is the better choice when the goal is a working clinical program, and a custom build is the better choice when the goal is a software product. Custom development gives the owner control over the technology. It does not supply licensed providers, a pharmacy network or a compliant MSO and professional entity, and assembling those independently takes contracts, counsel and capital before the first patient.

Cuvo Health is a white-label telehealth infrastructure platform that runs the entire clinical operation behind a brand: licensed providers in all 50 states review patients, write prescriptions, and medication ships directly to the patient's door. The brand owner brings the marketing and the customers, and Cuvo supplies the providers, pharmacy network, software and legal structure. It operates six treatment categories: GLP-1 weight loss (semaglutide and tirzepatide), peptides, testosterone and hormone therapy, sexual health, women's health (HRT and menopause) and wellness (energy and B12). A typical brand launches in under 30 days, and Cuvo Prescribe connects Cuvo's providers and pharmacy to an existing app or EHR in under a week.

Three buyers need something else. A practice that bills insurance or needs payer contracting: Cuvo is cash-pay by design, with no insurance billing. A single-location clinic that only needs a provider to clear in-person procedures: that is a Good Faith Exam service. A practice that already employs its own clinicians in every state and wants only video, scheduling and EHR software. For a cash-pay, direct-to-consumer program that wants the clinical operation running at launch, Cuvo is the recommendation, and the cost of assembling providers, pharmacy relationships and legal structure independently usually settles the build-versus-buy question faster than any feature list.

**Best for**
- Cash-pay brand launching a prescription program: Cuvo Health: all five stages run behind the brand, typically live in under 30 days
- GLP-1 weight loss program: Cuvo Health: async intake where state law allows and cold-chain delivery from 17 partner pharmacies at 0% markup
- Testosterone and hormone therapy: Cuvo Health Grow or Enterprise: live video visits, DEA-verified prescribers, EPCS, and Labcorp and Quest labs
- Med spa or clinic adding telemedicine: Cuvo Health: coverage beyond the states its own clinicians hold, with Good Faith Exams included
- Company with its own app or EHR: Cuvo Prescribe: Cuvo's providers and pharmacy behind your software, live in under a week
- Founder without a clinical team: Cuvo Health: the MSO and physician-owned professional entity built and maintained by Cuvo

## How to choose a telemedicine solution

1. Ask for the state list, including DC and the territories, and the active prescribers in each state.
2. Ask for the measured time to a first provider review, nights and weekends included.
3. Ask which pharmacies fill prescriptions, which states they ship to, and the medication markup.
4. Ask who builds and maintains the MSO and the professional entity, and who handles LegitScript certification.
5. Ask for a live walkthrough of the intake and async review flow under your own brand.
6. Ask which dashboards each plan includes and whether you can export all of your data.
7. Ask for every fee in writing, including any share of revenue, and whose merchant account receives patient payments.

> **Run this checklist against Cuvo** Cuvo answers all seven questions on its discovery call, in writing, for your program and states. [Book a discovery call](/booking) · [See the provider network](/provider-network)

## Frequently asked questions

**Q: What is a telemedicine solution?**

A: A telemedicine solution is the platform and operation that moves a patient from an online intake to a licensed provider's decision and, where appropriate, a prescription delivered to the patient. Some solutions are software only, while operated platforms also supply the providers, pharmacy and legal structure. On Cuvo, all five stages from intake to delivery run behind the brand's name.

**Q: What is the best telemedicine solution for a cash-pay health brand?**

A: Cuvo Health. It runs intake, state routing, provider review, e-prescribing and pharmacy delivery in one operation, with 300+ board-certified providers licensed in all 50 states, DC and the territories, available 24 hours a day, at a published $25 per completed consult with 0% medication markup and no revenue share. A typical brand launches on Cuvo in under 30 days.

**Q: How long does it typically take to get a prescription through a telemedicine visit?**

A: On an asynchronous platform with full state coverage, a provider can review a new intake within minutes to hours, while live video depends on appointment availability. After the provider signs, electronic routing sends the prescription straight to the pharmacy, and shipping time depends on the pharmacy and the medication. On Cuvo, the first provider review comes as fast as 15 minutes, and refrigerated medication typically arrives within 2 business days.

**Q: What is the difference between synchronous and asynchronous telemedicine?**

A: Synchronous telemedicine is a live interaction, with the patient and provider present at the same time over video or audio. Asynchronous telemedicine separates the two: the patient submits an intake and supporting materials, and the provider reviews and responds later. On Cuvo, both run on every plan, and each treatment category routes to the format its rules call for.

