New Mexico Telemedicine Laws: Licensure, Prescribing, Parity

New Mexico still licenses physicians specifically for telemedicine. A physician outside the state who treats a New Mexico patient needs either a full New Mexico license or the telemedicine license in NMSA § 61-6-11.1, unless a narrow statutory exception applies, and practicing across state lines without either is a fourth-degree felony. The state enacted the Interstate Medical Licensure Compact in 2026 but has not yet put it into operation. Commercial insurers owe both coverage parity and payment parity, while Medicaid treats telephone-only care as a limited, separate category.

Licensure: a dedicated telemedicine license

The Medical Practice Act defines "the practice of medicine across state lines" to include both a documented medical opinion and treatment rendered to "a patient within this state by a physician located outside this state" after patient data is transmitted "by electronic, telephonic or other means" (§ 61-6-6(K)). The location of the patient decides the question.

Section 61-6-11.1 directs the New Mexico Medical Board to issue a telemedicine license "to allow the practice of medicine across state lines" to an applicant who holds a full and unrestricted license in another state or territory. The statute bars requirements more restrictive than those for expedited licensure, and the license runs for no more than three years, renewable. The board's rule, 16.10.2.11 NMAC, adds good moral character, the expedited-license documentation, verification of every license held, and possible board review for applicants with prior discipline. Section 61-6-20(B) makes practicing across state lines without complying with the Act and without a telemedicine license a fourth-degree felony. The license is a physician credential; other professions answer to their own boards. For example, the audiology and speech-language pathology rule, 16.26.2.20(B) NMAC, requires practitioners living outside New Mexico who serve New Mexico residents to be licensed by that board.

Section 61-6-17 lists exceptions, and three apply directly to telehealth. Subsection K exempts a physician licensed in another state "who acts as a consultant to a New Mexico-licensed physician on an irregular or infrequent basis, as defined by rule"; 16.10.2.11(E) NMAC sets that at no more than ten patients per year. Subsection L exempts "the informal practice of medicine across state lines without compensation or expectation of compensation," and adds that practice under a contractual relationship "shall not be considered informal." Subsection J covers an out-of-state treating physician who orders home health or hospice services for a New Mexico resident, provided a change in condition is physically reevaluated by that physician or a New Mexico-licensed physician.

The 2026 session tried to change this. HB 127 would have repealed § 61-6-11.1 and required an out-of-state telehealth registry; it passed the House but died in the Senate. SB 1 (Laws 2026, ch. 3) enacted the Interstate Medical Licensure Compact. It is pending: enacted, but not yet live. New Mexico has issued multistate nursing licenses under the Nurse Licensure Compact since January 19, 2018, and is not a member of PSYPACT, the Physical Therapy Compact or the Counseling Compact. See our cross-state licensing tracker.

Prescribing: a video exception inside the ethics rule

The Medical Board's rule on unprofessional conduct, 16.10.8.8(L) NMAC, covers "prescribing, dispensing or administering drugs or medical supplies to a patient when there is no established physician-patient relationship, including prescribing over the internet or via other electronic means that is based solely on an on-line questionnaire." It lists six exceptions: on-call, cross-coverage and locum tenens practitioners where a relationship is already documented; emergency room or urgent care settings; prescriptions to prepare for an exam or lab test; immunization programs; expedited partner therapy under Department of Health guidelines; and a telehealth encounter.

The telehealth exception is conditional. It covers "a face-to-face telehealth encounter online, using standard videoconferencing technology, where a medical history and informed consent are obtained and a medical record generated by the practitioner." The physical examination must be recorded by the practitioner or another practitioner such as a physician, physician or anesthesiologist assistant, or advanced practice nurse, with results sent to the telehealth practitioner, or waived when an exam "would not normally be part of a typical physical face-to-face encounter" for the service. The rule names videoconferencing and does not extend the exception to audio-only encounters.

At least three other state rules reach telehealth prescribing, including:

1. PMP review (Medical Board licensees). Under 16.10.14.8 NMAC, before first prescribing a Schedule II–V controlled substance for more than four days, or after a gap of 30 days or more, the practitioner must review 12 months of prescription monitoring data, review adjacent states' reports when available, and document it; review repeats at least every three months during continuous use. Exceptions include supplies of four days or less, nursing-facility and hospice patients, and listed drugs.
2. Opioid overdose counseling and co-prescribing (health care providers generally). NMSA § 24-2D-7 requires advising a patient on overdose risk and the availability of an opioid antagonist at the first opioid prescription and the first each calendar year, and co-prescribing an antagonist when the opioid prescription is at least a five-day supply.
3. Electronic prescribing. Board of Pharmacy rule 16.19.20.42(B) NMAC has required controlled-substance prescriptions to be transmitted electronically since April 1, 2021, with ten listed exceptions.

