Indiana Telehealth Laws: Providers, Prescribing, and Coverage

Indiana telehealth laws, set out primarily in Chapter 25-1-9.5 of the Indiana Code, hold remote care to the same clinical and licensing standards as in-person medicine, while adding specific rules for prescribing, insurance coverage, and out-of-state providers. The framework covers who may deliver care, how the provider-patient relationship must be established, what can and cannot be prescribed remotely, and how insurers must treat telehealth claims. A few common assumptions about the law, particularly around payment parity and controlled substance prescribing, are wrong in ways that matter.

Who Can Provide Telehealth in Indiana

Only practitioners holding an unrestricted Indiana license in a qualifying health profession may deliver telehealth services under Indiana law. The list is long and includes physicians, nurses, physician assistants, psychologists, dentists, pharmacists, physical and occupational therapists, social workers, mental health and addiction counselors, chiropractors, dietitians, and speech-language pathologists, among others.¹ Students in these fields may provide telehealth services under the supervision of a licensed practitioner. A restricted or temporary license generally does not qualify.

Out-of-State Providers

An out-of-state provider treating a patient physically located in Indiana is considered to be practicing in Indiana. Before doing so, that provider must certify in writing to the Indiana Professional Licensing Agency that they agree to be subject to Indiana courts and Indiana law for any claim arising from those services, and the certification must be renewed with each license renewal.² Providers whose practice is predominantly in Indiana are exempt from the certification requirement.

Indiana participates in several interstate licensure compacts that ease cross-border practice, including the Interstate Medical Licensure Compact (live in Indiana since July 2023), the Nurse Licensure Compact, PSYPACT for psychologists, and compacts for physical therapy, occupational therapy, professional counseling, and audiology and speech-language pathology.³ The compacts speed up licensure but do not exempt providers from Indiana’s telehealth rules.

What Counts as Telehealth

Indiana defines telehealth as delivering health care through interactive electronic communications that comply with HIPAA. The statute covers three delivery methods: secure videoconferencing, store-and-forward technology (where images or data are captured and sent to a provider for later review), and remote patient monitoring.⁴ Audio-only phone calls qualify for a limited set of Medicaid-covered services, but most telehealth care requires both audio and video.

Standard of Care and Provider-Patient Relationship

Indiana law is explicit: a practitioner providing services through telehealth must meet the same standards of appropriate practice that apply in person.⁵ There is no lower bar because the visit happens on a screen.

Before providing care, the provider must establish a proper relationship with the patient. That means obtaining the patient’s name, contact information, and location; verifying identity to the extent reasonably possible; disclosing the provider’s own name and licensure; obtaining informed consent; taking a medical history sufficient to reach a diagnosis; explaining the diagnosis, the supporting evidence, and treatment options (including when in-person care would be more appropriate); giving follow-up instructions; and providing a written summary of the visit and any prescriptions issued.⁵

Records and Confidentiality

Telehealth providers must maintain medical records under the same rules that apply to in-person visits. When a prescription is issued, the provider must notify the patient’s primary care provider (with the patient’s consent), unless the provider uses an EHR the primary care provider can already access or has treated the patient via telehealth at least two consecutive times.

All communication must comply with HIPAA, so providers need encrypted, secure platforms. One nuance for patients: Indiana law treats confidentiality as waived for any information overheard by a third party who is physically present with the patient during the visit. If someone else is in the room, the provider is not liable for what that person hears.

Prescribing Through Telehealth

Indiana permits prescribing via telehealth without a prior in-person exam, provided the prescriber meets the standard of care, stays within their scope of practice, and uses technology sufficient to make an informed diagnosis.⁶ Two categories are off-limits: opioids (except FDA-approved medications for opioid addiction treatment) and abortion-inducing drugs.

Controlled Substances Under Indiana Law

To prescribe controlled substances remotely, an Indiana practitioner must hold a valid controlled substance registration, comply with federal DEA rules, issue the prescription for a legitimate medical purpose in the usual course of practice, and conduct the visit using a real-time, two-way audiovisual system. The prescriber must also check INSPECT, Indiana’s prescription drug monitoring database.⁶ Audio-only visits do not meet the state requirement for controlled substance prescribing.

