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LA · STATE RULES

Telehealth rules in Louisiana

Louisiana splits its remote-care rules between a telehealth act that takes the in-person examination away and a medical board chapter that puts conditions back. The act says no in-person history or physical examination is required before an encounter, so long as the provider arranges a referral or follow-up care inside the state as necessary. The board chapter then closes two conditions to telemedicine outright and holds every controlled prescription to an in-person visit inside the past year.

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First visit
Async with conditions
Physician license
Compact member or permit
Controlled drugs
In-person visit within a year
Nurse practitioners
Reduced practice

Rules checked September 2026 · 23 sources cited

ONLY IN LOUISIANA

What is different about Louisiana

Each rule here is true of Louisiana and of none of the states that border it. Beside each one: what the neighbours do instead.

  1. 01 · Prescribing

    Two conditions are closed to remote care

    Section 7513 of the board's telemedicine chapter tells a physician not to use telemedicine for the treatment of obesity, as set out in sections 6901 to 6913 of the board's rules, and not to use it for the treatment of non-cancer related chronic or intractable pain, as set out in sections 6915 to 6923. Both cross-references point at chapters about controlled substances in those conditions, so the reach of the obesity clause over a non-controlled weight product is unsettled and is a question for counsel.

    Source: LAC 46:XLV.7513

    Across the border

    • Texas

      The medical board there permits prescribing for chronic pain over two-way audio and video, with a narrow exception for an established patient seen inside ninety days.

      Source: 22 TAC 175.3

    • Arkansas

      Its board rule turns on the drug rather than on the diagnosis, holding Schedule II to V off telemedicine absent an in-person examination or a qualifying referral.

      Source: Ark. State Medical Board Rule 38

    • Mississippi

      No condition is named off-limits there, and weight or pain treatment answers to the same good faith prior examination the rules demand before any prescription.

      Source: 30 Miss. Code R. 2640-1.4

  2. 02 · Prescribing

    A controlled prescription looks back a year

    The same section bars a physician from using telemedicine to authorize a controlled substance unless four things hold: the physician has had at least one in-person visit with that patient within the past year, the prescription serves a legitimate medical purpose, it conforms to the standard of care that would apply to an in-person visit, and it is permitted under state and federal law. The look-back is lifted only for a physician holding an unrestricted state license who is treating a patient inside a state-licensed health care facility that itself holds a current federal controlled-substance registration.

    Source: LAC 46:XLV.7513

    Across the border

  3. 03 · Licenses

    The permit comes with a local referral path

    Section 7507 lets a physician practice telemedicine here on an unrestricted state medical license or on a telemedicine permit issued by the board. Either way the physician must have access to the patient's medical records and, where medically necessary, be able to use diagnostic equipment, arrange testing, use a patient presenter, and refer the patient to a provider inside this state for follow-up care. The route in and the route out are regulated together.

    Source: LAC 46:XLV.7507

    Across the border

    • Texas

      A full state medical license is the only working route there, since the board's out-of-state telemedicine license is closed to new applicants.

      Source: 22 TAC 175.1

    • Arkansas

      The physician compact is enacted there but not yet issuing, so the expedited route the surrounding states use is unavailable to an applicant.

      Source: Arkansas State Medical Board

    • Mississippi

      Telemedicine there is reserved to holders of a valid state license, with laboratory and pathology readings the single exception the board allows.

      Source: 30 Miss. Code R. 2635-5.2

  4. 04 · Practice

    The license number goes to the patient

    Before telemedicine services begin, section 7507 requires the physician to give the patient, and document in the record, their name, license number and contact information, their specialty, how to receive follow-up and emergency care, how to obtain medical records, what happens if the technology fails, and how health information is handled. The set is documented once unless something in it changes.

    Source: LAC 46:XLV.7507

    Across the border

    • Texas

      Informed consent comes first there, and with the patient's agreement a report on the treatment and diagnosis reaches the primary care physician inside seventy-two hours.

