Telehealth and online clinic merchant accounts UK
Telehealth is treated as high-risk because of healthcare MCC codes, recurring subscription billing, remote-prescribing scrutiny and refund and chargeback exposure on consultations. Mainstream acquirers often decline or place tight limits on online clinics, especially where prescribing or weight-loss services are involved. Specialist healthcare acquirers underwrite registered telehealth providers at moderate high-risk rates with a rolling reserve, and verify CQC and GPhC registration and prescriber credentials at onboarding.
Legal status (UK)
Legal where the service holds the relevant registrations: CQC for clinical services in England, GPhC for any dispensing pharmacy, and prescribers on the appropriate professional register. Remote prescribing must follow GMC and CQC guidance.
Best way to take Telehealth and online clinic payments (UK)
Our pick
MerchantHQ, specialist Telehealth and online clinic broker and account team
Mainstream UK acquirers (SumUp, Square, Zettle, Dojo, Worldpay, Barclaycard) decline Telehealth and online clinic at onboarding or terminate after launch. We hold a specialist panel of UK high-risk acquirers that underwrite it. As a broker we match you to the right one for your licence, volume and processing history, then stay on as your named UK account team for the life of the agreement.
The acquirer pays our commission on signup, so it costs you nothing on top, and we never sell your details on. We disclose the risk classification upfront so the right underwriter is approached from the start.
Get matched to a Telehealth and online clinic acquirerHigh-risk merchants are the most exposed to chargebacks, frozen funds and MATCH/TMF listings, and that is exactly what your MerchantHQ account team handles, for the life of the agreement.
How Telehealth and online clinic placements work
Telehealth and online clinic routes to specialist regulated-vertical acquirers matched per application rather than a published list. The right underwriter depends on your licence, volume and sub-category, so we approach it individually. We hold the relationships and disclose your risk classification upfront so the right acquirer is contacted from the start.
Typical pricing
- Rate
- 2.5% to 4.2% blended
- Settlement reserve
- 5% to 12% rolling reserve common
Watch outs
- CQC and, where dispensing, GPhC registration must be in place and verifiable.
- Subscription and repeat-prescription billing needs clear consent and cancellation handling to control chargebacks.
- Remote-prescribing services attract closer underwriting; document your clinical governance.
- Weight-loss and GLP-1 services are scrutinised most heavily; expect higher reserves.
Director, MerchantHQ
Oliver leads MerchantHQ's terminal testing and acquirer comparison. With a background in UK commercial finance and merchant payments, he oversees terminal reviews, switching guidance and high-risk vertical mapping.
Last reviewed: 3 June 2026