Payments · Telehealth6 min readUpdated November 3, 2026

Why Stripe Closed Your Telehealth Company Account (and What to Do Next)

Why Stripe closes telehealth company accounts, the 120-day payout pause, how to appeal, export your patients' cards and keep taking payments.

Nick Bonnassies, CMO at Tagada · checked against 11 sources

Article summary

TL;DR

Stripe usually closes a telehealth account when the business no longer matches what it approved: medication on a consult-only approval, a new service, controlled substances, renewal disputes, or health data sent to Stripe. For unacceptable risk, it typically pauses payouts for 120 days. Appeal with your licenses and processes, request the card export, and move payments.

Stripe's telemedicine approval "is specific to each service offer and it may be modified or revoked by Stripe at any time".
Stripe "will typically restrict or pause payouts to the User's bank account for 120 days" after it acts for unacceptable risk.
Stripe's main FAQ answers "Maybe" for prescription medicines; its Express FAQ answers "In general, no" (both read November 2, 2026).
Stripe exports saved cards only to a PCI DSS Level 1 processor, without subscriptions.
The closure email "will state the reason your account was closed", and you can request another review from it.

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On this page

This guide is part of our hub on telehealth payment processing. The general guide, for any business: Stripe account closed: what to do. Stripe's policy before closure: does Stripe allow telehealth services?.

Why Stripe closes telehealth accounts

Cause	Stripe's line	What it looks like
Service outside the approval	Approval "is specific to each service offer"1	A new treatment line or a new offer added after onboarding
Medication sold through the account	"Card-not-present prescription-only products and pharmaceuticals" restricted1; "In general, no" (Express FAQ)2	The brand charges for the medication, not only the visit
Controlled substances	Online dispensing requires a valid prescription with an in-person evaluation under federal law9	Remote prescribing that depends on the DEA's temporary flexibilities
Disputes and refunds	Unacceptable risk3; Visa's 1.5% monitoring line8	Renewals charged before clinical review, hard cancellation10
Health data sent to Stripe	Users "must not provide Protected Health Information to Stripe"4	Condition or treatment in product names, descriptors or metadata
Country	Telemedicine prohibited in Mexico1	Patients or entity in Mexico

The notice states a reason5, often in general terms. Your last 90 days of changes (new offer, new state, medication, ad campaign) usually tell you which line applies.

What happens to your money

Stage	What Stripe does
Day 0	Email with the reason; red banner in the Dashboard; charges and payouts restricted or paused5 3
Days 0 to 120	Payouts typically paused; balance covers refunds, disputes and chargebacks3
Day 120	Review: release all or part, keep holding, or cancel the payout3
Reserves	A reserve may also apply, "in some rare cases" indefinitely7

Fig. 1From the closure email to the day 120 review

Day 0Email with the reason; charges and payouts restricted
Days 0 to 120Payouts paused; balance covers refunds and disputes
Day 120Review of the balance

Day 120 reviewThree possible outcomes

ReleaseAll or part of the balance
Keep holdingThe balance stays paused
Cancel the payoutThe balance is not paid out

Refunds and disputes are paid from the held balance the whole time.

Stripe, Unacceptable Risk Policy; Stripe Support, Why was my Stripe account closed?

Watch out

Refunds and disputes during the 120 days come out of the held balance3. Patients who were charged for a plan they didn't get will dispute. Refund them first and plan cash without the balance: payout timing for telehealth companies.

The first 72 hours

Fig. 2How the first days usually look

What each message means

Closed: the email states the reason and how to request a review.
Export requested: cards go to a PCI DSS Level 1 processor; subscriptions and history are yours to export.
Review requested: a first request can fail; the notice explains whether you can try again.

StripeMonYour account has been closedCharges and payouts are restricted.
StripeTueData export requestedYour card data export request was received.
StripeWedReview requestedWe'll review the information you sent.

Illustrative example.

