GLOSSARY
Telehealth terms, in plain English.
The words a brand operator meets while launching a telehealth clinic. Each entry opens with a one-sentence definition, then explains what the term means for the business and how Tessic Health handles it.
BUSINESS SETUP
How the business is set up.
White-label telehealth
White-label telehealth is a business model that lets a brand sell medical treatment under its own name while a partner supplies the licensed providers, pharmacy, prescribing, and software behind it.
Corporate practice of medicine
The corporate practice of medicine is a legal doctrine that bars companies not owned by licensed physicians from practicing medicine or employing doctors to do it.
Friendly PC
A friendly PC is a physician-owned professional corporation that holds the medical side of a telehealth company and works with the business side under contract.
MSO
An MSO (management services organization) is a company that runs the business side of a medical practice, including the brand, software, marketing, billing, and staff, under a contract with the physician-owned practice.
Revenue share
A revenue share is a pricing term that gives a partner a fixed percentage of a brand's sales, so the partner's fee grows every time the brand's revenue does.
VISITS
How patients get seen.
Asynchronous care
Asynchronous care is a telehealth model that lets a patient and a provider exchange information at different times, so a treatment decision can be made without a live call.
Patient-provider relationship
The patient-provider relationship is a legal relationship that begins when a licensed provider evaluates a patient, and it gives the provider a duty to treat that patient to the standard of care.
Standard of care
Standard of care is a legal benchmark that defines what a reasonably careful provider in the same field would do for a patient in similar circumstances.
Informed consent
Informed consent is a clinical and legal process that makes sure a patient understands a treatment's risks, benefits, and alternatives before agreeing to it.
Intake questionnaire
An intake questionnaire is a structured medical form that collects a patient's history, symptoms, medications, and goals before a telehealth provider reviews the case.
Synchronous visit
A synchronous visit is a telehealth appointment that happens in real time, with the patient and provider connected at the same moment by video or phone.
Store-and-forward
Store-and-forward is a telehealth method that captures a patient's information, such as photos, forms, or test results, and sends it to a provider to review later.
PRESCRIPTIONS
How medicine gets prescribed.
EPCS
EPCS (electronic prescribing of controlled substances) is a DEA-regulated prescribing method that lets licensed prescribers send prescriptions for controlled drugs to a pharmacy electronically.
DEA telemedicine rules
DEA telemedicine rules are a set of federal regulations that decide when a provider may prescribe a controlled substance to a patient they have only seen by telehealth.
Dispensing vs. prescribing
Dispensing vs. prescribing is a legal distinction that separates the clinician who decides a patient should take a drug from the pharmacy that prepares and delivers it.
E-prescribing
E-prescribing is a prescribing method that sends a prescription from the provider's software to the pharmacy over a secure network, replacing paper, phone, and fax.
Formulary
A formulary is a list of medications that a health plan covers or that a clinic's providers prescribe, along with the doses, forms, and prices that apply.
Titration protocol
A titration protocol is a dosing plan that starts a patient on a low dose and adjusts it in set steps, based on how the patient responds and tolerates side effects.
PHARMACY
Where the medicine comes from.
503A compounding
503A compounding is a type of pharmacy compounding that lets a state-licensed pharmacy make a custom medication for one specific patient, based on that patient's prescription.
503B outsourcing facility
A 503B outsourcing facility is an FDA-registered compounder that makes medications in larger batches under drug-manufacturing quality standards, without needing a prescription for each patient.
PBM
A PBM (pharmacy benefit manager) is a company that manages prescription drug benefits for health plans and employers, deciding which drugs are covered, what pharmacies are paid, and what patients owe at the counter.
TRUST AND COVERAGE
Privacy, safety, and insurance.
Telehealth parity
Telehealth parity is a type of state law that requires private health insurers to cover telehealth services the way they cover in-person care, and in some states to pay the same rate.
BAA
A BAA (business associate agreement) is a HIPAA contract that binds any vendor handling patient health information to protect it, limit how it is used, and report breaches.
SOC 2 Type II
SOC 2 Type II is an independent audit report that tests whether a company's security controls worked as designed over a review period of several months.
Provider credentialing
Provider credentialing is a verification process that confirms a clinician's licenses, training, and professional history with the original sources before they treat patients.