Telehealth (Teams + Zoom)

The state of telehealth in 2026

Telehealth stopped being a pandemic workaround several years ago. For behavioral health and therapy practices, it’s often the primary delivery channel. For primary care and specialty clinics, it supplements in-person visits, particularly for follow-ups, prescription management, and triage. Patients expect it to be available. Regulators expect it to be HIPAA-compliant.

The two platforms that dominate the independent practice market are Microsoft Teams (via Microsoft 365) and Zoom for Healthcare. Both can be configured to meet HIPAA technical safeguard requirements, both offer signed Business Associate Agreements with qualifying plans, and each has strengths depending on your practice workflow.

What we do

As Microsoft Cloud Partner Program and Zoom Partner Program members, we deploy and support both platforms. Our scope typically includes:

• Platform selection. Teams vs Zoom depends on your EHR integration, your patient demographic, and your existing Microsoft 365 footprint. We help you pick based on your specific needs.
• HIPAA-compliant configuration. Both platforms require specific settings to be HIPAA-aligned. Default configurations usually aren’t.
• BAA execution. We verify that your practice has signed BAAs in place with Microsoft or Zoom (or both) before any PHI crosses the platform.
• Workflow integration. Waiting rooms, scheduling integration with your EHR, automated appointment links, and patient-facing instructions.
• Provider and staff training. Practical training so your clinicians can focus on patients, not troubleshooting.
• Ongoing support. When a provider can’t get into a session five minutes before an appointment, we’re the ones to call.

Teams vs Zoom for healthcare

Neither platform is universally better, they fit different practice profiles. Microsoft Teams integrates natively if your practice is already on Microsoft 365, which most of ours are. Zoom for Healthcare has a cleaner patient-facing experience and is often preferred by behavioral health practices where session quality matters more than infrastructure integration.

We deploy and support both. If you’re not sure which fits your practice, that’s part of what we work through during the initial review.

What about BAA coverage?

Neither Microsoft Teams nor Zoom is HIPAA-compliant out of the box. Both require:

1. A qualifying enterprise or healthcare-specific license tier.
2. A signed Business Associate Agreement accepted at the tenant or account level.
3. Proper configuration of features like meeting encryption, recording policies, and participant controls.

We handle all three, and we document the configuration so you have evidence of compliance if a payer, regulator, or attorney ever asks.