New York Telehealth Compliance for Cash-Pay Clinics: Licensure, I-STOP, Testosterone's State Schedule and Corporate Practice

Licensure

New York's education law allows only licensed persons to practice medicine, and the exemptions in the statute do not mention telehealth. The public health law's telehealth provisions define the physician as licensed under the education law. There is no telehealth-specific license, and a secondary source reports New York is not in a licensure compact. A bill on reciprocal telehealth follow-up has been in committee since January 2026.

Definitions and the Evaluation

The public health law defines telemedicine as synchronous two-way audiovisual communication and store-and-forward as asynchronous images or video, and the definition also covers audio-only. We found no telehealth-specific patient-relationship, exam or questionnaire rule, so the ordinary standard of care and the unprofessional-conduct rules do the work. A documented clinician evaluation is the safe approach.

Consent

We found no general statutory telehealth consent requirement. The state Medicaid program requires documented consent in the chart before or during the first visit and the Office of Mental Health requires informed consent, but those do not govern a cash-pay clinic. Document informed consent regardless.

Prescribing

• I-STOP: prescribers must check the prescription monitoring program before prescribing Schedule II, III or IV drugs.
• Electronic prescribing: mandatory, with exceptions.
• Testosterone: New York lists testosterone in state Schedule II, unlike federal Schedule III. We could not confirm how that classification affects refills and quantity limits, so confirm the rules for your program.
• Ketamine: Schedule III.

NPs and PAs

Nurse practitioners need a collaborative agreement, except those with more than 3,600 hours under a version effective until July 1, 2030, after which the exemption is replaced by attested collaborative relationships.

Corporate Practice

Unlicensed practice, and aiding it, is a crime under the education law, and professional misconduct provisions cover aiding unlicensed practice, referral fees and fee-sharing. Business corporation law limits professional corporation shares to licensed practitioners. We found no telehealth-specific or management-company-specific authority or attorney general action. Our earlier New York guide covers the structure rules in more detail.

Disclaimer

This article is general educational information, not legal advice. Telehealth rules change often and differ by state, and parts of this summary rest on secondary sources, so confirm specifics with health care regulatory counsel in the state before you rely on them.