How long does it take to launch a telehealth brand with Beluga?

Most partners are live within 14 to 60 days depending on the integration path — a platform partner is at the fast end and a direct API build takes longer. Beluga gives you an exact timeline on the scoping call once it understands your setup.

Do I need a development team to launch?

Not necessarily. With a dev team you integrate via direct API. Without one, you launch on a platform partner that provides a white-label DTC telehealth stack pre-integrated with Beluga. A third path is becoming a platform company yourself.

Does Beluga lock me into a pharmacy, merchant, or tech stack?

No. There is no merchant lock-in, no forced pharmacy, and no revenue cut. You own your brand, your merchant relationship, your pharmacy relationship, and your customer relationship.

What are the three ways to work with Beluga?

Direct API integration for teams with engineers; an integrated commerce stack via a platform partner for teams without a dev team; or becoming a platform company that other brands plug into.

New to telehealth?
Start here.

Q: What is a clinical infrastructure provider?

It is the clinical layer a telehealth brand sits on top of — the physician network, EMR, clinical workflows, protocols, compliance program, and pharmacy routing. The consumer brand handles marketing and the customer relationship; the clinical infrastructure handles everything that involves a physician, a prescription, or a regulator.

A guided walkthrough for first-time founders. What a clinical infrastructure provider is, what you build versus what you partner for, how the three paths to launch differ, and how to read the numbers when someone quotes you a timeline or a price.

30-minute scoping call

No sales pitch. We answer questions, not work a script.

What is a clinical
infrastructure provider?

Every telehealth brand you have heard of, Hims, Ro, and the rest, sits on top of a clinical layer that the customer never sees. That layer is the doctor network, the EMR, the clinical workflows, the protocols, and the pharmacy routing. The consumer brand handles marketing and the customer relationship. The clinical infrastructure handles everything that involves a physician, a prescription, or a regulator. Beluga is that clinical layer for hundreds of digital health brands today.

If you have a brand idea and a marketing plan, you do not also need to build a 50-state physician network, an EMR, a compliance program, and a pharmacy network. That work already exists. You plug in.

What you build,
what you partner for.

A clean way to think about your stack. You own the brand and the customer. Beluga owns the clinical layer. A platform partner sits between, optional, and handles the operational scaffolding so you do not have to build a portal and a CRM from scratch.

You handle

Brand identity and positioning. Marketing and paid acquisition. The customer relationship and customer service. Pricing your offer to your customer.

Platform partner handles

Patient portal and account management. Secure messaging. E-commerce and subscription billing. CRM and lifecycle automation. (Optional if you already have a tech stack.)

Beluga handles

The physician network in all 50 states plus DC. Clinical workflows and protocols. Prescribing and pharmacy routing. Compliance posture and ongoing monitoring.

The three paths
to launch.

All three paths use the same Beluga clinical infrastructure behind them. The difference is who builds the patient facing layer and how long it takes to get to production.

Have a dev team? Direct API integration.

You build the patient portal, e-commerce, and CRM. Beluga provides the clinical API, documentation, and protocols. This is the most flexible path and the right one if you already have engineers. This is the longer of our two integration paths, though a motivated dev team moves faster.

No dev team? Integrated commerce stack via a platform partner.

Speed to market without building a portal and CRM from scratch. Beluga works closely with a small set of platform companies that provide a white label DTC telehealth stack (patient portal, secure messaging, e-commerce, CRM) pre integrated with Beluga behind it. You handle marketing and brand, the platform partner handles operations, Beluga handles clinical. This is the fastest route to launch, and the most common path for first time founders. Specific partners are introduced on the scoping call once we understand the fit.

Building infrastructure other brands plug into? Become a platform company.

Beluga supports that path with the same clinical API and additional commercial terms designed for downstream resale. This is the right path if you are building agency, multi brand, or holdco economics from the start.

What does the timeline
actually look like?

Most partners are live within 14-60 days depending on your integration path — platform partners at the fast end, direct API builds toward the longer end. We'll give you an exact timeline once we understand your setup. A one-week launch is usually a sign that someone is underselling the work or running a model that locks you in later.

The work breaks down into three stages. Discovery and contracting, where we map your protocols, pharmacy preferences, and operational constraints. Build, where the integration is wired up and your team validates end to end in a staging environment. Launch, where traffic starts flowing and your pod is live in Slack.

You do not pay for clinical visits until you are live and visits are being completed. The integration itself is operational work, not a license fee.

What does it cost?

The honest answer is that pricing depends on your protocol mix, expected volume, and which layers of the stack you want from Beluga. Async categories like dermatology and hair loss price per visit on a tiered model. Synchronous categories that require labs price per component. AutoRx, for GLP-1 weight loss, uses a prepaid two visit structure so partners can offer competitive monthly economics to patients while still maintaining required clinical oversight.

Across all of those, three things hold. Per visit pricing. Pass through pharmacy and labs with the underlying cost visible to you. No revenue cut from your customers, and no fees added after integration. Every number gets shared on the scoping call, before integration begins.

See how pricing is structured →

What's the first step?

A 30-minute scoping call with our team. We ask about your protocol mix, your tech situation, and what timeline you need. You leave with a clear picture of which path fits you, what onboarding looks like, and the actual numbers for your scope.

Book the scoping call

New to telehealth?Start here.

What is a clinicalinfrastructure provider?

What you build,what you partner for.

The three pathsto launch.

What does the timelineactually look like?