HIPAA Compliant Videoconferencing Cost in 2026

HIPAA-compliant videoconferencing is one of the most cost-efficient categories in healthcare tooling because the dominant options are inexpensive or free. Doxy.me has a credible free tier and a $35 per provider per month Professional tier. Zoom for Healthcare starts at $14.99 per host per month. Microsoft Teams is included in Microsoft 365 subscriptions at $6 to $36 per user per month with the BAA executed. Google Meet is included in Google Workspace at $7.20 to $22 per user per month with the BAA executed. EHR-embedded telehealth is included or near-free in most ambulatory and behavioral-health EHRs. This page walks through the per-vendor pricing and the post-enforcement-discretion reality.

Doxy.me Free Tier

$0/mo

Unlimited 1-to-1, BAA included

Zoom for Healthcare

$14.99/host/mo

Annual billing entry tier

Teams in M365

$6 - $36/user/mo

Bundled with broader M365

The post-discretion reality

From March 2020 through August 2023, OCR announced enforcement discretion that did not impose penalties on covered entities using non-public-facing remote communication products (including consumer-grade FaceTime, Skype consumer, Zoom consumer free or basic, Google Hangouts consumer) for any telehealth purpose. This was the Notification of Enforcement Discretion for Telehealth. The discretion was wound down effective 11 August 2023.

Practices that adopted consumer-grade platforms during the pandemic and did not migrate are technically in violation of 45 CFR 164.312(e)(1) transmission security. The OCR is unlikely to bring high-priority enforcement against practices conducting routine telehealth on non-BAA-eligible consumer platforms in the near term, but the discretion as a defense no longer exists. The risk is enforcement-by-patient-complaint: a patient reports the practice for using FaceTime, OCR investigates, and the resolution path is corrective action plan plus possible monetary penalty.

The fix is migration to a BAA-eligible platform. The cost is small because the dominant BAA-eligible options include genuinely free tiers (Doxy.me free, Workspace Business Starter at $7.20 per user per month, Microsoft 365 Business Basic at $6 per user per month). This is an informational cost reference, not legal or compliance advice; consult a healthcare attorney about your specific telehealth setup.

The per-vendor pricing landscape

Vendor	Tier	Price	Best for
Doxy.me	Free	$0/provider/mo	Solo practitioner with low volume
	Professional	~$35/provider/mo	Solo or small group, group calling
	Clinic	~$50/provider/mo	Multi-clinician practice with admin features
Zoom for Healthcare	Workplace for Healthcare	$14.99/host/mo	Group practice with mature Zoom workflow
Microsoft Teams	M365 Business Basic	$6/user/mo	Already on M365
Microsoft Teams	M365 Business Premium	$22/user/mo	Full M365 + Defender + Intune
Google Meet	Workspace Business Starter	$7.20/user/mo	Already on Workspace
Google Meet	Workspace Business Plus	$21.60/user/mo	Adds Vault for retention
SimplePractice Telehealth	Included with SimplePractice EHR	Included	Mental health practices on SimplePractice
TherapyNotes Telehealth	Add-on	$15/provider/mo	Mental health practices on TherapyNotes
athenaTelehealth	Included or per-encounter	Bundled	athenahealth practices
VSee Clinic	Plus	$49/provider/mo	Hardware-friendly low-bandwidth

Selection criteria beyond pricing

The operational criteria that distinguish telehealth platforms beyond pricing:

BAA execution path. Doxy.me, Zoom for Healthcare, Microsoft Teams, Google Meet, and the EHR-embedded options all execute BAAs through self-service or standard contract terms. Consumer-grade platforms (FaceTime, Skype consumer) do not offer BAAs and are not options.

Waiting room and patient identity verification. Zoom for Healthcare, Doxy.me, and most EHR-embedded telehealth tools include patient waiting rooms with identity verification before the clinician admits. Microsoft Teams and Google Meet support similar functionality through lobby and admit-from-lobby workflows.

Bandwidth resilience. Telehealth quality is bandwidth-sensitive. VSee Clinic in particular is engineered for lower-bandwidth environments (rural clinics, federally-qualified health centers). Doxy.me and Zoom are competitive at standard broadband.

EHR integration. If the practice runs SimplePractice, TherapyNotes, athenahealth, or another EHR with embedded telehealth, the integration advantage is meaningful: visit launched from the EHR, attendance recorded in the EHR, billing triggered from the EHR. Practices using a separate telehealth platform need to manually link visits and reduce the workflow friction.