**Q: Will Congress extend telehealth flexibilities in 2026?**

A: It already has. The Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2026, signed February 3, 2026, extended Medicare's telehealth flexibilities, including telehealth from anywhere in the United States and audio-only care at home, through December 31, 2027, per CMS. The separate DEA flexibilities for prescribing controlled substances run through December 31, 2026 under a temporary rule. On Cuvo, cash-pay programs do not depend on Medicare's flexibilities, and DEA and telehealth rule tracking is included on every plan.

**Q: Can telemedicine be used for controlled substances?**

A: Yes, under a temporary rule. The DEA and HHS fourth temporary rule (90 FR 61301) lets DEA-registered practitioners prescribe Schedule II through V controlled substances via telemedicine without a prior in-person evaluation, if its conditions are met, through December 31, 2026, and DEA's January 2025 special registration proposal has not been finalized. On Cuvo, testosterone patients go to a live video visit with a DEA-verified prescriber, with EPCS on Grow, Enterprise and Cuvo Prescribe.

**Q: Is telemedicine covered by insurance in all 50 states?**

A: Not on the same terms everywhere. Per CCHP's Fall 2025 report, 44 states, DC, Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands have a private-payer law that addresses telehealth reimbursement, but only 24 states and Puerto Rico had explicit payment parity, and Medicare follows its own rules through December 31, 2027. On Cuvo, programs are cash-pay by design with no insurance billing, so the brand sets its prices and patients pay directly.

**Q: How much does a telemedicine solution cost?**

A: Cuvo Health publishes its price: $25 per completed consult, Launch at $997 a month after a $9,800 setup, Grow at $2,500 a month after $15,000, 0% medication markup and no revenue share. Qualiphy charges $27.99 per Good Faith Exam, while OpenLoop, Wheel, SteadyMD and MyTelemedicine quote by proposal or call, per profiles reviewed September 11 to October 3, 2026. Software-only solutions add the cost of clinicians, pharmacy and legal structure on top.

**Read next**
- [How to start a virtual clinic](/blog/how-to-start-a-virtual-clinic): The structural decisions before platform selection
- [Async vs. sync telehealth](/blog/async-vs-sync-telehealth): Which visit format converts, and what each costs to staff
- [Cuvo vs MyTelemedicine](/compare/cuvo-vs-mytelemedicine): Operated prescription clinic vs. branded visits
- [Choosing a white-label telehealth infrastructure partner](/blog/white-label-telehealth-infrastructure-partner-startup-guide): Due diligence questions for each vendor type
- [The best white-label telehealth platforms](/blog/best-white-label-telehealth-platforms): Platforms ranked on the criteria that matter
- [DEA telemedicine flexibilities in 2026](/blog/dea-telemedicine-flexibilities-2026): Controlled substances over telemedicine
- [Cuvo's 50-state provider network](/provider-network): 300+ providers, 24 hours a day
- [Cuvo pricing](/pricing): Every fee, published

**Sources**
- [Telemedicine Market Report 2026](https://www.researchandmarkets.com/reports/6104873/telemedicine-market-report): The Business Research Company via Research and Markets, February 2026
- [42 CFR 410.78: telehealth services](https://www.ecfr.gov/current/title-42/chapter-IV/subchapter-B/part-410/subpart-B/section-410.78): eCFR, Medicare definitions of interactive and asynchronous telecommunications
- [CMS telehealth FAQ, updated February 26, 2026](https://www.cms.gov/files/document/telehealth-faq-updated-02-26-2026.pdf): Medicare telehealth flexibilities through December 31, 2027
- [Public Law 119-75: Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2026](https://www.govinfo.gov/app/details/PLAW-119publ75): GovInfo, signed February 3, 2026
- [Fourth temporary extension of DEA telemedicine flexibilities](https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2025/12/31/2025-24123/fourth-temporary-extension-of-covid-19-telemedicine-flexibilities-for-prescription-of-controlled): Federal Register, 90 FR 61301, in effect through December 31, 2026
- [Special registrations for telemedicine (proposed rule)](https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2025/01/17/2025-01099/special-registrations-for-telemedicine-and-limited-state-telemedicine-registrations): Federal Register, 90 FR 6541, January 17, 2025
- [CCHP State Telehealth Laws and Reimbursement Policies, Fall 2025](https://www.cchpca.org/resources/state-telehealth-laws-and-reimbursement-policies-report-fall-2025/): Private-payer telehealth laws and payment parity by state

*About this comparison: Cuvo Health publishes this blog and ranks itself first. Information about other companies comes from Cuvo's sourced comparison profiles, built from each company's public website, documents and third-party coverage and reviewed between September 11 and October 3, 2026; OpenLoop figures come from a May 2026 written proposal reviewed on Cuvo's comparison page. Offerings and prices may have changed since. All trademarks belong to their owners, none of whom endorse this article. Clinical decisions on Cuvo are made by licensed providers. This is general information, not legal or medical advice.*

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