The Federal Overlay

Federal law adds a second layer. The Ryan Haight Act generally requires at least one in-person medical evaluation before a provider can prescribe controlled substances remotely, with an exception for telemedicine as the DEA defines it.⁷ That in-person requirement has been suspended for years. The DEA has extended COVID-era flexibilities through December 31, 2026, allowing DEA-registered practitioners to prescribe Schedule II through V controlled substances via audio-video telemedicine without a prior in-person visit, and to prescribe Schedule III through V narcotics for opioid use disorder treatment via audio-only encounters.⁸

These flexibilities are temporary. The DEA has proposed a permanent framework, including a special telemedicine registration, but as of early 2026 final rules have not taken effect.⁹ One important carve-out: the federal restrictions apply only when the provider has never seen the patient in person. Once a patient has had at least one in-person visit with a provider, that provider can continue to prescribe controlled substances via telemedicine indefinitely.¹⁰

Insurance Coverage

Indiana requires private health insurers to cover telehealth services under the same clinical criteria as in-person care. If a service would be covered in person, the insurer cannot deny it solely because it was delivered by telehealth, and cost-sharing (deductibles and coinsurance) cannot be higher for telehealth than for the equivalent in-person service. The rule applies to individual and group contracts, though dental-only and vision-only policies are excluded.

A common misconception is that Indiana requires insurers to pay providers the same rate for telehealth as for in-person care. It does not. Indiana mandates coverage parity, not payment parity. Insurers must cover the service and cannot charge patients more, but the reimbursement to the provider can be lower than the in-person rate for the same service.

Medicaid

Indiana Medicaid covers a wide range of telehealth services, including evaluation and management visits, psychiatric evaluations, psychotherapy, dialysis services, physical and occupational therapy evaluations, preventive counseling, and remote patient monitoring.¹¹ Dental telehealth is limited to problem-focused oral evaluations and tobacco counseling. Most covered services require both audio and video, though some qualify for audio-only delivery.¹² Intensive outpatient treatment, applied behavior analysis, and dental services cannot be delivered audio-only.

Medicare

Through December 31, 2027, Medicare beneficiaries may receive telehealth services from anywhere in the United States, including their homes. Services delivered to a patient at home are paid at the non-facility rate.¹³

What Telehealth Cannot Be Used For in Indiana

Some uses are prohibited regardless of consent or clinical judgment. Telehealth cannot be used to prescribe abortion-inducing drugs or to perform any aspect of an abortion. Opioid prescribing via telehealth is barred except for FDA-approved medications used to treat opioid addiction.⁶ An employer or contractor may not require a practitioner to use telehealth when the practitioner has determined it is clinically inappropriate for a particular patient.⁵ The law also does not require any provider to offer telehealth or any patient to accept it.

Patient Rights

Indiana’s general patient records law applies to telehealth encounters. On written request and reasonable notice, a provider must furnish a copy of the patient’s health records, either in full or limited to a specific condition.¹⁴ Records from a telehealth visit carry the same access rights as records from an in-person visit. Patients also have the right to a written summary after each telehealth visit and to informed consent before the visit begins, including an explanation of when in-person care might be a better option.

Enforcement

A practitioner who violates the telehealth chapter faces discipline through the Professional Licensing Agency under the same process that governs other license violations. An employer or contractor that violates the law commits a Class B infraction.¹⁵ Federal enforcement is a separate matter: the HHS Office of Inspector General has telehealth on its Work Plan for 2025 and 2026, and providers billing federal programs can face penalties, program exclusion, and other consequences for fraud or documentation failures.

1
Indiana Professional Licensing Agency. Information on Telehealth
2
Indiana General Assembly. Indiana Code 25-1-9.5-9 – Practitioner Physically Located Outside Indiana; Jurisdiction
3
Indiana Professional Licensing Agency. Interstate Medical Licensure Compact Implemented and Live in Indiana
4
Indiana General Assembly. Indiana Code 25-1-9.5-6 – Telehealth
5
Indiana General Assembly. Indiana Code 25-1-9.5-7 – Standards for Providing Telehealth; Maintenance of Medical Records; Waiver of Confidentiality; Prohibition on Requiring Employee to Use Telehealth
6
Indiana General Assembly. Indiana Code 25-1-9.5-8 – Issuance of Prescription; Controlled Substance Conditions
7
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 21 USC 829 – Prescriptions
8
Drug Enforcement Administration. DEA Extends Telemedicine Flexibilities to Ensure Continued Access to Care
9
Telehealth.HHS.gov. Prescribing Controlled Substances via Telehealth
10
Drug Enforcement Administration. DEA Announces Three New Telemedicine Rules that Continue to Open Access to Telehealth Treatment while Protecting Patients
11
Indiana Medicaid. Telehealth and Virtual Services Codes
12
Indiana Family and Social Services Administration. Telehealth and Virtual Services
13
Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services. Telehealth FAQ
14
Indiana General Assembly. Indiana Code 16-39-1-1 – Right of Access; Written Requests; Deadline for Complying With Written Requests
15
Indiana General Assembly. Indiana Code 25-1-9.5-10 – Discipline; Penalties