LegitScript Healthcare Merchant Certification is a powerful way to ensure that your business is operating in compliance with applicable laws and regulations. It's also a necessary part of the approval process for conducting card-not-present transactions with Visa and Mastercard and for advertising on Google and Bing. Here are some Frequently Asked Questions about our process and services. Benefits & Standards Why do healthcare merchants need to be certified? Major credit card networks such as Visa require certification for pharmacy merchants and telemedicine providers. Additionally, many payment service providers require merchants operating in healthcare industries to be certified to obtain a merchant account. LegitScript Certification is known throughout the payments industry and is recognized by both Visa and Mastercard. What are the benefits of being LegitScript-certified? LegitScript Certification helps ensure that merchants can fully participate in online advertising, e-commerce, and payment processing programs. Major credit card networks, such as Visa and Mastercard, make certification mandatory for pharmacy merchants. Without certification from an industry-recognized certifier such as LegitScript, many banks, advertising programs, social media platforms, and e-commerce websites will suspend or terminate your account. Will the merchant account still be classified as high-risk? All merchants with Merchant Category Codes related to drugs and pharmacies (MCCs 5122 and 5912) that process card-not-present (CNP) transactions are always designated high-risk. However, healthcare merchants that have been LegitScript-certified may not be required to pay the annual high-risk fee associated with this classification, resulting in regular, yearly savings. What are the standards for certification? The Healthcare Merchant Certification program looks at 11 standards that cover areas such as compliance, transparency, business affiliations, and patient best practices. Please carefully review these standards before submitting your application. Notably, please make sure that the Whois registration of your website is not privacy-protected (in line with standard #3). Can international healthcare providers apply for certification? Yes, our certification program covers most countries around the world. LegitScript has expert policy analysts who are native speakers of more than 15 languages. Contact us for more information about how our certification program can serve your international business. Application Process How does the Healthcare Merchant Certification process work? Applicants create an account at my.legitscript.com and pay the application fee, then fill out the application and include supporting documentation. Required documents may vary based on the nature of your business. Once you have completed the application, LegitScript's expert analysts review your application against Certification Standards. During the review, analysts may have questions about the application or need additional documentation. There may be areas of minor noncompliance that applicants must remediate before receiving certification. Once certified, applicants receive instructions for displaying a unique seal on their website and can begin taking advantage of the benefits of certification. How long will the Healthcare Merchant Certification process take? The length of time it takes to complete a review depends on the order in which an application has been received, the complexity of the application, applicant responsiveness, and the sufficiency and transparency of the answers provided. Because each application review is unique, we are unable to give time estimates. Does my website need to be complete for your review? In most cases, wireframe or demonstration websites can be acceptable to start our review process. We ask that you inform the Certification Team when your website goes live so we can perform a final review; however, this typically does not affect the certification status. What if I have multiple websites? By default, we review and certify the primary website for your business. If you operate additional healthcare websites that offer or promote significantly different products or services, you would need to submit additional applications for these websites. Please note that all websites you operate must be submitted as part of your application. Failure to include websites related to the business may result in a delay in processing your application. Who can I speak to about my application? If you have questions or concerns about an application that you have already submitted, you can contact us at certification@legitscript.com. Our customer success team responds to queries in the order they are received. We're happy to give general information and also help answer questions about supporting documentation; however, we are unable to give estimates regarding the timeline of any application's review. Please check your spam folder in case any email communication has been filtered by your email provider. How do I know the status of my application? You can log into your account at my.legitscript.com to access application information, update billing information, add new users, or start a new certification application. Pricing How does pricing work? LegitScript Healthcare Merchant Certification pricing has three tiers, which are differentiated by the level of complexity in reviewing and monitoring the applicant. Pricing depends in part on the number of jurisdictions into which you ship, dispensing locations you have, and licenses you have. See our Healthcare Merchant Certification page for pricing details. Certified Websites Is there ongoing monitoring of compliance with the certification standards? LegitScript performs ongoing monitoring throughout a healthcare provider's certification period to ensure compliance. The LegitScript seal displays "LegitScript Monitored" to reflect ongoing monitoring. Are certified websites required to use the LegitScript seal? Certified healthcare providers are encouraged to display their custom LegitScript seal on their website, but they are not required to do so. The LegitScript seal uses custom code to display the date, which shows customers that you are current and active in your certification. What happens when a website is reported through LegitScript's reporting function? We take website reporting seriously and make reasonable attempts to investigate the veracity of the claims. If we determine that a company needs to be reported to the appropriate authorities, we promptly do so. If you see a potentially problematic website, we encourage you to report it here. Apply Now Healthcare Certification Home