Last updated: 2026-08-24
Honest Taskers, AnswerConnect, and Specialty Answering Service lead this year's shortlist of psychiatry virtual medical assistant companies, nine firms ranked on published pricing, the Business Associate Agreement position each states in its own words, commitment terms, and what each publishes about itself. For psychiatry practices the work that matters is returning intake enquiries quickly. Below we set out how quickly an intake enquiry must be returned, which records are protected beyond HIPAA, what the work costs, whether a provider knows the substance use rules, and what to do about the waitlist first. Of the nine here, three publish a rate and two state a signed BAA, and those two columns narrow the list faster than any claim about quality.
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
- 2AnswerConnect
- 3Specialty Answering Service
- 4HealthSnap
- 5Signallamp Health
- 6Rockstar Global
- 7Care VMA Health
- 8MedStar BTR
- 9Staffingly
How we chose the best psychiatry virtual medical assistant companies
We ranked these firms on five facts, each read at the provider's own website on August 24, 2026: the scope each offers psychiatry practices, the HIPAA and Business Associate Agreement position in the firm's exact wording, published pricing, commitment terms, and the verified detail each publishes. We ignored claims about screening quality and talent percentiles, because every firm in this market makes them and none is checkable from outside. What's checkable is what a firm will commit to. For psychiatry practices the additional question is whether the assistant can handle since psychiatric waitlists are long and patients disengage without being taught the basics first.
Best psychiatry virtual medical assistant companies compared
The table ranks all 9 on the same columns, Honest Taskers first because we publish the list. Facts were read on August 24, 2026 and change often, so treat them as a starting point, not a quote.
| Company | What the firm offers | HIPAA / BAA as stated | Published pricing | Model | Notable verified facts |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Honest Taskers | Hourly placed staff working in your own systems across reception, intake, records, prior authorization, billing support and patient outreach | BAA when PHI is accessed; HIPAA compliance verified by Accountable | $10.00–$12.65/hr | Hourly, no minimum; two-week trial | Licensed nurses and physicians in pool; 99.6% average monthly retention |
| AnswerConnect | Dental, general | Not publicly listed | $350/mo | Answering service | "Real people, not automated voices", receptionists distributed across the US; published tiers $350/mo (200 min), $395/mo (300 min), $575/mo (400 min); overage $1.85–$2.50 |
| Specialty Answering Service | Live operators 24/7/365 | States no BAA | $44/mo | Answering service | Not publicly listed; From $44/mo; States it is a HIPAA compliant medical call center; no BAA described on the page |
| HealthSnap | Software only | HITRUST-certified and HIPAA-com | Not publicly listed | Managed clinical program | Integrated RPM and CCM virtual care management platform; HITRUST-certified and HIPAA-compliant; serves provider groups, health systems, ACOs, FQHCs and CHCs; −23.8 |
| Signallamp Health | Nurse-led care management embedded in the practice's EHR | Not publicly listed | $0 | Managed clinical program | Fully employs its own home-based RNs and LPNs; states staff are 100% US-based and licensed in the same state as your patients; nurses work directly in your EHR with no ex |
| Rockstar Global | Medical reception, verification and authorization specialists, billing, administrative support and credentialing | States "100% HIPAA-compliant", but no BAA wording | Not publicly listed | 7–14 day implementation | Built for PT, OT, SLP, DSOs; 300th VA, 170+ practices; 97% retention |
| Care VMA Health | VMA, receptionist, administrative, RPM, chronic care management, patient care coordinator, billing, coder, triage and scribe roles | States "100% HIPAA Compliant", but no BAA wording | Starts at $9/hr | No long-term contracts; Flexi Plan with no minimum hours | 48-hour matching; US-based account management; RPM, CCM, triage, coder roles |
| MedStar BTR | Virtual healthcare assistants plus medical billers and coders; dental, orthodontic and primary care experience | States "HIPAA-compliant", but no BAA wording | Not publicly listed | Not publicly listed | Since 2005, 20+ years; US and Philippine training provider; 95% CPC pass rate |
| Staffingly | Billing, coding, prior authorization, front office and documentation staffing | Signed BAA; SOC 2 Type II; ISO/IEC 27001:2022; $5M E&O cover (company-reported) | $399/wk at 45 hrs; $299 at 10+ | Flat weekly | India, Pakistan, Bangladesh; AI-assisted, human-verified |
Read the compliance and pricing columns together. The firms that publish a rate aren't the ones with the weakest compliance position, which is the usual assumption, and several firms publish neither a price nor commitment terms nor a Business Associate Agreement, which means three separate negotiations before you can compare them to anything. For psychiatry practices the scope column matters too, because verifying benefits and prior authorization for psychiatric medications isn't work every provider has done before.
1. Honest Taskers
Best for: psychiatry practices that want a published hourly rate, a signed BAA and third-party verified compliance with no minimum.
Pricing: $10.00–$12.65/hrCompliance: HIPAA verified by Accountable; BAACommitment: Hourly, no minimumFirst hire: Two-week working trial
Honest Taskers is where this list starts because the compliance and pricing questions are answered in public rather than in a quote. For psychiatry practices the placed assistant works your time zone inside your own systems on returning intake enquiries quickly, since psychiatric waitlists are long and patients disengage, verifying benefits and prior authorization for psychiatric medications, and managing the controlled substance refill queue and interval tracking. Staff are trained on HIPAA and data privacy under a dedicated compliance officer, a Business Associate Agreement is signed before anyone touches protected health information, and HIPAA compliance is verified by Accountable rather than asserted internally. The talent pool includes licensed nurses and physicians. Rates run $10.00 to $12.65 an hour depending on role, background, schedule and location, billed hourly with no weekly minimum, and the first hire comes with a two-week working trial. Honest Taskers reports 99.6% average monthly retention. See the multi-purpose virtual medical assistant service for role detail.
Limitation: staff work remotely and administratively, so clinical assessment, treatment decisions and every clinical conversation in psychiatry practices stays with your own clinicians, and Honest Taskers describes its security environment as SOC 2 audit ready rather than holding a SOC 2 or ISO 27001 certification of the kind Staffingly and MyOutDesk publish.
2. AnswerConnect
Best for: Psychiatry practices weighing a answering service option alongside placed assistants.
Pricing: $350/moCompliance: Not publicly listedModel: Answering serviceCategory: Answering service
AnswerConnect is an answering service rather than a placed assistant, so it covers the phone rather than the workflow sitting behind it. From the company's own material: Best fit: Dental, general; Verified facts: "Real people, not automated voices", receptionists distributed across the US; published tiers $350/mo (200 min), $395/mo (300 min), $575/mo (400 min).
Limitation: HIPAA is an option you switch on rather than the default, and bilingual support is not stated
3. Specialty Answering Service
Best for: Psychiatry practices weighing a answering service option alongside placed assistants.
Pricing: $44/moCompliance: States no BAAModel: Answering serviceCategory: Answering service
Specialty Answering Service is an answering service rather than a placed assistant, so it covers the phone rather than the workflow sitting behind it. On its own site: Live operators 24/7/365; Operator location: Not publicly listed; Published pricing: From $44/mo; HIPAA / BAA (as stated): States it is a HIPAA compliant medical call center.
Limitation: the lowest entry price here buys few minutes, so overage terms matter more than the headline
4. HealthSnap
Best for: Psychiatry practices weighing a care management option alongside placed assistants.
Pricing: Not publicly listedCompliance: HITRUST-certified and HIPAA-comModel: Managed clinical programCategory: Care management
HealthSnap supplies clinical care management rather than administrative staff, so it answers a different half of the problem than a placed assistant does. Read from its own site: Staff or software: Software only; Verified facts: Integrated RPM and CCM virtual care management platform; HITRUST-certified and HIPAA-compliant; serves provider groups, health systems, ACOs.
Limitation: it is a platform, not a staffing provider, so your team still makes the calls and logs the time
5. Signallamp Health
Best for: Psychiatry practices weighing a care management option alongside placed assistants.
Pricing: $0Compliance: Not publicly listedModel: Managed clinical programCategory: Care management
Signallamp Health supplies clinical care management rather than administrative staff, so it answers a different half of the problem than a placed assistant does. What the site publishes: What it is: Nurse-led care management embedded in the practice's EHR; Verified facts: Fully employs its own home-based RNs and LPNs.
Limitation: no HIPAA or BAA statement on the page, and the revenue-share model means the economics depend on your billable patient volume
6. Rockstar Global
Best for: psychiatry practices in therapy or dental group settings wanting a provider built for that market.
Pricing: Not publicly listedCompliance: States 100% HIPAA-compliantCommitment: 7–14 day implementationFocus: PT, OT, SLP and DSOs
Rockstar Global is the only firm here built around named practice types. Formerly Virtual Rockstar, it is the only firm in this pool built around named practice types rather than healthcare generally: physical therapy, occupational therapy, speech-language pathology and dental service organizations. Roles include medical reception, verification and authorization specialists, billing and credentialing, supported by an internal VA Academy. It reports placing its 300th assistant across more than 170 private practices with 97% practice partner retention and a 7 to 14 day implementation.
Limitation: it publishes no pricing and no BAA wording, and its focus on therapy practices and dental service organizations means other practice types are not its core market.
7. Care VMA Health
Best for: psychiatry practices wanting a $9 starting rate, no long-term contract and a no-minimum plan.
Pricing: Starts at $9/hrCompliance: States 100% HIPAA compliantCommitment: No long-term contractsSpeed: 48-hour matching
Care VMA Health is the most flexible published arrangement in this market. It publishes a rate starting at $9 an hour with three plan shapes, part time at 15 to 35 hours a week, full time above 35, and a Flexi Plan with no minimum hours at all, on no long-term contracts with 48-hour matching. Its role list is wide, covering virtual medical assistant, receptionist, admin, remote patient monitoring, chronic care management, patient care coordinator, billing assistant, remote coder, telehealth assistant, telephone triage assistant and scribe, with US-based account management.
Limitation: it states no Business Associate Agreement despite claiming full HIPAA compliance, does not say where its staff are based, and names no specialties.
8. MedStar BTR
Best for: psychiatry practices wanting the longest track record in the market, operating since 2005.
Pricing: Not publicly listedCompliance: States HIPAA-compliantCommitment: Not publicly listedExperience: Since 2005
MedStar BTR has been doing this longer than anyone else on the list. It's been operating since 2005 and reports more than 20 years of healthcare experience, which is the longest track record in this pool. It supplies virtual healthcare assistants and medical billers and coders, is an approved US and Philippine training provider, reports a 95% CPC passing rate among the coders it trains, and names dental and orthodontics and primary care among the practice types it works with.
Limitation: it publishes no pricing, no commitment terms, no BAA wording and no client count, so its long track record has to be weighed against thin public detail.
9. Staffingly
Best for: psychiatry practices wanting the lowest published cost with SOC 2 Type II and ISO 27001 behind it.
Pricing: $399/wk at 45 hrs; $299 at 10+Compliance: SOC 2 Type II, ISO 27001, signed BAACommitment: Flat weeklyDelivery: India, Pakistan, Bangladesh
Staffingly has the strongest documented security position in this market. It has the strongest documented security position in the pool, reporting SOC 2 Type II, ISO/IEC 27001:2022, a signed Business Associate Agreement and a $5 million errors and omissions and cyber policy, all company-reported, and it publishes its rate at $399 a week per person for 45 hours falling to $299 at ten or more, which is under $9 an hour at the top tier. Work spans billing, coding, prior authorization, front office and documentation from facilities in India, Pakistan and Bangladesh.
Limitation: its workflow is AI-assisted with a person verifying output rather than fully human, and offshore delivery means overlap with your working day must be arranged as a shift.
How quickly must a psychiatry virtual medical assistant return an intake enquiry?
Quickly enough that the patient is still engaged, because psychiatric waitlists are long and people disengage while they wait. The cost gap is large: a medical secretary or administrative assistant earned a median $22.08 an hour, about $45,930 a year, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics May 2025 wage data for secretaries and administrative assistants, before benefits, payroll tax and a desk, against published remote rates from $9 an hour. Keep in the building whatever genuinely needs a person there: greeting patients, physical specimens and mail, and anything requiring a wet signature. The practical route is to start with the single task costing you the most rather than defining a whole role upfront, because the job's easier to scope once somebody's doing it. Hourly and cancel-anytime arrangements suit that far better than a quarterly minimum. For the task-level breakdown, see virtual medical assistant duties.
