Doctor-guided GLP⁠-⁠1 care for South Dakota

Yes. You complete a short medical intake online, and a doctor licensed in South Dakota personally reviews it — South Dakota requires a live video examination wherever the same care in person would need a face-to-face encounter, so your doctor may ask you to book a video visit. If treatment is appropriate for you, your prescription is filled by a licensed US pharmacy and shipped overnight to your door anywhere in South Dakota. You may not need to visit a clinic in person.

Semaglutide injections start at $135/month and tirzepatide at $169/month. The price includes the medication itself, your doctor visits, ongoing medical supervision, and overnight refrigerated shipping. There is no membership fee, and the intake and your doctor's first review or visit are free: you pay nothing until you choose to start medication.

Not at this time. For compounded medicine we charge one all-in monthly price with the medication, doctor visits, and shipping included, so there is no prior authorization. Brand-name care is $28/month for the doctor, and you buy the medicine from the maker's pharmacy. HSA and FSA cards are accepted at checkout, and we provide itemized receipts and a Letter of Medical Necessity on request.

Compounded semaglutide (the active ingredient in Wegovy and Ozempic) and compounded tirzepatide (the active ingredient in Zepbound and Mounjaro), each as a weekly injection. Tirzepatide and semaglutide injections may contain nothing added or a B vitamin. Your doctor recommends the medication, form, and dose that fit your health history and goals.

James Simmons, MD, our medical director, is licensed in South Dakota and board-certified in emergency medicine (ABEM). He personally reviews your intake, meets with you over video when either of you wants a visit, and supervises your treatment over time.

All of South Dakota. Care starts online and medication ships overnight statewide, so care is the same whether you're in Sioux Falls, Rapid City, Aberdeen, Brookings, or a town without a weight-management clinic nearby.

Not through Gentle Health. We do not bill Medicare, South Dakota Medicaid or private insurance, and everyone pays the prices shown on this page. To pursue coverage instead you would need a provider who accepts your plan and prescribes a medication it covers — the FDA-approved brands, not a compounded preparation. Where each programme stands:

1. South Dakota Medicaid: Not covered for weight loss, said three separate ways: the pharmacy manual excludes agents used for weight loss, the drug list heads the GLP-1 class with the words no coverage for weight loss, and the prior-authorization forms say the drug is not covered for obesity or weight management.
2. Medicare: Coverage may still be possible through the federal GLP-1 Bridge: a $50 copay for Wegovy, Zepbound or Foundayo through December 31, 2027, for Part D enrollees with a BMI of 35 or more, or lower with specific heart, stroke, artery, blood-pressure, kidney or prediabetes conditions. Type 2 diabetes, moderate-to-severe sleep apnea and MASH are covered through regular Part D instead.

It depends on what your care needs. South Dakota's telehealth chapter expressly includes asynchronous store-and-forward review and imposes no general in-person requirement — but SDCL 34-52-5 requires a face-to-face examination using real-time audio and visual technology before diagnosis and treatment if a face-to-face encounter would otherwise be required in the provision of the same service not delivered via telehealth. South Dakota's questionnaire prohibition, by contrast, reaches only controlled substances.

Only with a South Dakota nonresident licence, which expires every June and requires good standing at home, a South Dakota resident agent, and an inspection report less than four years old. An out-of-state outsourcing facility needs its own separate annual licence.