LifeMD Online Doctors Review

Breadth of Services

LifeMD is a brand new telehealth company that launched its services in 2021. The platform is still in its beta testing stage, but will eventually provide primary, urgent, and chronic care in all 50 states. Patients can expect to receive treatment for common problems like cold and flu, UTIs, and sexually transmitted diseases through the company. You can also elect to connect with a primary care doctor who will see you for both sick and well visits and can help you manage chronic conditions, including diabetes, hypertension, thyroid disease, and more. Doctors may order lab work on patients' behalf. Through its partnerships, the company can send a nurse directly to your house to conduct lab tests. Or, if you prefer, the company can send you directly to a local laboratory that's convenient for you. When appropriate, LifeMD physicians can prescribe medications, which are available for delivery directly from the company at a discount. Or you can choose to have your prescriptions filled by your trusted pharmacy. Should you, in the opinion of your online doctor, require a specialist's care, LifeMD can connect you with one in your vicinity.

When the service is fully launched, LifeMD subscribers will be able access its telehealth platform via desktop, laptop, tablet, and mobile devices.

Photo provided by LifeMD 12/6/2021

Professional Credentials and Licensures

LifeMD works with board-certified physicians to deliver care. The company's website also indicates that your healthcare needs will be met by a medical team, which we assume may consist of nurses, physician's assistants, and nurse practitioners. Unlike some, more established, telehealth platforms we've reviewed, LifeMD does not post physician profiles or provide other specific information on its caregivers. This may give some patients pause, particularly if they're concerned with being matched with a primary care doctor to provide ongoing services. Just as you want to "click" with an in-person doctor, you may want the reassurance of being able to virtually interview—or at least know some key details about—the doctor you're about to be paired with.

Price

LifeMD offers two plans for purchase. The first plan, which is available for $15 per month, allows patients to schedule and pay for physician appointments individually. The company's website doesn't state how much you'll pay for each individual visit, though, which makes it a challenge to evaluate whether its services when compared to competitive plans. LifeMD's lower-priced plan gives patients access to unlimited physician messaging. Patients can take advantage of discounts up to 80% on prescriptions filled through the company's pharmacy and on diagnostic services ordered by LifeMD physicians.

LifeMD's top-tier plan costs $99 per month offers all of the services included in its lower-priced plan, but patients may schedule as many physician visits as they need during the subscription period with no per-visit fee. The plan also includes free diagnostic services and one annual check-up. That's an impressive value, given that a single traditional annual check-up, including lab work, can run into hundreds of dollars alone.

Customer Experience

LifeMD promises access to care 24/7 and same-day video appointments with board-certified physicians. Compared to the common patient experience of having to wait weeks or even months for an appointment—not to mention the unpredictable amount of time you may need to spend in a physician's waiting room—that's a tremendous promise and it's one of the most compelling reasons to choose virtual healthcare. 

Photo of LifeMD user interface provided by LifeMD 12/6/2021

As we mentioned, LifeMD is new to the telehealth arena. At this point, the company's website is not as informative as other telehealth companies we've reviewed. Information on the variety of conditions doctors are prepared to treat is scant. The company states only that its physicians are board-certified. Doctors can be board-certified in a lot of medical specialties and it's not possible, given the brevity of LifeMD's website, to get a feel for doctors' credentials and specific areas of expertise. If you're a senior citizen, you might find it reassuring to see a doctor that specializes in geriatrics, for example. We were unable to glean whether the platform offers pediatric care, either. 

Currently, LifeMD invites patients to sign up for beta access to services. However, if you do request access, you'll receive a message saying the company will contact you soon. Imagery on the company's website suggests that patients request services through a mobile app. But when we searched for the LifeMD app at the Apple Store and on Google Play, no app was available for download. So for now, a customer's experience is limited to browsing LifeMD's website, which doesn't really offer sufficient information to evaluate whether the service is suitable for an individual patient's needs.