Last updated: 2026-08-24
Honest Taskers, ScribeEMR, and Scribente lead this year's shortlist of virtual medical assistant companies for virtual primary care, 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 virtual primary care practices the work that matters is confirming visits and completing intake ahead of the consultation. Below we set out how a remote patient gets to a local laboratory, what still has to be arranged locally, what the work costs, whether a provider can book services it cannot see, and which order to chase first. Of the nine 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
- 2ScribeEMR
- 3Scribente
- 4Ditto Transcripts
- 5Carenet Healthcare
- 6Neolytix
- 7Wing Assistant
- 8MyOutDesk
- 9Virtual Latinos
How we chose the best virtual medical assistant companies for virtual primary care
We ranked these firms on five facts, each read at the provider's own website on August 24, 2026: the scope each offers virtual primary care 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 virtual primary care practices the additional question is whether the assistant can handle managing the refill queue for a remote panel without being taught the basics first.
Best virtual medical assistant companies for virtual primary care 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 |
| ScribeEMR | Live virtual scribing, AI instant notes, AI-plus-human review | SOC 2 Type II; ISO 27001 (but see limitation) | Not publicly listed | Documentation service | Both, and a hybrid model; Not publicly listed; HIPAA; SOC 2 Type II; ISO 27001; BAAs required; audited by PwC |
| Scribente | Virtual scribe, live scribe, transcription, AI scribe | HIPAA-compliant | $0.10/line | Documentation service | Both, sold separately; $0.10/line standard, $0.16/line stat; $0.25–$3.00 per report for EHR and LIS work; HIPAA-compliant; 25-hour HIPAA training for all staff |
| Ditto Transcripts | Medical transcription with EHR, LIS and PACS interfaces | HIPAA-compliant | $0.10–$0.16/line | Documentation service | Category A AI-assisted with human editing; Category B 100% human, US-based; $0.10–$0.16/line; flat $0.25–$3.00 per report; HIPAA-compliant; 99% accuracy guaranteed |
| Carenet Healthcare | Virtual care and nurse triage at scale | Not publicly listed | Not publicly listed | Managed clinical program | Combines patient-engagement staff and registered nurses with physician e-consults for a triaged virtual care experience; offers after-hours clinical support and nurse tri |
| Neolytix | Virtual assistants alongside revenue cycle management, coding audit, CVO credentialing, provider enrollment and licensing | ISO 27001 certified; HIPAA stated | Not publicly listed | Not publicly listed | VAs plus RCM and credentialing; 270+ orgs, 31 specialties, 40 states |
| Wing Assistant | Healthcare virtual assistant and customer service roles with 24/7 specialist availability | Healthcare VA product named; no HIPAA detail published | Not publicly listed | Not publicly listed | 10,000+ active assistants and 2M+ screened yearly, both company-reported; 24/7 cover |
| MyOutDesk | General administrative support, customer service, bookkeeping, marketing, inside sales and transaction coordination | SOC 2 certified and audited (company-reported); "HIPAA Verified"; PCI-DSS ready | $1,988/mo managed; $2,500/mo specialized | Full time only, 8h x 5d | 17+ years; 8,500+ businesses served; hire in ~1 week; "top 0.7% of talent" is its own claim |
| Virtual Latinos | Latin America | States no signed BAA | $1.8K–$3.7K/mo | Placed remote staff | $1.8K–$3.7K/mo full-time (160 hrs/mo), tiered by experience; Healthcare and medical line; patient scheduling, billing support; "HIPAA-conscious" training, NDAs; no signed |
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 virtual primary care practices the scope column matters too, because running preventative and chronic disease recall across the panel isn't work every provider has done before.
1. Honest Taskers
Best for: virtual primary care 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 virtual primary care practices the placed assistant works your time zone inside your own systems on confirming visits and completing intake ahead of the consultation, managing the refill queue for a remote panel, running preventative and chronic disease recall across the panel, and coordinating referrals out and chasing whether the patient was seen. 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 virtual primary care 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. ScribeEMR
Best for: Virtual primary care practices weighing a documentation option alongside placed assistants.
Pricing: Not publicly listedCompliance: SOC 2 Type II; ISO 27001 (but see limitationModel: Documentation serviceCategory: Documentation
ScribeEMR is a documentation and transcription specialist, so it targets the charting load rather than the schedule. From the company's own material: Services: Live virtual scribing, AI instant notes, AI-plus-human review; People or AI: Both, and a hybrid model; Published pricing: Not publicly listed; Compliance (as stated): HIPAA.
Limitation: no pricing published, so cost comparison takes a quote
3. Scribente
Best for: Virtual primary care practices weighing a documentation option alongside placed assistants.
Pricing: $0.10/lineCompliance: HIPAA-compliantModel: Documentation serviceCategory: Documentation
Scribente is a documentation and transcription specialist, so it targets the charting load rather than the schedule. What the site publishes: Services: Virtual scribe, live scribe, transcription, AI scribe; People or AI: Both, sold separately; Published pricing: $0.10/line standard, $0.16/line stat.
Limitation: talent location isn't disclosed
4. Ditto Transcripts
Best for: Virtual primary care practices weighing a documentation option alongside placed assistants.
