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States' TeleMental Health Laws, Rules, and Regulations

This page provides behavioral health professionals resources for locating the laws, rules, and regulations for providing telemental health services in the United States of America.  If you are a counselor, social worker, marriage and family therapists, or psychologists wanting to know the regulations for providing mental health services from a distance in the state you are licensed or in another state, you should find this information very helpful.

Telehealth is a rapidly changing field.  We cannot guarantee the accuracy of any of the content shared on this site or any of the sites referenced.  This information is not intended to give any legal advice. When practicing telehealth it is important to contact your own attorney and the state licensing board of both your location and the location of the client!  

You can click on the names of the states below in order to view whether or not that state has specific regulations on telemental health services for your profession, laws regulating insurance reimbursement for telemental health, or provisions for out-of-state clinicians to practice in that state. 

Since licensed clinicians are regulated by laws beyond their license, we have also included resources on other pertinent laws in other informational tabs on this page.

On the following pages, you can locate the website and/or contact information of licensing boards in all 50 states and the District of Columbia.

On the licensing boards’ websites you can find:

  • the requirements for licensure
  • rules and regulations
  • the license law and definition
  • whether adhering to a specific code of ethics is required by the license
  • the requirements for renewing a license

Counseling Licensing Boards

Social Work Licensing Boards

Marriage and Family Licensing Boards

Psychology Licensing Boards

  1. Many states have their own healthcare privacy laws.  It is important to be aware of any healthcare privacy laws in any state you practice.  At the Health Information & the Law Project site you can find health privacy law for most states.  Health Information & the Law Project, is a project of the George Washington University's Hirsh Health Law and Policy Program and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.   It is also helpful to contact your licensing board and state department of mental health to inquire if there are specific privacy laws related to mental health information.

When there is a breach of protected health information it is important that clinicians are aware of the breach notification laws that they are regulated by. Breach notification laws inform the clinician of what they are required to do when there is a breach and whom they are required to notify. As a behavioral health professional in the United States you might be regulated by HIPAA law, 42 CFR part 2, licensure law, and or state breach notification laws. The Mintz Levin law firm provides a great resource for finding state breach notification laws 

When practicing in any state in the United States of America, it is important to know if that state has a duty to warn or duty to protect law.  Some states’ laws require disclosing when a client may become violent and some permit it. Some protect the clinician from liability when they disclose this information and some do not.  The National Conference of State Legislatures provides a great resource listing the duty to warn and duty to protect laws in the United States.

The Child Welfare Information Gateway provides information on states' laws regarding mandatory reporters of child abuse.

The United States Department of Justice provides a list of the mandatory reporting laws regarding elder abuse for each state.

On the following pages, you can find references to laws on the age of consent to treatment and laws relating to clients’ ages and the disclosure of records.

HIPAA FAQ

Minor Consent

NCBI Articles

DLA Piper is a global law firm and has published their Telehealth around the world: A global guide document that provides an overview of telehealth laws and regulations for countries around the world.

For each country they look at the following questions:

  • Is telehealth permitted
  • How is it regulated
  • What fields of healthcare are providing telehealth services
  • Does the public health system provide telehealth services and how are they covered or reimbursed
  • What privacy laws apply
  • How should the collection and transfer of patient information be conducted across countries' borders
  • What codes of conduct are related to the use of healthcare technology
  • Are there any other laws or regulations expected in the future

The document covers the following countries:

  • Argentina
  • Asia Pacific
  • Australia
  • Austria
  • Bahrain
  • Belgium
  • Brazil
  • Canada
  • Chile
  • China
  • Colombia
  • Croatia
  • Czech Republic
  • Denmark
  • Europe
  • Finland
  • France
  • Germany
  • Greece
  • Hong Kong
  • Hungary
  • Indonesia
  • Ireland
  • Italy
  • Japan
  • Kuwait
  • Luxemburg
  • Mexico
  • Middle East
  • New Zealand
  • North America
  • Norway
  • Poland
  • Portugal
  • Qatar
  • Romania
  • Russia
  • Saudi Arabia
  • Singapore
  • Slovakia
  • Slovenia
  • South America
  • Spain
  • Sweden
  • Thailand
  • The Netherlands
  • UK
  • Ukraine
  • United Arab Emirates
  • United States

Note: As this is a free resource and Rules and Regulations regarding Telehealth are always changing, we appreciate any updates or corrections. They can be emailed to us with a link to the source or a citation of the rule or regulation.