Tool: Telehealth Policy Finder

Across the country, no two states are alike in how they define and regulate telehealth. To help policymakers, health advocates and other health care professionals understand the policies and trends throughout the nation, the Telehealth Policy Finder tool compiles telehealth-related laws and regulations across all 50 states and the District of Columbia, as well as at the federal level.

Fall 2025 Updates

Since the onset of the pandemic in 2020, Medicaid programs across the United States have steadily refined and stabilized their telehealth policies, moving from emergency-driven flexibility to more permanent, structured frameworks. Since CCHP’s last 50-State Report in Fall 2024, states have continued to expand telehealth reimbursement in targeted areas—such as behavioral health, remote patient monitoring, and audio-only services—while also advancing cross-state licensing mechanisms through increased participation in interstate compacts and providing targeted licensing exceptions. At the same time, states are continuing to implement guardrails to ensure quality, such as clarifying provider responsibilities, consent standards, and modality-specific limitations, in an effort to balance expanded access with clinical integrity and oversight.

As states refine Medicaid and private payer telehealth policies, many are also turning to licensing boards and health agencies to set practice standards for telehealth. These rules aim to ensure that virtual care upholds the same standards of safety, quality, and accountability as in-person services, while often tailoring requirements to specific professions. A consistent theme is that providers must be licensed in the state where the patient is located, as seen in Wisconsin’s new rules for optometrists and behavioral health professionals and Louisiana’s new regulations for behavior analysts. Other states seek to refine their policies regarding the use of telehealth by certain professionals. For example, Wyoming’s new teledentistry practice standards have clarified that the practice of dentistry occurs where the patient is located, requiring dentists to establish valid provider-patient relationships before delivering teledentistry services.

Read the full Fall 2025 report, and explore the state summary chart showing where states stand on many key telehealth policies, as well as an infographic highlighting key findings.

Additional findings:

• Fifty states, Washington DC and Puerto Rico provide reimbursement for some form of live video in Medicaid fee-for-service. The Virgin Islands does not explicitly indicate they reimburse for live video in their permanent Medicaid policies.
• Forty state Medicaid programs reimburse for store-and-forward. Connecticut and New Jersey are the states which added reimbursement for store-and-forward, although each in a limited capacity. Note that some states only reimburse store-and-forward through specific communication technology-based service (CTBS) codes. New Jersey was added as a state that reimburses for store-and-forward based on CTBS codes found in a New Jersey Medicaid Operational Manual.
• Forty-one state Medicaid programs provide reimbursement for remote patient monitoring (RPM). New Jersey was added to the count since our 2024 update due to RPM codes found in a New Jersey Medicaid Operational Manual.
• Forty-six states and DC Medicaid programs reimburse for audio-only telephone in some capacity; however, often with limitations. Only one state, New Jersey, was added for audio-only reimbursement since Fall 2024.
• Thirty-two state Medicaid programs including Alaska, Arkansas, Arizona, California, Colorado, Delaware, Hawaii, Illinois, Iowa, Kentucky, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Montana, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, North Dakota, Ohio, Oregon, South Carolina, South Dakota, Texas, Utah, Vermont, Virginia, Washington, and Wisconsin reimburse for all four modalities (live video, store-and-forward, remote patient monitoring and audio-only), although certain limitations may apply.
• Forty-four states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands have a private payer law that addresses telehealth reimbursement. Not all of these laws require reimbursement or payment parity. Twenty-four states and Puerto Rico have explicit payment parity. New Jersey was added since Fall 2024 due to an extension of payment parity requirements. Maryland also made a previously temporary payment parity requirement permanent.
• Forty-five states, DC, and Puerto Rico include some sort of consent requirement in their statutes, administrative code, and/or Medicaid policies. No new states added consent policies that did not previously have one in either their Medicaid program or for at least one profession since 2024.
• Thirty-eight states, as well as DC and Puerto Rico offer some type of exception to licensing requirements. Note that while CCHP’s search of statute and regulations was confined to telehealth, if we happened to come across a more general licensing exception, we did include it in our reporting, and in this number. CCHP also found that eighteen states as well as the Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico have telehealth-specific special registration or licensure processes as an alternative to full licensure for certain providers. To be counted in this number, the licenses/registrations did need to be specific to reference telehealth (or remote care) in some way.
• Many states continue to adopt or refine telehealth practice standards across a broadening range of health professions. While most states already have telehealth-related requirements in place for providers such as physicians, mental health professionals, and nurses, more state licensing boards are beginning to formalize standards for additional provider types. Recent developments show expanded regulation of telehealth practice for optometrists, dietitians, acupuncturists, social workers, and veterinarians, reflecting a wider recognition of telehealth as a regular mode of care delivery across disciplines.
• While CCHP does not track a specific count of states with telehealth prescribing requirements—due to the wide variation and numerous caveats across states—they do include online prescribing policies under the “Professional Requirements” category in our Policy Finder. Since Fall 2024, several states have implemented new or clarified rules around prescribing via telehealth, with particular attention to controlled substances. These updates often specify provider licensure, follow-up requirements, or the establishment of a prior in-person or telehealth relationship. Examples of these recent changes are detailed in the prescribing section below.

Getting started with the Policy Finder

Launched in Spring 2021 by PHI’s Center for Connected Health Policy (CCHP), the Policy Finder tool is a searchable, easy-to-use database that is updated consistently throughout the year. Formerly known as the State Telehealth Laws and Reimbursement Report, the information from the online database can be exported for each state into a PDF document using the most current information available on CCHP’s website.

Use the Policy Finder tool to:

• Look up telehealth-related laws and regulations by topic, including COVID-19, Medicaid & Medicare, Private Payer and Professional Requirements
• Explore all current laws, temporary COVID-19 actions, and pending legislation in all 50 states and the District of Columbia, as well as at the federal level
• Compare the policy of any of the topic areas for any two states
• View color-coded maps recapping policy trends by state across topic areas, including Medicaid reimbursement for live video, store and forward and remote patient monitoring

The Policy Finder is designed to provide timely policy information that is easy for users to navigate and understand. Watch a quick tutorial to explore the tool, see how to use it and learn about its features:

Please note: this information should not be construed as legal counsel. Consult with an attorney if you are seeking a legal opinion.

Originally published by Center for Connected Health Policy