      Source: Tex. Occ. Code 111.002

    • Arkansas

      Its medical board rule pushes information the other way, forwarding the encounter record to the patient's regular treating provider unless the patient declines.

      Source: Ark. State Medical Board Rule 38

    • Mississippi

      Its consent rule asks the provider to explain the risks and benefits and how to get help after an adverse reaction or an equipment failure.

      Source: 30 Miss. Code R. 2635-5.3

PRACTICE RULES

How telehealth works in Louisiana

Two texts govern. The Louisiana Telehealth Access Act sets the statutory floor for every health care profession, and chapter 75 of the board's rules sets the physician-specific detail. Where they pull in different directions, the board chapter is the one a licensee is disciplined under.

  1. 01

    Standards match an office visit

    Telemedicine is held to the same prevailing and usually accepted standards of medical practice that apply face to face. The rule adds that an online, electronic or written mail message does not satisfy those standards, which rules out treating a message thread as the encounter itself.

    Source: LAC 46:XLV.7505

  2. 02

    Location is not the test

    A physician using telemedicine may be at any location when the services are given, and a patient receiving them may be in any location. What decides the question is the relationship and the standard of care, not the geography of either party.

    Source: LAC 46:XLV.7505

  3. 03

    Records read as in-person records

    Records are created and kept to the same standards of care as an in-person visit and state plainly that the encounter happened by telemedicine. They reach a patient or a referral physician within a reasonable period, and the board may call for them at any time.

    Source: LAC 46:XLV.7509

  4. 04

    Consent names the roles and the exit

    The patient is told the nature of the relationship with the physician and the role of any other provider taking part, and is told they may decline to receive care this way and may withdraw from it at any point.

    Source: LAC 46:XLV.7511

  5. 05

    Remote supervision is closed

    A physician may not use telemedicine to supervise allied health professionals working in this state unless that physician holds a full and unrestricted license to practice medicine here, which narrows how a permit holder can be used inside a clinical team.

    Source: LAC 46:XLV.7513

FIRST VISIT

Can a first visit happen without a live call in Louisiana?

Yes, with conditions

Yes, with conditions. The telehealth act does not require an in-person history or physical examination before an encounter, but the provider must arrange a referral or follow-up care inside this state as necessary, and the board still expects a relationship built on an appropriate examination.

The permissive line sits in statute and the conditions sit in the board's rules. A brand designing a first visit here is really designing against three constraints: the examination, the in-state follow-up path, and the two closed conditions.

  1. 01

    No in-person examination is demanded

    The act states that a provider shall not be required to conduct an in-person patient history or physical examination before engaging in a telehealth encounter, and pairs that with the duty to provide a referral to a provider in this state or arrange follow-up care here as necessary.

    Source: La. R.S. 40:1223.4

  2. 02

    Audio alone comes after the records

    Interactive audio may be used without video where, after accessing and reviewing the patient's medical records, the provider determines that the same standard of care can be met. The records review is the precondition rather than an afterthought.

    Source: La. R.S. 40:1223.4

  3. 03

    A message thread is not a relationship

    Telemedicine may not be used with anyone in this state in the absence of a relationship, and the board has said in the same rule that correspondence by online, electronic or written mail falls short of appropriate care.

    Source: LAC 46:XLV.7505

  4. 04

    Two conditions never open this way

    Whatever the first-visit design, the board chapter keeps obesity treatment and non-cancer chronic or intractable pain outside telemedicine by reference to its own controlled-substance chapters, and the board may state a written exception specifying how far a physician may depart.

    Source: LAC 46:XLV.7513

PRESCRIBING

Prescriptions and controlled drugs in Louisiana

Controlled substances are where the statute and the board chapter reinforce each other. Both point at an in-person encounter, and the state adds its own prescriber license on top of the federal registration.