Which psychiatric records must a virtual medical assistant treat as more protected than HIPAA requires?
Anything relating to substance use disorder treatment, which carries federal protections beyond ordinary HIPAA rules, settled with four contractual points before anyone starts.
- BAA versus HIPAA training. A Business Associate Agreement puts breach liability in writing. "HIPAA-trained" describes a person who sat a course. Five firms in this market state a BAA; the rest state training. Ask which you are getting, in writing.
- Substance use and psychiatric records. Records relating to substance use disorder treatment carry federal protections beyond ordinary HIPAA rules, and psychiatric records carry heightened sensitivity generally. Get the provider's controls in writing before access.
- Commitment before certainty. Terms run from a Flexi Plan with no minimum hours to a 3-month minimum at 20 hours a week. Match the term to how sure you are.
- Access scope. Grant the minimum systems access each task needs and review it quarterly and on every staff change.
- Time zone against your day. Ask for the shift pattern rather than the delivery country, which matters most where staff are offshore.
How much does a psychiatry virtual medical assistant cost?
Three firms publish a rate here. Honest Taskers is $10.00 to $12.65 an hour with no weekly minimum. Care VMA Health starts at $9 an hour with a Flexi Plan carrying no minimum hours. Staffingly is $399 a week per person for 45 hours, under $9 an hour at ten or more people. The other six on this list, AnswerConnect, Specialty Answering Service, HealthSnap, Signallamp Health, Rockstar Global and MedStar BTR, quote on request. For psychiatry practices the unit worth computing is cost per intake enquiry converted and refill prepared, which you can work out from a two-week sample rather than from a quote. Rates were checked on August 24, 2026 and change often. For rate context, see how much a virtual medical assistant costs in 2026.
Does the psychiatry virtual medical assistant company know the substance use record rules?
Ask directly, because those rules are stricter than the BAA everyone quotes, and weigh it beside a published rate and an exit you can use.
- A signed Business Associate Agreement. Five firms in this market state one. Get the document before access, not after the first shift.
- A published rate. An undisclosed rate means you negotiate compliance terms alongside the money.
- An exit you can use. Cancel-anytime, no lock-in, month-to-month and a no-minimum Flexi Plan all exist here.
- A written crisis protocol. Ask for it before the contract, not after the first difficult call.
- Named systems experience. Ask which practice management and EHR systems the specific assistant has worked in, and who trains them on yours.
What should a psychiatry virtual medical assistant do about the waitlist first?
Answer the intake enquiries faster, because response time and same-week rebooking are both countable from week one.
- Measure one month of intake response time and same-week rebooking rate so you have a baseline to judge against.
- List the five tasks you would hand over in week one, with the system each requires.
- Mark which touch protected health information, which decides whether a BAA is mandatory.
- Shortlist on stated BAA, published pricing and exit terms before reading any quality claims.
- Review at four weeks against the baseline rather than against an impression, then widen scope.
For a fuller hiring walkthrough, read how to hire a virtual medical assistant.
Methodology and sources
We read each company's own website on August 24, 2026, recording the scope offered, the HIPAA and Business Associate Agreement position in each firm's exact wording, published pricing, commitment terms and the verified facts each publishes. We set aside claims about screening quality and talent percentiles, because every firm makes them and none is checkable from outside; where such figures appear above they are labelled as the company's own claim. Wage context is from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics May 2025 Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics. Business Associate Agreement obligations are set by the HIPAA Privacy and Security Rules. Where a company published no figure we marked it "not publicly listed" rather than guessing; practice counts, retention rates and savings claims are company-reported and we did not audit them. Portiva, Pearl Talent and Wishup were excluded because their sites refuse automated requests, and Phoenix Virtual Solutions was excluded because its domain now returns an expiration notice.
Related staffing guides
The fastest way to narrow this market is to decide which tasks touch patient data, because that single question removes several firms. Our explainer on what a virtual medical assistant is covers the scope a remote hire can own for psychiatry practices, and where the compliance obligation begins.
Speak with Honest Taskers about staffing psychiatry practices.