Read the email and the Dashboard banner: the reason, what's restricted, how to request a review5.
Pause new sign-ups and renewals on Stripe, so no patient is charged for care you can't deliver.
Request the card data export to your next processor6. It must be PCI DSS Level 1.
Export what Stripe doesn't send: subscription list, plans, next charge dates and payment history6.
Fix the likely cause: remove medication charges, health terms in product names and metadata, and any offer outside your approval.
Tell patients how their care and billing continue, and refund anyone charged for an unapproved plan.
Set up a processor that underwrites telehealth before you process again.

In this order: the card export and the new processor take the longest.

Appeal: what to send

Send	Why
Entity documents and owners' IDs	A real, identifiable business
Clinician license numbers, by state served	Stripe asks for "license numbers and information on your processes"2
Your prescribing process, clinical scope, controlled substance policy	Answers the service and medication questions
Who charges for the medication (you or a pharmacy)	Answers the pharmaceutical line1 2
Checkout screenshots: price, renewal, cancellation	Shows billing is clear
Disputes and refunds by month; what you changed since the notice	Shows the risk is under control

Stripe's form is linked in the closure email5. A first request can fail; the notice explains whether you can try again.

Keep selling

Option	Note
Underwritten high-risk merchant account for telemedicine	Reserve likely: get approved
A pharmacy that charges for the medication	Your account keeps the visit or plan: consult vs. medication
Two processors with routing	A backup next time: payment routing for telehealth companies
A full telehealth stack	Storefront, doctors, pharmacy and payments: Tagada Rx, by application

Moving subscribers without losing them: switching payment processor.

Don't do this

No new account
Don't open a new Stripe account for the same business under another name or entity. Same business, same review.
No split volume
Don't split volume across accounts to stay under thresholds: Stripe lists evasion of chargeback monitoring among prohibited uses1.
No unfulfilled renewals
Don't keep charging renewals you can't fulfill while you sort out the account.

Tagada follows Visa and Mastercard rules and the laws that apply to payments.

How Tagada helps

After a Stripe closure: routing and a vault you own

TagadaPay works across a processor network rather than a single account, with "Enhanced review for regulated verticals"11 and "Native 3DS2, device intelligence, and rules engine: approve real customers, block the rest."

Routing across TagadaPay and processors such as Stripe, NMI and Airwallex, with one logic, and a cascade to another processor when one is down or times out
Cards kept in Tagada's vault, so subscriptions keep charging after a processor change: "Switch processors without re-onboarding customers"
Support: "24/7 human support on Slack Connect"

Building a telehealth brand from scratch? Tagada Rx runs storefront, doctors, pharmacy and payments in one stack, with the card hold captured on approval and released on decline. US patients only, by selection.

Apply for processing

After a Stripe closure: routing and a vault you own

Updated on November 3, 2026

Nick Bonnassies

CMO at Tagada

CMO at Tagada. Before Tagada, Nick built direct-to-consumer brands that generated over $115M in sales, raised over $25M in crowdfunding and sold two of them. He also works as a fractional CMO on marketing operations and AI systems.

Frequently asked questions

Why did Stripe close my telehealth account?

Usually because the business no longer matched its approval, which "is specific to each service offer": medication charged through the account, a new offer, controlled substances, rising disputes, or health data sent to Stripe. The closure email states a reason.

How long will Stripe hold my funds?

When Stripe acts for unacceptable risk, it typically pauses payouts for 120 days, then reviews whether to release, keep holding or cancel the payout. Refunds and disputes are paid from the balance during that time. A separate reserve can last longer.

Can I appeal a Stripe closure?

Yes, if you think Stripe misunderstood your business: use the form linked in the closure email. Send your clinician licenses by state, your prescribing process, who charges for the medication, checkout screenshots and what you've changed.

Can I keep my patients' subscriptions after Stripe closes my account?

Request the card export to a PCI DSS Level 1 processor. Stripe doesn't export subscriptions or payment history, so rebuild plans and next charge dates on the new system before the next renewal.

Does Stripe allow telehealth at all?

Yes, as a restricted business in the US: it reviews "each business on a case-by-case basis" and doesn't require LegitScript for telemedicine. It prohibits telemedicine in Mexico. Selling prescription medication through Stripe is the harder case.

Sources

Checked November 3, 2026

TagadaPay

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01Tell us what you sell and how
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