  1. 01

    A year of in-person history

    The board rule counts backwards from the prescription: at least one in-person visit with that patient inside the past year, unless the physician is fully licensed here and the patient is being treated inside a state-licensed facility holding a current federal registration.

    Source: LAC 46:XLV.7513

  2. 02

    The statute adds its own bar

    The telehealth act separately provides that a provider shall not prescribe a controlled dangerous substance before conducting an appropriate in-person patient history or physical examination unless regulations authorize otherwise, so the constraint does not rest on the board rule alone.

    Source: La. R.S. 40:1223.4

  3. 03

    A state license for scheduled drugs

    Anyone prescribing a controlled dangerous substance in this state holds a state controlled dangerous substance license, and applying for or renewing it enrolls the prescriber in the monitoring program automatically rather than as a separate step.

    Source: La. R.S. 40:973

  4. 04

    The weight and pain chapters govern

    Because section 7513 closes those two conditions by reference, the operative detail sits in sections 6901 to 6913 and 6915 to 6923 of the board's rules. A brand treating either condition reads those chapters first and treats the telemedicine chapter as the gate on top.

    Source: LAC 46:XLV.7513

  5. 05

    Federal conditions run to year end

    The federal telemedicine conditions for controlled substances run through December 31, 2026 and apply alongside the state rules. The in-person look-back is state law and does not lapse when the federal position changes.

    Source: Center for Connected Health Policy: Louisiana

Federal rules apply on top of every state's. Prescribing controlled substances by telehealth without an in-person visit runs on DEA flexibilities currently extended through December 31, 2026, with a permanent rule still pending.

LICENSES

Who can treat patients in Louisiana

A physician treating a patient located here holds a full state license or a telemedicine permit from the board. The permit is a real route to market, but it is bounded in ways a full license is not.

  1. 01

    A full license or a permit

    The rules define a physician as someone lawfully entitled to practice here on a current license or on a telemedicine permit, so the permit is a recognized credential rather than a waiver, and it carries its own application and annual renewal.

    Source: LAC 46:XLV.7503

  2. 02

    The permit keeps the physician outside

    A permit holder may not open an office in this state, may not meet patients here, and may not take their calls here. A brand planning any in-person touchpoint needs a fully licensed physician rather than a permit holder.

    Source: National Law Review on the telemedicine permit

  3. 03

    A local physician takes the referrals

    The permit application asks the applicant to affirm an arrangement with one or more physicians who keep a physical practice location in this state to accept patients for referral and follow-up care, which makes the in-state partner a launch prerequisite rather than a later fix.

    Source: National Law Review on the telemedicine permit

  4. 04

    The compact route is open

    The state issues physician licenses through the medical compact and takes part in the nursing, counseling, emergency medical services, occupational therapy, physical therapy, speech and social work compacts, which shortens the path for a multi-discipline team.

    Source: Center for Connected Health Policy: Louisiana

  5. 05

    Nurse practitioners collaborate for life

    An advanced practice nurse prescribes under a written collaborative practice agreement with a physician who is actively in clinical practice and unencumbered, and where that collaborator is unavailable in person, by telephone or by direct telecommunication, the nurse does not prescribe at all.

    Source: LAC 46:XLV.7911

How Tessic Health's providers are licensed in Louisiana

ADVERTISING

Marketing to patients in Louisiana

Marketing here answers to the medical practice act's discipline grounds, which reach private communication as well as public advertising, and to a new notice duty that lands on the recording of a visit rather than on its promotion.

  1. 01

    Solicitation must be true

    Solicitation of patients or self-promotion through advertising or communication, public or private, that is fraudulent, false, deceptive or misleading is a ground for suspending or revoking a license. The reach into private communication means a sales script sits inside the rule alongside a landing page.

    Source: La. R.S. 37:1285

  2. 02

    Certification claims carry conditions

    A physician may not hold themselves out as board certified unless the stated criteria are met, including naming the certifying board in full and the specialty it covers, so a shorthand credential badge is a licensing exposure rather than a design choice.