Group session capability. Behavioral-health practices running group therapy, family therapy, or peer-support sessions need multi-participant video. Doxy.me Professional, Zoom for Healthcare, Teams, and Meet all support this; some EHR-embedded platforms are 1-to-1 only.

HIPAA video cost FAQ

Can I still use FaceTime, Skype consumer, or Google Hangouts for telehealth in 2026?

No. The HHS OCR Notification of Enforcement Discretion for Telehealth that started March 2020 was wound down effective 11 August 2023. Consumer-grade video platforms (Apple FaceTime, Skype consumer, Zoom consumer free or basic, Google Hangouts consumer) are no longer enforcement-discretion-protected. Practices continuing to use these platforms are technically in violation of 45 CFR 164.312(e)(1) transmission security. The fix is migration to a BAA-eligible platform; the cost is small ($0 to $50 per provider per month for the dominant alternatives).

How much does Doxy.me cost?

Doxy.me has a free tier that includes unlimited 1-to-1 sessions and meets HIPAA requirements through Doxy.me's signed BAA. The Doxy.me Professional tier is approximately $35 per provider per month (annual billing) and adds group calling, customization, integration capabilities, and additional features. The Doxy.me Clinic tier is approximately $50 per provider per month and adds admin features for multi-clinician practices. The free tier is meaningful: it makes Doxy.me one of the few truly free credible HIPAA telehealth platforms, and the gap to paid tiers is feature scope rather than HIPAA-eligibility.

How much does Zoom for Healthcare cost?

Zoom for Healthcare starts at $14.99 per host per month for Zoom Workplace for Healthcare (annual billing). Larger deployments use Zoom for Healthcare Enterprise or contact-driven pricing depending on scale, with optional add-ons including Zoom Phone for Healthcare, Zoom Contact Center, and additional storage. Zoom executes a BAA for the Healthcare tier; the BAA does not apply to consumer-Zoom free or basic plans. Zoom Healthcare also includes specific in-product features (waiting rooms enforced by default, participant restrictions, healthcare-vertical security defaults) that the consumer plans do not.

How much does Microsoft Teams cost for HIPAA telehealth?

Microsoft Teams is included in Microsoft 365 Business Basic ($6 per user per month), Business Standard ($12.50 per user per month), Business Premium ($22 per user per month), and Enterprise E3/E5 tiers. The Microsoft 365 BAA covers Teams when executed through the Microsoft Online Services Trust Center. For HIPAA telehealth specifically, Business Standard or higher is typically the operational floor because Business Basic lacks desktop client and some collaboration features that improve the clinical experience. The Teams videoconferencing capability is included in the M365 subscription with no incremental per-meeting or per-minute charge.

Is Google Meet HIPAA-compliant?

Yes, when used on a Google Workspace tier with the BAA executed. Google Meet is included in Workspace Business Starter ($7.20 per user per month) through Enterprise Plus tiers. The Workspace BAA covers Meet alongside Gmail, Drive, Calendar, and the rest of the in-scope service set. For HIPAA telehealth, Workspace Business Plus ($21.60 per user per month) is the typical operational floor because it adds Vault for retention compliance. Meet itself is a competent telehealth platform with screen sharing, transcription, and recording (when used with appropriate retention configuration).

What are the EHR-embedded telehealth options?

Most ambulatory and behavioral-health EHRs include embedded telehealth as part of the subscription. SimplePractice, TherapyNotes, TheraNest, athenahealth, eClinicalWorks, NextGen Office, Veradigm, Practice Fusion, AdvancedMD, DrChrono, Elation, and Greenway all offer integrated telehealth at no additional cost or modest add-on cost (typically $0 to $30 per provider per month). The advantage is workflow integration: the visit is scheduled in the EHR, conducted via the embedded video, and charted in the same workflow. The trade-off is that EHR-embedded telehealth is rarely best-in-class as a video platform; for high-volume telehealth practices a dedicated platform like Doxy.me or Zoom Healthcare often delivers better video quality and reliability.

What about recording telehealth sessions?

Recording telehealth sessions creates a permanent PHI artifact that must be stored and managed under the Security Rule. The recording is itself ePHI. Recording is permitted under HIPAA when there is a legitimate treatment, payment, or operations purpose and reasonable safeguards are applied; patient authorization is required for any use beyond TPO. Most mental health practices do not record routine telehealth sessions; primary-care and specialty practices sometimes record for documentation or quality review with patient authorization. Storage and retention of recordings must satisfy 45 CFR 164.316(b)(2)(i) six-year retention.

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