Digital health · Primary care
Circle Medical
A San Francisco primary care practice treating patients by video and in person, majority owned by Canada’s WELL Health. It reached 32 states and a reported $114 million revenue run rate, then paid $3,325,000 in 2026 to settle billing allegations it did not admit.
Twenty seven addresses, mostly inside somebody else’s office
Open Circle Medical’s clinic locations page and a pattern shows up fast. Scottsdale: “Located in the Viva MedSuites suite.” Boston: “Located on the 17th floor in the Intelligent Office Suite.” Portland: “Located in Spaces Slabtown.”
Twenty seven in person sites across twenty two states and Washington, DC, most of them inside coworking buildings or shared medical suites rented by the room. One is different: 333 1st Street in San Francisco, the address on the company’s 2018 SEC filing.
That geography is not decoration. Federal law generally requires a practitioner to examine a patient in person before prescribing a controlled medication. Pandemic era flexibilities suspended that requirement and the DEA has extended them four times. The current extension expires December 31, 2026. A practice that prescribes stimulants to patients it has only met on video needs an answer for that date. A rented room in twenty two states is one answer.
The gap it is aimed at
Circle Medical sells what American primary care is worst at: an appointment you can get this week, billed to insurance, with no membership fee. Its ADHD page lists $179 for a first visit and $120 for follow ups, averaging $35 out of pocket for insured patients.
It is also one of a small number of platforms that will remotely prescribe a Schedule II stimulant. ChoosingTherapy, an independent review site that tested the service, wrote in 2026 that Circle Medical “is one of the few online providers that currently remotely prescribes controlled substances for ADHD.” The same review reports the practical consequence: CVS Pharmacy will not fill controlled substance prescriptions from Circle Medical.
That friction is industry wide. In February 2024 Circle Medical co-signed a letter to the DEA, with the American Telemedicine Association and four other virtual care companies, asking the agency to tell pharmacists that distance between prescriber and patient should not by itself count as a warning sign.
Three founders and a decade
George Favvas, Jean-Sebastien Boulanger and Brent LaRue started the company in 2015 and saw their first patients in person in 2017. Favvas and Boulanger are both from Montreal, where the company later opened an engineering office. Both appear as executive officers and directors on the 2018 Form D, which Favvas signed as chief executive; the filing records a prior entity name, Valy Fontil Medical Corporation. Y Combinator, A.Capital and Collaborative Fund were early backers.
Favvas ran it for a decade. In October 2025 he posted that he had transitioned out of the chief executive role, and published the number he was proudest of: “Growing from $2M to $114M in revenue run rate in 5 years and achieving profitability with only $12M in primary capital”. Georgia Psarras, made interim chief executive that September, was later confirmed.
UCSF, then WELL, then scale
On January 27, 2020, UCSF Health announced an affiliation covering two San Francisco clinics, with co-medical directors drawn from both organisations. Eight months later WELL Health Technologies of Vancouver agreed to buy control, closing on November 13, 2020 at about US$14.3 million for roughly 58% fully diluted. Circle Medical’s revenue run rate at closing was about US$5.7 million; by November 2021 WELL reported it had passed US$28 million.
The UCSF connection became part of the brand, and WELL’s December 2021 release called the company “a UCSF Health affiliate.” Circle Medical’s own about page now describes something narrower and finished: “in 2019 Circle Medical entered into a 4 year partnership with UCSF, one of America’s top 10 hospitals.” UCSF’s 2020 release carries an archive banner, and as of September 2026 Circle Medical does not appear on the UCSF Health affiliates page, which still lists One Medical, Tia and Hill Physicians.
The bill that came due
In September 2024 Circle Medical received a request for voluntary production of documents from the Civil Division of the US Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of California, investigating its billing practices. WELL disclosed it on March 28, 2025 and delayed its audited annual statements.
It resolved on June 10, 2026. Per the San Francisco District Attorney, Circle Medical Care of California, Circle Medical Technologies and chief medical officer Dr. Nicole Tsang agreed to pay $3,325,000 without admitting liability: $475,000 federal, $2,850,000 to California. The complaint alleged the practice billed federal payers and commercial insurers under the National Provider Identifier of physicians who did not provide the service, and that much of the care came from nurse practitioners and physician assistants the insurers had not credentialed. The District Attorney also said there was no evidence of billing for services that were not provided. The case began as a whistleblower suit by a former employee, Jason Vellen.