    Source: La. R.S. 37:1285

  3. 03

    Nothing of value for a referral

    Soliciting, accepting or receiving anything of economic value in return for referring a patient to another person, firm or corporation, or in return for prescribing a medication or device, is separately a ground for discipline. Per-patient marketing fees are the arrangement most likely to catch.

    Source: La. R.S. 37:1285

  4. 04

    Say it before the recording starts

    From August 1, 2026, a provider must give a spoken notice before a patient visit is recorded for automated transcription. The duty attaches to the act of recording rather than to the wider use of software in care, and it belongs in the visit script.

    Source: La. R.S. 37:22.1 (Act 649)

  5. 05

    Do not market what the chapter closes

    An offer that promises remote treatment for obesity or for long-running non-cancer pain describes something the board chapter addresses directly, so those claims should not run here until counsel has settled how far the prohibition reaches.

    Source: LAC 46:XLV.7513

TESSIC HEALTH IN LOUISIANA

How Tessic Health's providers cover Louisiana

The constraints here are a closed list of conditions, a look-back period and an in-state partner. Each line below answers a rule established above, and the first one is deliberately conservative while the obesity clause is unsettled.

  1. 01

    Closed conditions stay closed

    Until counsel settles how far the prohibition reaches, controlled weight-reduction treatment and non-cancer chronic or intractable pain treatment are not offered to patients in this state by telemedicine.

  2. 02

    Scheduled drugs wait for the year

    No controlled substance is authorized for a patient here unless the prescriber has an in-person visit with that patient inside the past year on file, or the patient is being treated inside a state-licensed facility that qualifies for the exception.

  3. 03

    A referral partner before the first visit

    Physicians working under a telemedicine permit are matched with a physician who keeps a physical practice location in this state to accept referrals and follow-up care, and that arrangement is in place before any patient here is booked.

  4. 04

    The disclosure set goes out every time

    A patient here receives the treating physician's name, license number, contact details and specialty, along with how to reach follow-up and emergency care, how to obtain records, what happens when the technology fails, and how their health information is handled.

  5. 05

    How medication reaches the patient

    Pharmacies authorized to ship into this state fill the orders, the medication carries 0% markup, and cold chain shipping covers any product that needs it.

COMMON QUESTIONS

Questions about telehealth in Louisiana

  • Yes. The telehealth act provides that a provider shall not be required to conduct an in-person patient history or physical examination before a telehealth encounter. The provider still has to arrange a referral to a provider in this state or in-state follow-up care as necessary.

  • It depends on the medication, and the answer is not fully settled. The board chapter forbids telemedicine for the treatment of obesity by reference to its own controlled-substance rules, so a controlled weight drug is clearly outside. How far that reaches a non-controlled product is a question for counsel.

  • An in-person visit with the same physician inside the past year, a legitimate medical purpose, conformity with the standard that would apply in person, and compliance with state and federal law. The look-back lifts only for a fully licensed physician treating a patient inside a qualifying licensed facility.

  • Yes, on a telemedicine permit from the board. The permit holder may not open an office here, meet patients here or take their calls here, and the application asks for an arrangement with a physician who keeps a physical practice location in this state to take referrals.

  • The physician's name, license number and contact information, their specialty, how to get follow-up and emergency care, how to obtain medical records, what happens if the technology fails, and how health information is handled. All of it is documented in the record.

  • No. The board chapter tells a physician not to use telemedicine for the treatment of non-cancer related chronic or intractable pain, pointing to its own pain rules for the detail. The board can state a written exception setting out how far a particular physician may depart.

SOURCES

Rules checked September 2026 · 23 sources cited. A planning summary, not legal advice. Statutes, board rules and enforcement priorities change; a brand's own counsel should review its model and marketing before launch.

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