This year’s Telemental Health Laws app update highlights a pivotal transition, as narrowed Medicare coverage, delayed Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) rulemaking on remote prescribing, and intensified federal enforcement create new operational and legal complexities for telehealth providers nationwide.
Download Epstein Becker Green’s Telemental Health Laws App
Key Takeaways for Telehealth Providers and Organizations:
- Unstable Medicare rules make long-term planning difficult. Flexibilities can change with short notice, putting reimbursement, care models, and staffing decisions at risk for mental and behavioral health providers.
- Remote prescribing remains uncertain and complex. While telehealth prescribing is still allowed, permanent DEA rules are delayed. Providers face ongoing confusion about compliance, platform requirements, and state-by-state differences.
- Compliance risk is rising fast. Federal enforcement is expanding, with closer scrutiny of billing, documentation, and prescribing. One mistake can trigger audits, penalties, or legal exposure.
As the health care industry transitions beyond the COVID-19 public health emergency era, Congress continues to demonstrate bipartisan support for expanding access to telehealth. However, telehealth providers will invariably encounter certain legal and regulatory complexities as lawmakers work toward establishing a more permanent regulatory framework. At the same time, states are moving from broad expansion to refinement, focusing on reimbursement precision and licensure compacts.
Telehealth providers should continue to monitor federal and state policy developments—including Medicare coverage rules, DEA prescribing regulations, and False Claims Act enforcement priorities—while simultaneously investing in compliance infrastructure to operate in accordance with applicable federal and state laws, regulations, and policies.
-
Telehealth providers should continue to monitor developments, capitalize on current and upcoming telehealth opportunities, and invest in compliance infrastructures to operate in accordance with applicable federal and state laws, regulations, and policies.
-
What’s New in This Year’s Update
Announcement
Epstein Becker Green’s 10th annual survey illustrates the shifting landscape of the telemental health and telehealth industries, defined by narrowed Medicare flexibilities, delayed DEA rulemaking, and intensified federal enforcement.
-
iPhone, iPad, Android
-
Complimentary
-
All 50 States + DC and Puerto Rico
Since 2016, Epstein Becker Green has researched, compiled, and analyzed the state-specific regulatory requirements for professional mental/behavioral health practitioners and stakeholders offering telehealth-focused services. We are pleased to release our latest compilation of state telehealth laws, regulations, and policies within the mental and behavioral health practice disciplines.
While other state-focused telehealth surveys exist, this survey focuses solely on the remote delivery of behavioral health care services. It is vital to keep this important resource up to date as the legal and regulatory landscape continues to rapidly evolve.
The app’s editors and contributors are grateful to Epstein Becker Green 2025 Summer Associates Himani Gubbi, Julia Renfroe, Chloe Shumaker, and Sahar Tirmizi for their assistance.
Download Epstein Becker Green’s Telemental Health Laws App
Jump to Page
link