What is proven, and what is still claimed
| Evidence | What the record shows | Source type |
|---|---|---|
| Settlement | $3,325,000 agreed June 10, 2026 by two Circle entities and Dr. Nicole Tsang, D.O. Split $475,000 federal, $2,850,000 state. No admission of liability. Alleged conduct spans 2018 to 2025. | Public record |
| How it started | A qui tam action by former employee Jason Vellen. The SF District Attorney and California Department of Insurance intervened. Case 3:24-cv-02024-TSH (N.D. Cal.). Relator share $1,078,250. | Public record |
| Structure | NPPES lists Circle Medical Care of California (NPI 1134596091, 2015), Circle Medical Care of Texas (2017) and about twenty Circle Medical Care Group professional corporations enumerated in 2024. | Public record |
| Prescribing rules | DEA and HHS issued a Fourth Temporary Extension on December 31, 2025, permitting remote Schedule II to V prescribing with no prior in-person exam through December 31, 2026. | Public record |
| Equity raised | One Form D on file, CIK 0001748771, filed August 9, 2018: $7,404,824 offered, $6,112,858 sold to 41 investors under Rule 506(b). | Public record |
| Scale | 32 states, 99 payers, about 14,000 health plans, hundreds of thousands of visits a year. The website adds more than 2,000,000 video appointments and 300,000 patients. | Company-stated |
| UCSF affiliation | UCSF announced it in January 2020 and the release is archived. The company calls it a four year partnership entered in 2019. Circle Medical is not on the UCSF Health affiliates page as of September 2026, though directory listings still say “a UCSF Health Affiliate.” | Claim differs from the record |
Read plainly: the growth is real and so is the enforcement record. Scaling to thirty two states on video, under a temporary federal rule, with a contracted clinician workforce, invites two failure modes: who may prescribe, and whose name goes on the claim. Circle Medical settled the second without admitting it. The first is still being decided in Washington.
What to watch
- The DEA special registration final rule, at White House review since August 25, 2026, against flexibilities that expire December 31, 2026.
- Whether WELL Health sells. It put Circle Medical, wisp and CRH Medical into a strategic alternatives process in March 2026.
- Whether the compliance build out carries any obligation beyond the payment.
- Medicaid. The company states it cannot accept Medicaid or Medi-Cal patients at all, even self pay.
In their words
“Finding high-quality primary care close to work or home can be challenging in the Bay Area,”
Kevin Grumbach, MD, chair, UCSF Department of Family and Community Medicine, UCSF release, 2020 · Public record
“Primary care consumers expect healthcare providers to deliver a more modern and digital experience in 2020,”
Tom Ronay, MD, medical director, Circle Medical, UCSF release, 2020 · Company-stated
“Growing from $2M to $114M in revenue run rate in 5 years and achieving profitability with only $12M in primary capital”
George Favvas, co-founder, on leaving the CEO role, LinkedIn, 2025 · Founder-stated
“Medical providers have a legal duty to ensure that their practices comply with the law, particularly as it relates to the accuracy of claims submitted to insurance companies for reimbursement,”
Brooke Jenkins, San Francisco District Attorney, settlement announcement, 2026 · Public record
“We are pleased to have collaboratively resolved this matter with the government.”
Darren Binder, Chief Legal and Risk Officer, Circle Medical, WELL Health release, 2026 · Company-stated
“We are moving forward with full focus on our patients and on expanding access to high-quality, insurance-based primary care across the country.”
Georgia Psarras, CEO, Circle Medical, WELL Health release, 2026 · Company-stated
“DEA supports telehealth access for patients who need medication, but not at the expense of public safety,”
Cheri Oz, DEA Assistant Administrator, Diversion Control Division, 2025 · Public record
Related companies
Sources
- Public recordSettlement announcement, Circle Medical
- Public recordEnforcement record, $3,325,000 settlement
- Public recordForm D, CIK 0001748771
- Public recordNPI Registry organization search
- Public recordDEA Extends Telemedicine Flexibilities
- Public recordFourth Temporary Extension of Telemedicine Flexibilities
- Public recordArchive: UCSF Health Affiliates with Circle Medical
- Public recordOur Affiliates
- IndependentCalifornia Company Paying $3.3M to Resolve False Claims Allegations
- IndependentDEA Telemedicine Special Registration Rule Enters Final Review
- IndependentDEA Urged to Mitigate Geographic Red Flag
- IndependentCircle Medical Review 2026
- IndependentWELL Health Q4 2025 slides, strategic US exit underway
- IndependentForward shutters after raising $400M
- CompanyCorporate update on Circle Medical
- CompanyDelay in filing of audited statements
- CompanyCompletion of majority stake acquisition
- CompanyUpdate on US virtual services growth
- CompanyAbout, locations and ADHD pages
- FounderGeorge Favvas on leaving the CEO role
Profile researched and written by Healthcare Discovery. Last updated September 29, 2026.