Federal law adds a separate layer for controlled substances. Under the temporary rule DEA and HHS published December 31, 2025 (90 FR 61301), which runs through December 31, 2026, a DEA-registered practitioner may prescribe Schedule II–V controlled substances after a real-time audio-video telemedicine encounter without a prior in-person evaluation, when the rule's other conditions are met; audio-only encounters qualify only for Schedule III–V narcotic medications approved by the FDA to treat opioid use disorder. See our guide to federal telehealth laws.

Consent: found in board rules

The New Mexico Telehealth Act, NMSA §§ 24-25-1 to 24-25-5, contains no patient-consent requirement. Section 24-25-4 requires providers to follow federal and state rules on security, confidentiality and privacy, and a 2025 amendment (SB 252, Laws 2025, ch. 75) broadened the list of covered providers and required telehealth to be delivered under the same level of supervision as in-person practice.

Consent appears in profession-specific rules. For Medical Board licensees, informed consent is part of the definition of an established physician-patient relationship in 16.10.8.7 NMAC and a condition of the telehealth prescribing exception. Audiologists, speech-language pathologists and hearing aid dispensers must give notice of "the right to refuse telehealth services," service options and complaint procedures (16.26.2.20(G) NMAC). Neither rule prescribes a written form, so document consent in the record. For how state rules fit together generally, see how state telemedicine laws work.

Medicaid: video at parity, telephone limited

Rule 8.310.2.12(M) NMAC requires a telemedicine visit to use a system that includes "both interactive audio and video" delivered in real time. Coverage is determined consistently with in-person coverage, and professional services at both sites are paid "at the same rate" as in-person services, with an originating-site fee when another eligible provider accompanies the patient. The patient's home qualifies as an originating site when real-time audio-video is used. When the patient is in New Mexico and the provider is outside it, the provider must be licensed for telemedicine as New Mexico law requires, or meet federal requirements for IHS or tribal facilities. Store-and-forward is covered when a consulting provider reviews transmitted images, sounds or video and reports back to the referring physician.

Telephone care sits in a separate paragraph: the program "will reimburse eligible providers for limited professional services delivered by telephone without video," with no originating-site fee. The Health Care Authority's telemedicine fact sheet (revised February 13, 2025) states that after March 31, 2025 New Mexico follows Medicare audio-only permissions, "primarily for behavioral health services." Confirm the current code list with the Health Care Authority or the Turquoise Care plan.

Private insurance: coverage and payment parity

SB 354 (Laws 2019, ch. 255), effective June 14, 2019, rewrote the telemedicine sections of the Health Care Purchasing Act, the Insurance Code, the HMO law and the nonprofit health care plan law. Section 59A-22-49.3, the individual and group policy provision, requires coverage "to the same extent" as in-person services and bars "any unique condition for coverage." Subsection I supplies payment parity: an insurer "shall reimburse for health care services delivered via telemedicine on the same basis and at least the same rate" as comparable in-person services.

The other subsections carry the qualifiers. Insurers may not impose originating-site restrictions or distinguish rural from urban patients, though the section does not require coverage of an otherwise noncovered benefit. They may not limit telemedicine to network providers "where no in-network provider is available and accessible" under the superintendent's network adequacy standards. Deductibles, copayments and coinsurance may not exceed the in-person amounts. Supplemental and limited-benefit policies are excluded. The statutory definition of telemedicine names "interactive simultaneous audio and video," store-and-forward, and remote patient monitoring, and does not separately address audio-only calls. The section carries no sunset. Our reimbursement guide covers contracting.

What to watch

The Medical Board has proposed 16.10.33 NMAC to implement the compact, with a public rule hearing noticed for November 6, 2026; until the rule is final and the board begins processing applications, § 61-6-11.1 remains the telemedicine route. HB 306 (Laws 2026, ch. 43), the Fair Pricing for Routine Medical Care Act, bars hospitals and health systems, beginning January 1, 2027, from charging, billing or collecting a facility fee directly from a patient for telehealth services. The ban does not apply to a hospital or hospital clinic in a rural area, and it does not stop collection from a patient's insurer under an agreement or as required by law, but no hospital or health system, rural or not, may charge a facility fee directly to an uninsured patient. Watch too whether the 2027 session revives the telehealth registry proposal from HB 127.