Must someone be on site while a patient is treated in Tennessee?
Intake · part of The Practice Perimeter
Short answer
Yes for remote evaluations — a facilitator must be physically present with the patient to verify identity and location and to originate, collect and transmit images and clinical data to the remote physician. The cited rule addresses no other setting.
Where a remote evaluation is used the rules put a named person in the room: a FACILITATOR must be physically present with the patient and is responsible for verifying the patient’s identity and location and for the origination, collection and transmission of images or clinical data to the physician performing the evaluation remotely.
Tenn. Comp. R. & Regs. 0880-02-.16(1)(a) · verified Sep 2, 2026 · regulatory monitoring, not legal advice
Related Tennessee rules
Tennessee’s telemedicine rules disclaim any effect on the underlying duty: they are not meant to alter or amend the applicable standard of care in any particular field of medicine, nor to amend any requirement for the establishment of a physician-patient relationship. Remote delivery changes the channel, not the threshold.
Tenn. Comp. R. & Regs. 0880-02-.16 (scope) · verified Sep 2, 2026
It is a prima facie violation of T.C.A. § 63-6-214(b)(1), (4) and (12) for a physician to prescribe or dispense ANY DRUG to any individual — whether in person, by electronic means, over the Internet or over telephone lines — unless the physician, or a licensed supervisee acting under appropriate protocols or medical orders, has first done and appropriately documented all four of: an appropriate history and physical examination; a diagnosis based on those examinations and on diagnostic and laboratory tests consistent with good medical care; a formulated therapeutic plan discussed with the patient along with its basis and the risks and benefits of the options; and assured availability of the physician or coverage for appropriate follow-up care.
Tenn. Comp. R. & Regs. 0880-02-.14(7)(a) · verified Sep 2, 2026
How other states answer this
- Alabama
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- Georgia
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- Illinois
- Indiana
- Iowa
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- Mississippi
- Missouri
- Montana
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- New Mexico
- New York
- North Carolina
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- Texas
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- Washington
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← All Tennessee rules and changes · MedSpaRadar is regulatory monitoring and reference: it summarizes public laws, regulations and agency actions and links each to its source. It is not legal, medical, or compliance advice, and using it creates no attorney-client relationship. A summary can lag its source or leave out detail, and monitoring itself can be interrupted — so an absence of alerts means nothing reached you, not that nothing happened. Read the cited source, check its effective date, and confirm any change to your operations or clinical practice with qualified health-law counsel and your medical director. Legislative data via LegiScan (CC BY 4.0).