Yes, TennCare does cover telehealth. Tennessee’s Medicaid program pays for both live video visits and audio-only telephone visits with most medical and behavioral health providers, and members can take those visits from home. A handful of service types are excluded, audio-only visits come with extra conditions, and prescribing rules add some limits on top. The details below explain what is covered, where you can be, and what to expect when a prescription is involved.
What Kinds of Telehealth Visits Are Covered
TennCare reimburses two formats: real-time video (audio and video together) and audio-only telephone visits. Store-and-forward services, where images or records are sent for a provider to review later, are not covered. Remote patient monitoring is not reimbursed either. Asynchronous options such as online patient-portal assessments, e-visits, and virtual check-ins are no longer covered.1Center for Connected Health Policy. Tennessee Telehealth Policy2BlueCross BlueShield of Tennessee. BlueCare Tennessee Telehealth Guide
Audio-only visits carry conditions. Tennessee law allows them for any healthcare or behavioral health service, but only when real-time video is not an option. The provider has to confirm and document that you don’t have the necessary video technology, that video service isn’t available where you are, or that a physical disability prevents you from using video.3Tennessee General Assembly. Public Chapter 807 Providers are also paid 15% less for an audio-only visit than for the equivalent video visit, which can affect what’s offered.4Optum/UnitedHealthcare. Medicaid Telehealth Reimbursement Policy
What Services You Can Get Through Telehealth
The range of covered telehealth services is broad. On the medical side, it includes office and outpatient visits for new and established patients, diabetes education, and various evaluation and management services. On the behavioral health side, coverage extends to psychiatric evaluations, individual psychotherapy at multiple time increments, crisis psychotherapy, family and group therapy, outpatient counseling, intensive outpatient programs, partial hospitalization programs, peer services, psychosocial rehabilitation, and opioid use disorder treatment.4Optum/UnitedHealthcare. Medicaid Telehealth Reimbursement Policy5Amerigroup. Telephonic and Telehealth Program Description for Behavioral Health
Preventive and chronic-care touchpoints can also happen by telehealth. BlueCare Tennessee’s provider guide notes that telehealth visits count for prenatal and postpartum visits, blood pressure checks for members with hypertension and diabetes, weight assessment and counseling, ADHD medication follow-ups for children, and behavioral health follow-ups after a hospital stay or emergency room visit.2BlueCross BlueShield of Tennessee. BlueCare Tennessee Telehealth Guide
TennCare dental coverage, administered by Renaissance, includes teledentistry through TeleDentistry.com as a problem-focused exam. It is intended for dental emergencies, after-hours access, or situations where a member is traveling and doesn’t have a regular dentist.6Renaissance/TennCare. TennCare Dental Member Information
Two things sit outside the telehealth framework: pain management clinics and chronic nonmalignant pain treatment. Those services are excluded from telehealth coverage entirely, which is tied to a separate state rule discussed under prescribing below.4Optum/UnitedHealthcare. Medicaid Telehealth Reimbursement Policy
Can You Do a TennCare Telehealth Visit from Home?
Yes. TennCare members can take telehealth visits from home. That is a change from the pre-pandemic rules, which generally required patients to go to a “qualified site” such as a provider’s office, hospital, or federally qualified health center. A June 2022 memo from the Division of TennCare directed the managed care organizations to keep reimbursing telehealth from the home on a permanent basis after the state public health emergency ended.7Division of TennCare. Memo to TennCare Providers Regarding Telehealth
Tennessee law also bars insurers and MCOs from treating coverage or reimbursement differently based on where the patient lives. A TennCare member in a rural county is entitled to the same telehealth coverage as one in a city.8Justia. Tennessee Code Section 56-7-1002
Getting a Prescription Through a Telehealth Visit
Tennessee providers can prescribe medication during a telehealth visit, but they have to do the usual clinical work first: an appropriate history and physical assessment, a diagnosis, and a conversation about the treatment plan including risks and benefits. Prescribing a drug to someone the provider has never actually assessed, based only on a questionnaire, is treated as an ethical violation.9FindLaw. Tennessee Code Section 56-7-1002
Controlled Substances
A temporary federal rule lets DEA-registered practitioners prescribe Schedule II through V controlled substances by telehealth without a prior in-person exam. The current extension runs through December 31, 2026, while the DEA and HHS work on a permanent “Special Registration for Telemedicine.” If no permanent rule is in place when the extension expires, prescribing would revert to the pre-pandemic requirement of an in-person visit first.10DEA. DEA Extends Telemedicine Flexibilities to Ensure Continued Access to Care11HHS. DEA Telemedicine Extension 2026
Buprenorphine for Opioid Use Disorder
Buprenorphine prescribing by telehealth has extra Tennessee rules. A prescriber can only issue it through a telehealth visit if they are employed by or contracted with a licensed office-based opioid treatment facility, a community mental health center, a federally qualified health center, a hospital, or TennCare’s enhanced buprenorphine network called BE-SMART. Nurse practitioners and physician assistants face tighter limits: they can prescribe buprenorphine only at OBOTs, FQHCs, or community mental health centers, with caps on daily dosage and patient volume. The 2023 federal removal of the DATA waiver requirement did not change these Tennessee-specific restrictions.12Tennessee DMHSAS. Public Guidance on DATA Waiver Removal13Tennessee Department of Health. Tennessee Nonresidential Buprenorphine Treatment Guidelines
Pain Treatment
Any prescription for a dangerous drug or controlled substance for pain treatment requires an in-person physical exam by the prescribing physician. That is why pain management clinics and chronic nonmalignant pain treatment sit outside the telehealth framework.
How to Use Telehealth as a TennCare Member
TennCare does not deliver care directly. It contracts with three managed care organizations: BlueCare Tennessee (operated by BlueCross BlueShield of Tennessee), WellPoint (formerly Amerigroup), and UnitedHealthcare Community Plan. Many in-network providers now offer video or phone appointments as a routine option.14WellPoint. TennCare Telehealth Services
Members also have access to virtual non-emergency medical platforms such as Teladoc and MDLive, available around the clock by phone, computer, or tablet.15The Raleigh Group. TennCare Information For the actual visit, the technology can be a standard consumer tool. Apple FaceTime, Zoom, Skype, and Google Meet are among the permitted platforms, along with office-based systems.2BlueCross BlueShield of Tennessee. BlueCare Tennessee Telehealth Guide
For general TennCare questions or help with enrollment, call 855-259-0701 or use the TennCare Connect website.
Consent and the Right to an In-Person Visit
Before a telehealth visit starts, the provider has to go over privacy practices with you, including the standards that protect against unauthorized third-party monitoring, and document that review in your record. The provider also has to explain how the telehealth visit will work and tell you that you have the right to ask for an in-person, face-to-face assessment instead. If you decline the telehealth encounter, your care cannot be withheld, and you can end a telehealth session at any time.1Center for Connected Health Policy. Tennessee Telehealth Policy