Pricing: $0.10–$0.16/lineCompliance: HIPAA-compliantModel: Documentation serviceCategory: Documentation
Ditto Transcripts is a documentation and transcription specialist, so it targets the charting load rather than the schedule. On its own site: Services: Medical transcription with EHR, LIS and PACS interfaces; People or AI: Category A AI-assisted with human editing; Category B 100% human, US-based; Published pricing: $0.10–$0.16/line.
Limitation: scribing isn't offered, so it covers transcription only
5. Carenet Healthcare
Best for: Virtual primary care practices weighing a care management option alongside placed assistants.
Pricing: Not publicly listedCompliance: Not publicly listedModel: Managed clinical programCategory: Care management
Carenet Healthcare 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: Virtual care and nurse triage at scale; Verified facts: Combines patient-engagement staff and registered nurses with physician e-consults for a triaged virtual care experience.
Limitation: its own outcome figures are company-reported, and no pricing is published
6. Neolytix
Best for: small virtual primary care practices whose need spans assistants, billing and credentialing.
Pricing: Not publicly listedCompliance: ISO 27001 certifiedCommitment: Not publicly listedBase: Chicago
Neolytix is the option that scales down to a small practice. It's the option that scales down rather than up, publishing explicit small-practice and mid-market tiers where most firms chase larger contracts. Virtual assistants sit alongside revenue cycle management, coding audit, credentials verification organization credentialing, provider enrollment and licensing, so one firm can absorb the billing or credentialing work an assistant would otherwise be chasing. It reports 270-plus organizations across 31 specialties in 40 states and is ISO 27001 certified.
Limitation: it publishes no pricing and no commitment terms, and its center of gravity is revenue cycle work rather than front-office staffing.
7. Wing Assistant
Best for: virtual primary care practices needing round-the-clock cover or fast replacement from the deepest bench.
Pricing: Not publicly listedCompliance: No HIPAA detail publishedCommitment: Not publicly listedScale: 10,000+ active assistants
Wing Assistant is the scale option, which means replacement speed and out-of-hours cover. It brings the deepest bench of any firm here, reporting more than 10,000 active assistants and more than two million applicants screened annually, with 24/7 specialist availability and a company-reported 4.8 out of 5 average rating. A healthcare virtual assistant is one of its named products alongside customer service representatives and administrative and executive assistants, so scale and out-of-hours coverage are its arguments.
Limitation: it publishes no pricing, no delivery location, no commitment terms and no HIPAA detail beyond having a healthcare product.
8. MyOutDesk
Best for: virtual primary care practices wanting a published monthly rate, a SOC 2 audit and general business breadth.
Pricing: $1,988/mo managed; $2,500/mo specializedCompliance: SOC 2 audited; HIPAA VerifiedCommitment: Full time onlyExperience: 17+ years
MyOutDesk is the generalist with the strongest audit trail. It publishes $1,988 a month for managed outsourcing and $2,500 for specialized support, both full time at eight hours a day five days a week, around $12 an hour at the lower tier. Its compliance documentation is unusually strong for a generalist: SOC 2 certified and audited (company-reported), described as HIPAA Verified, and HIPAA and PCI-DSS compliance ready. It reports 17-plus years, 8,500 or more businesses served and hiring in as little as one week.
Limitation: it is a generalist rather than a healthcare specialist, offers no part-time option, and "HIPAA Verified" is its own description rather than an independent certification.
9. Virtual Latinos
Best for: Virtual primary care practices weighing a regional staffing option alongside placed assistants.
Pricing: $1.8K–$3.7K/moCompliance: States no signed BAAModel: Placed remote staffCategory: Regional staffing
Virtual Latinos recruits in one specific region and prices for that region, which is worth knowing before comparing it to a US-managed firm. Read from its own site: Talent location (as stated): Latin America; Published pricing: $1.8K–$3.7K/mo full-time (160 hrs/mo), tiered by experience; Healthcare roles named: Healthcare and medical line.
Limitation: no BAA is described publicly, which is a real gap for PHI work
How does a virtual medical assistant get a remote patient to a local laboratory?
By booking it where the patient lives, alongside confirming visits, completing intake and running the refill queue for a remote panel. 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.
What does a virtual practice still need a virtual medical assistant to arrange locally?
Laboratories and imaging, because a virtual practice still sends patients somewhere physical, and that arrangement is 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.
- Arranging local services remotely. A virtual practice still needs patients to attend local laboratories and imaging. Ask how the provider arranges and confirms those, since it is where virtual primary care most often breaks down.
- 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. MyOutDesk publishes $1,988 a month full time. The other seven on this list, ScribeEMR, Scribente, Ditto Transcripts, Carenet Healthcare, Neolytix, Wing Assistant and Virtual Latinos, quote on request. For virtual primary care practices the unit worth computing is cost per visit completed and ordered test attended, 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 virtual medical assistant company book services it cannot see?
Ask how it confirms an outside appointment happened, 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.
- Local service coordination. Ask how the provider arranges and confirms laboratory and imaging attendance for remote patients.
- Named systems experience. Ask which practice management and EHR systems the specific assistant has worked in, and who trains them on yours.
Which virtual primary care order should a virtual medical assistant chase first?
The ordered test, because a test ordered and never done is the failure a remote panel hides best.
- Measure one month of ordered tests completed and refill turnaround 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 virtual primary care practices, and where the compliance obligation begins.
Speak with Honest Taskers about staffing virtual primary care practices.