Last updated: 2026-08-24
Honest Taskers, TeleMed Inc, and notifyMD lead this year's shortlist of virtual medical assistant companies for ABA therapy practices, seven 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 ABA therapy practices the work that matters is obtaining authorization for assessment and treatment hours. Below we set out whether hours are counted rather than visits, how hours are stopped running past the authorization, what the work costs, whether a provider reports hours against authorized hours, and which report to get in on time first. Of the seven here, two publish a rate and one states 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
- 2TeleMed Inc
- 3notifyMD
- 4TimeDoc Health
- 5Rockstar Global
- 6Care VMA Health
- 7MedStar BTR
How we chose the best virtual medical assistant companies for ABA therapy practices
We ranked these firms on five facts, each read at the provider's own website on August 24, 2026: the scope each offers ABA therapy 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 ABA therapy practices the additional question is whether the assistant can handle which drives everything without being taught the basics first.
Best virtual medical assistant companies for ABA therapy practices compared
The table ranks all 7 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 |
| TeleMed Inc | Live operators plus app and web | States no BAA | Not publicly listed | Answering service | US centers in Atlanta GA, Johnson City TN, Wise VA; Not publicly listed; Every associate completes HIPAA training; app described as HIPAA-compliant; no BAA on the page |
| notifyMD | Mental health, physician | HITRUST Certified | Not publicly listed | Answering service | Live operators 24/7, trained in the provider's field; the first answering service to be HITRUST Certified; escalates to the on-call provider, and for a life-threatening e |
| TimeDoc Health | CCM + RPM + behavioral health monitoring | HITRUST i1 certification, Augus | Not publicly listed | Managed clinical program | three named services; care coordinators and nurses + enterprise platform; medication adherence, appointment scheduling, DME assistance; HITRUST i1 certification, August 2 |
| 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 |
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 ABA therapy practices the scope column matters too, because tracking authorized hours used against hours approved isn't work every provider has done before.
1. Honest Taskers
Best for: ABA therapy 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 ABA therapy practices the placed assistant works your time zone inside your own systems on obtaining authorization for assessment and treatment hours, which drives everything, tracking authorized hours used against hours approved, and coordinating technician schedules against each client's authorized hours. 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 ABA therapy 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. TeleMed Inc
Best for: ABA therapy practices weighing a answering service option alongside placed assistants.
Pricing: Not publicly listedCompliance: States no BAAModel: Answering serviceCategory: Answering service
TeleMed Inc is an answering service rather than a placed assistant, so it covers the phone rather than the workflow sitting behind it. Its own pages state: Live operators plus app and web; Operator location: US centers in Atlanta GA, Johnson City TN, Wise VA; Published pricing: Not publicly listed.
Limitation: no published pricing, and the longest-established option is not automatically the cheapest
3. notifyMD
Best for: ABA therapy practices weighing a answering service option alongside placed assistants.
Pricing: Not publicly listedCompliance: HITRUST CertifiedModel: Answering serviceCategory: Answering service
notifyMD is an answering service rather than a placed assistant, so it covers the phone rather than the workflow sitting behind it. Read from its own site: Best fit: Mental health, physician; Verified facts: Live operators 24/7, trained in the provider's field; the first answering service to be HITRUST Certified; escalates to the on-call provider.
Limitation: no pricing is published, and bilingual support is not stated
4. TimeDoc Health
Best for: ABA therapy practices weighing a care management option alongside placed assistants.
Pricing: Not publicly listedCompliance: HITRUST i1 certification, AugusModel: Managed clinical programCategory: Care management
TimeDoc 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: CCM + RPM + behavioral health monitoring; Key verified facts: three named services; care coordinators and nurses + enterprise platform; medication adherence, appointment scheduling.
Limitation: no staff credentials; site stats render as placeholders
5. Rockstar Global
Best for: ABA therapy 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.
6. Care VMA Health
Best for: ABA therapy 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.
7. MedStar BTR
Best for: ABA therapy 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.
Does an ABA virtual medical assistant count hours rather than visits?
Hours, because ABA runs on authorized hour counts and that is what drives everything else. 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.
How does an ABA virtual medical assistant stop hours running past the authorization?
By reconciling delivered against authorized weekly rather than monthly, because hours over the count are written off, settled with four contractual points first.
- 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.
- Hours delivered beyond authorization. ABA runs on authorized hour counts. Deliver beyond the approved number and it is unpaid. Ask for the weekly report of hours used against hours authorized per client.
- 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 virtual medical assistant cost?
Two 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. The other five on this list, TeleMed Inc, notifyMD, TimeDoc Health, Rockstar Global and MedStar BTR, quote on request. For ABA therapy practices the unit worth computing is cost per authorized hour delivered and billed, 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.
Can the ABA virtual medical assistant company report hours against authorized hours?
Ask how often, plus a signed BAA, 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.
- Authorized-hour tracking per client. Ask to see the weekly report of hours used against hours approved.
- Named systems experience. Ask which practice management and EHR systems the specific assistant has worked in, and who trains them on yours.
Which ABA report should a virtual medical assistant get in on time first?
The one a reauthorization depends on, because reauthorizations lapsed for late reports is the avoidable loss here.
- Measure one month of hours delivered beyond authorization and reauthorizations lapsed for late reports 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 ABA therapy practices, and where the compliance obligation begins.
Speak with Honest Taskers about staffing ABA therapy practices.