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119-hr-6994119th CongressWALLET

Mental Health TALK SAFE Act of 2026

Sponsored By: Representative Dunn, Neal P. [R-FL-2]

Introduced

Summary

Expands telehealth prescribing for approved mental-health controlled substances. This bill would create a federal framework that treats telehealth evaluations as valid for prescribing specified Schedule II non‑narcotics and Schedule III–V mental health medications and would enable cross‑state psychiatry practice under defined conditions.

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  • Patients and families would gain clearer access to psychiatric medication and remote psychiatry when delivered by qualified telehealth practitioners, reducing the need to travel for some prescriptions.
  • Psychiatrists and telehealth clinicians would be able to provide covered psychiatry services across state lines if the secondary state’s licensure is substantially similar and they carry professional liability insurance equivalent to the primary state.
  • Telehealth entities would face strict governance and operating rules. The bill sets staffing and ownership tests, requires chief compliance and clinical officers, ongoing accreditation with the Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education, monitoring, limits on patient charges, and a pharmacist validation process with civil penalties up to $25,000 per violation.

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Bill Overview

Analyzed Economic Effects

4 provisions identified: 1 benefits, 0 costs, 3 mixed.

Federal override of conflicting State rules

If enacted, this bill would state that its rules override any State law that would prohibit or limit activities the bill allows. Where a State rule conflicts, the federal law in this bill would control.

Easier cross-state psychiatry practice and registrations

If enacted, the bill would let DEA registrants avoid extra State registrations when they prescribe or dispense via telemedicine or after a telehealth evaluation. It would allow telehealth practitioners who only dispense by telemedicine to use their telehealth employer's address as their business address. A psychiatrist with medical liability insurance would be treated as licensure-compliant in another State if that State's rules are substantially similar to the home State, but practice would remain limited to the scope of the home license. The bill would also let a telemedicine or telehealth visit within the past 90 days count toward the 90-day covering-practitioner rule.

Telehealth prescribing and pharmacist limits

If enacted, the bill would let telehealth practitioners who have done at least one telehealth evaluation prescribe certain FDA-approved mental-health controlled substances (schedule II non-narcotics, III, IV, or V) and allow some opioid-use-disorder medicines after one telehealth evaluation. A pharmacist could not refuse a valid prescription only because it came from telehealth. Before refusing for validity concerns, a pharmacist would have to try to contact the patient and the prescriber. Violations of the pharmacist-refusal rule could bring civil penalties up to $25,000 per violation.

New rules for telehealth companies and providers

If enacted, this bill would set strict operational and staffing rules for most telehealth companies. Companies would need full-time compliance and medical officers and active ACCME accreditation. At least 25% of patient-care time would have to be for mental health and specified shares of providers must work 30 hours per week. The bill would cap pay tied to visit volume at 75%, limit advanced practice nurses to two-thirds of practitioners, ban ownership ties to mail-order-only pharmacies, bar recurring medication subscription payments, and limit fully out-of-pocket patient charges to no more than 50% in any 12-month period.

Sponsors & CoSponsors

Sponsor

Dunn, Neal P. [R-FL-2]

FL • R

Cosponsors

  • