Last updated: 2026-08-12
Honest Taskers, Virtual Nurse Rx, and Hello Rache lead this year's shortlist of virtual telephone triage medical assistant companies, thirteen healthcare-focused staffing firms ranked on how they keep a practice's nurse and triage lines answered, all in your time zone and under a signed BAA. This is administrative triage support from remote people, not AI phone bots, so they don't assess symptoms clinically, give medical advice, or decide urgency, since every clinical decision stays with your licensed nurses and providers. Below we set out what may be done on a nurse line and what not, where a call has to be handed over, how these companies price, whether a provider works to your written protocol, and which hours to cover first.
Disclosure: Honest Taskers publishes this list and appears at position 1. We're judged on the same five published criteria as every other company here.
At a glance
- 1Honest Taskers
- 2Virtual Nurse Rx
- 3Hello Rache
- 4MedVA
- 5HelpSquad Health
- 6Portiva
- 7My Mountain Mover
- 8CareVMA Health
- 9Pearl Talent
- 10Wishup
- 11RelateCare
- 12VMeDx
- 13MyOutDesk
How we chose the best virtual telephone triage medical assistant companies
We ranked these companies on five facts, each checked at the provider's own website on August 12, 2026. Those facts are healthcare specialization, talent location, published hourly pricing, the triage-line tasks they say they cover, and HIPAA posture. Triage support here means administrative work, so we weighted firms that name answering the nurse line, protocol-based call intake, message documentation, and call routing and escalation to your licensed staff. A non-clinical telephone triage assistant gathers caller information and symptoms using your practice's own protocols and scripts, documents the call, and hands the clinical decision to your nurses or providers. They do not assess symptoms or give medical advice. Where a company staffs registered nurses, those nurses can perform clinical triage under your practice's direction, and we note that in the entry. Blank facts read "not publicly listed" instead of a guess.
Best virtual telephone triage medical assistant companies compared
The table ranks all 13 on the same columns, Honest Taskers first because we publish the list. Rates were checked August 12, 2026 and change often, so treat them as a starting point, not a quote.
| Company | Healthcare focus | Talent location | Published hourly rate | Triage support (as stated) | HIPAA posture (as stated) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Honest Taskers | Yes | US clients; recruiting in the Philippines, Latin America, India and Pakistan | $10.00–$12.65/hr | Nurse-line calls, protocol-based intake, message documentation, routing and escalation | HIPAA-trained; compliance verified by Accountable; BAA when PHI; SOC 2 audit-ready |
| Virtual Nurse Rx | Yes (RN-staffed) | US-served | ~$12–$15/hr | RN-staffed triage-line calls, protocol intake, escalation | HIPAA-trained |
| Hello Rache | Yes | Philippines | $9.50/hr flat | Nurse-line calls, message documentation, scheduling from call outcomes | HIPAA-trained |
| MedVA | Yes | Philippines | Not publicly listed | Triage-line intake, call documentation, routing | HIPAA-trained; SOC 2-monitored systems |
| HelpSquad Health | Yes (plus general) | Philippines and India; US-managed | $10–$13/hr patient-facing | After-hours and triage-line calls, intake, escalation | Company-level BAA; HIPAA virtual desktop |
| Portiva | Yes | Philippines | $10/hr | Triage-line reception, protocol intake, routing | HIPAA-trained |
| My Mountain Mover | Yes | Not publicly listed | Not publicly listed | Managed triage-line and message support | Signed BAA; in-house HIPAA officer |
| CareVMA Health | Yes | Not publicly listed | From $9/hr | Triage-line and scheduling support | HIPAA-trained (company-reported) |
| Pearl Talent | Yes (plus general) | Latin America and Philippines | $9.95/hr, or from $3,000/mo | Patient intake and call coordination | Compliance managed |
| Wishup | General, with a healthcare option | India-primary; US option | $1,299–$1,999/mo | Call intake and message documentation with general admin | HIPAA and PHI-trained |
| RelateCare | Yes | Not publicly listed | Not publicly listed | Telephonic nurse triage, stated as 24/7 (as stated) | Not publicly listed |
| VMeDx | Yes | Philippines | $10/hr | Patient calls, message documentation, routing | HIPAA-trained |
| MyOutDesk | General, with a healthcare line | Philippines, Latin America, Africa | From $1,988/mo | Phone cover and message handling, confirm triage-line depth | HIPAA training coordinated with the practice; BAAs signed as standard |
A pattern shows up fast. Most staff triage-line support from the Philippines at $9 to $13 an hour, a couple bring registered nurses or Latin America daytime overlap, and only a handful put a signed BAA on the record for the staff who handle patient phone lines. Whether a company staffs nurses or non-clinical assistants, the clinical decision on any call stays with your licensed team.
1. Honest Taskers
Best for: practices that want a protocol-driven triage line staffed by healthcare-trained people, including licensed nurses, with escalation straight to their own clinical staff.
Pricing: $10.00–$12.65/hrLocation: US clients; PH, LatAm, India and Pakistan recruitingModel: Managed staffingFirst hire: Two-week working trial
Honest Taskers is a healthcare-focused virtual staffing company that runs the triage and nurse lines for US medical, dental, mental health, and specialty practices. Its virtual telephone triage medical assistants answer the nurse line, gather caller information and symptoms using your practice's own protocols and scripts, document each call in your EHR, and route or escalate to your licensed nurses or providers, from after-hours calls to daytime overflow. These assistants provide administrative triage support and do not assess symptoms clinically, give medical advice, or decide urgency, which stay with your clinical team. Because the talent pool includes licensed nurses, Honest Taskers can also place a registered nurse who performs clinical triage under your practice's direction when the role calls for it. Candidates are trained on HIPAA and data privacy under a dedicated compliance officer, work in your time zone, and sign a Business Associate Agreement when they'll access PHI, with HIPAA compliance verified by Accountable. Rates begin around $10 per hour and range up to about $12.65 depending on role, background, schedule, and location, and every client gets a Customer Success Advocate plus a two-week working trial with their first hire. Honest Taskers reports 99.6% average monthly retention, so the voice answering your triage line stays consistent. See the full Honest Taskers telephone triage medical assistant service for role details.
Limitation: not the lowest hourly rate on this list.
2. Virtual Nurse Rx
Best for: practices that want registered nurses on the triage line who can perform clinical triage under the practice's direction.
Pricing: ~$12–$15/hrLocation: US-servedModel: Managed staffingTrial: Not publicly listed
Virtual Nurse Rx staffs assistants who are registered nurses, which suits practices that want a clinically fluent voice on the nurse line and protocol-based call intake. Because these assistants hold nursing licenses, they can perform clinical triage under your practice's direction and protocols, then document and escalate per your rules.
Limitation: the highest hourly rate here, at roughly $12 to $15.
3. Hello Rache
Best for: solo and small practices that want a flat, low-cost nurse line from nurse-background staff.
Pricing: $9.50/hr flatLocation: PhilippinesModel: Dedicated/managedTrial: Not publicly listed
Hello Rache staffs dedicated healthcare virtual assistants from the Philippines, many of them licensed nurses, for triage-line work like answering the nurse line, protocol-based intake, and message documentation. Pricing is a flat $9.50 an hour with no contracts and cancel-anytime terms, and assistants complete HIPAA training and stay paired with the same practice rather than rotating.
Limitation: the Business Associate Agreement isn't described publicly, so confirm it in writing.
4. MedVA
Best for: busy practices that want a managed triage-line team rather than a self-serve hire.
Pricing: Not publicly listedLocation: PhilippinesModel: Managed + account managerTrial: Not publicly listed
MedVA was founded by physicians and places medical virtual assistants for triage-line intake, call documentation, and routing across many specialties. Its assistants are HIPAA-trained and work inside what the company calls SOC 2-monitored systems, with a dedicated account manager on every relationship.
Limitation: no public pricing.
5. HelpSquad Health
Best for: practices that want a US-held BAA for the staff handling triage and after-hours calls.
Pricing: $10–$13/hr patient-facingLocation: PH + India; US-managedModel: Managed staffingTrial: Not publicly listed
HelpSquad Health runs managed virtual assistants with US oversight from Doylestown, Pennsylvania, staffing patient-facing roles from the Philippines. Triage-line calls, after-hours coverage, protocol-based intake, and escalation run about $10 to $13 an hour, and every rate includes a company-level BAA held with HelpSquad plus a HIPAA virtual desktop.
Limitation: 20 hours a week minimum on a three-month term.
6. Portiva
Best for: practices that want to test a triage-line hire with a short trial at $10 an hour.
Pricing: $10/hrLocation: PhilippinesModel: Managed/offshoreTrial: 7-day (company-reported)
Portiva places HIPAA-trained remote staff from the Philippines for triage-line reception, protocol intake, and call routing at $10 an hour. It's one of the few here to advertise a short trial, a company-reported 7 days with no long-term contract, and its assistants are background-checked with HIPAA training certificates.
Limitation: offshore-only staffing from a single country.
7. My Mountain Mover
Best for: practices that want a signed BAA and a named compliance owner on the triage line.
Pricing: Not publicly listedLocation: Not publicly listedModel: ManagedTrial: Not publicly listed
My Mountain Mover places managed medical virtual assistants for triage-line and message support across clinics, dental, and behavioral health. Its compliance posture stands out, with a signed Business Associate Agreement for every healthcare client and an in-house HIPAA compliance officer.
Limitation: neither pricing nor talent location is published.
8. CareVMA Health
Best for: practices that want a fast triage-line match at a low entry rate.
Pricing: From $9/hrLocation: Not publicly listedModel: Fully managedTrial: Not publicly listed
CareVMA Health provides fully managed virtual assistants from $9 an hour for triage-line and scheduling support, and advertises a match in about 48 hours. Its assistants are described as trained on common EHR platforms, which the company says shortens ramp time for call documentation.
Limitation: talent location isn't stated publicly.
9. Pearl Talent
Best for: practices that want Latin America time-zone overlap for daytime triage-call coverage.
Pricing: $9.95/hr or $3,000/moLocation: Latin America + PhilippinesModel: Managed servicesTrial: Not publicly listed
Pearl Talent staffs patient intake specialists and coordinators from Latin America and the Philippines, with strong US time-zone overlap from the Latin America pool for daytime phone coverage. Pricing starts around $9.95 an hour, or from $3,000 a month on a managed model that covers payroll and compliance, and candidates go through medical terminology assessments before placement.
Limitation: it also serves non-healthcare clients, so confirm healthcare depth.
10. Wishup
Best for: small practices that need call intake and message documentation plus general admin from one assistant.
Pricing: $1,299–$1,999/moLocation: India-primary; US optionModel: ManagedTrial: Not publicly listed
Wishup is a general virtual assistant company with a healthcare option, so its HIPAA and PHI-trained assistants can answer patient calls, log messages, and book the follow-up appointment alongside general business admin (as stated). Plans run roughly $1,299 a month for 80 hours up to $1,999 for a full 160 hours, with a US-based option at a higher rate and a dedicated VA manager.
Limitation: it's a generalist, not a healthcare-only firm.
11. RelateCare
Best for: practices that want triage staffed by nurses around the clock rather than during office hours
Pricing: Not publicly listedLocation: Not publicly listedModel: Enterprise serviceTrial: Not publicly listed
RelateCare states telephonic nurse triage giving round-the-clock access to healthcare advice, with post-discharge follow-up as a second line. Triage is the whole product rather than one duty inside a broader assistant role, which is the distinction that matters in this category.
Limitation: enterprise-oriented, so pricing and small-practice fit both need confirming
12. VMeDx
Best for: practices that want steady daytime phone cover at a published $10 an hour.
Pricing: $10/hrLocation: PhilippinesModel: Managed/offshoreTrial: Not publicly listed
VMeDx places HIPAA-trained medical virtual assistants from the Philippines at a published $10 an hour for administrative phone work, including answering patient calls, documenting messages, and routing them to the right person (as stated). That's the same flat rate Portiva publishes, so the choice between them usually turns on candidate fit and shift coverage.
Limitation: offshore-only staffing from a single country.
13. MyOutDesk
Best for: practices that want a BAA signed as standard and a choice of talent regions for phone coverage.
Pricing: From $1,988/moLocation: Philippines, Latin America, AfricaModel: Managed staffingTrial: Not publicly listed
MyOutDesk is a general virtual staffing firm with a healthcare line, recruiting across the Philippines, Latin America, and Africa, so you can pick the pool whose working hours line up with your busiest call windows. It signs BAAs as standard practice for healthcare clients and coordinates HIPAA training with the client practice, which means your privacy rules and call protocols go into onboarding rather than arriving pre-baked. Pricing starts at $1,988 a month.
Because the healthcare line sits inside a much larger generalist business, ask how many of its placements have covered a clinic's phone lines and what escalation rules they worked to, and confirm that in the interview. Its assistants are non-clinical, so they gather caller information on your scripts and route it to your licensed staff, who assess symptoms and decide urgency.
Limitation: it's a generalist firm serving many industries, so confirm healthcare depth.
What may a virtual telephone triage medical assistant do on a nurse line, and what not?
Answer it and gather caller information on your protocol. Deciding how urgent a symptom is stays with your clinicians. An in-house medical secretary who staffs the phones earned about $45,690 a year, roughly $21.97 an hour before benefits, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics 2025 wage data for medical secretaries and administrative assistants, while the offshore-focused firms here run $9 to $15 an hour. A standalone triage service or an AI phone bot may take messages, but it doesn't work in your EHR or follow your escalation rules the way a dedicated assistant does, and neither a bot nor a non-clinical assistant assesses symptoms or gives medical advice. Don't hire a virtual telephone triage assistant if you need licensed clinical judgment on every call rather than administrative intake, since that work belongs to your nurses and providers or to a registered-nurse hire. The reason practices delegate the triage line is the same reason they delegate charting: the American Medical Association's work on administrative burden ties excessive front-office and EHR tasks to physician burnout, and moving call intake and documentation off your clinical team hands time back.
