Can the pre-treatment exam be done by telehealth in Pennsylvania?
Intake · part of The Practice Perimeter
PENNSYLVANIA ANSWERS IT IN ONE SENTENCE AND SETS NO LOWER BAR FOR THE REMOTE VISIT. “A health care provider providing health care services through telemedicine shall be subject to the same standard of care that would apply to the health care services in an in-person setting.” Telemedicine is defined as delivering care to a “patient by a health care provider who is at a different location, through synchronous interactions, asynchronous interactions or remote patient monitoring”, and a synchronous interaction is “A two-way or multiple-way exchange of information between a patient and a health care provider that occurs in real time via audio or video conferencing.” The Act carries no separate examination rule for cosmetic medicine — what governs the remote encounter is whatever would govern it in the room.
2024 Pa. Act 42, §§ 4702, 4705 (Telemedicine — definitions; standard of care) · verified Sep 8, 2026 · regulatory monitoring, not legal advice
The rest of what Pennsylvania says on this
Every other rule we have verified under good-faith examination, each linked to its primary source.
A medical service may not be delegated where it is sufficiently complicated, difficult or dangerous that it requires knowledge and skill possessed by medical doctors but not commonly held by non-physicians, or where potential adverse reactions may not be readily apparent to someone without medical doctor training.
49 Pa. Code §18.402(b) · verified Aug 17, 2026 · read at Cornell Legal Information Institute
A physician may not delegate a procedure they are not themselves trained, qualified and competent to perform. The ceiling on what can be handed to staff is the delegating physician’s own competence, not the staff member’s.
49 Pa. Code §18.402 · verified Aug 17, 2026 · read at Cornell Legal Information Institute
The physician must determine that no undue risk exists for the specific patient before the delegated service is performed — a patient-by-patient judgment, not a standing clearance for a class of procedure.
49 Pa. Code §18.402(a) · verified Aug 17, 2026 · read at Cornell Legal Information Institute
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← All Pennsylvania rules and changes · MedSpaRadar is regulatory monitoring and reference, not legal, medical, or compliance advice. Verify against the linked primary source and consult qualified counsel before acting — rules change and turn on your specific facts. Legislative data via LegiScan (CC BY 4.0).