Where does a virtual telephone triage medical assistant have to hand a call over?
At the first clinical judgement, because the administrative scope on a triage line is the whole safety question here.
- Scope creep past administrative intake. Confirm in writing that a non-clinical assistant only gathers caller information and routes to your licensed staff, and never assesses symptoms, gives medical advice, or decides urgency, since those clinical decisions belong to your clinical team.
- PHI on triage calls. Ask for the signed BAA and the device and network controls, since a triage assistant hears and documents protected health information on every call.
- Missed and after-hours calls. Ask how the company staffs peak call hours and after-hours coverage, because a dropped triage call can delay a patient reaching your clinical staff.
- Turnover and continuity. Ask about retention, since a new voice every few months resets caller rapport and your protocol training.
- Protocol and EHR fit. Ask which candidates have used your practice management system, phone platform, and triage protocols, such as athenahealth, eClinicalWorks, RingCentral, or Weave.
How do virtual telephone triage medical assistant companies price their services?
Virtual telephone triage medical assistant companies price their services three main ways, by a flat hourly rate, a managed monthly plan, or a custom quote. Hourly staffing on this list runs from Hello Rache at $9.50 and CareVMA from $9, up to Virtual Nurse Rx at roughly $12 to $15 for registered nurses, with managed monthly plans like Wishup's landing near $1,300 to $2,000 for full-time hours (rates checked August 2026). Honest Taskers sits mid-range, beginning around $10 per hour and reaching about $12.65 depending on role, background, schedule, and location. Compared with an in-house nurse-line hire near $45,690 a year plus benefits, a remote triage assistant is the lower-overhead option, and price tracks talent location, hours of coverage, whether the staff are registered nurses, and the level of managed oversight. For the full breakdown, see how much a virtual medical assistant costs in 2026.
Does the virtual telephone triage medical assistant company work to your written protocol?
Ask to see how it follows one, then weigh healthcare specialization, a clear administrative scope, HIPAA posture and phone experience.
- Administrative triage scope in writing. Confirm the assistant answers the nurse line, gathers caller information on your protocols, documents the call, and routes or escalates to your licensed staff, and never assesses symptoms or gives medical advice unless you hire a registered nurse working under your direction. See the tasks to outsource to a virtual medical assistant to scope the role.
- HIPAA posture in writing. Look for HIPAA training plus a signed Business Associate Agreement when the assistant handles triage calls, and ask each company to put its safeguards in writing.
- Your phone, protocol, and EHR stack. Confirm experience with your practice management system, phone platform, and triage protocols or scripts.
- Time-zone and after-hours coverage. Know whether staff work your patients' clock, cover after-hours calls, and whether you need bilingual coverage.
- Dated, published pricing. A rate with a date beats a vague promise of savings.
Which triage-line hours should a virtual telephone triage medical assistant cover first?
The hours your own nurses cannot, because that is the gap the line exists to close.
- List the tasks to delegate first, such as answering the nurse line, protocol-based call intake, message documentation, and routing and escalation.
- Shortlist firms whose triage-line experience, talent location, and HIPAA posture fit your practice, and decide whether you need a non-clinical assistant or a registered nurse.
- Interview one or two candidates, hear a call sample, and confirm EHR, phone-system, and protocol experience.
- Sign a Business Associate Agreement before anyone touches patient data.
- Run a trial, then onboard with your triage protocols, call scripts, schedules, and escalation rules so clinical decisions stay with your licensed staff.
For a fuller walkthrough, read how to hire a virtual medical assistant.
Methodology and sources
We verified each company at its own website on August 12, 2026, recording healthcare focus, talent location, published pricing, stated triage support, and HIPAA posture. Wage context is from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics 2024 Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics. Hourly rates are volatile and were captured as dated points, not permanent quotes, so re-check before you buy. Where a company didn't publish a fact, we marked it "not publicly listed"; self-stated claims are labeled company-reported.
Related virtual telephone triage staffing guides
If you're still mapping the role to your practice, start with the basics. Our guide to what a virtual medical assistant does covers the day-to-day administrative work a remote hire owns, from answering calls and documenting them to routing patients to the right staff, so you can decide which triage-line tasks to delegate first.
Want the full picture of the role first? Our guide to virtual medical assistant duties and responsibilities walks through the phone, scheduling, and documentation work a triage assistant does daily, which helps you confirm a candidate can step into your athenahealth, eClinicalWorks, or Weave setup and follow your escalation rules without a long ramp.
Speak with Honest Taskers about building a remote triage line.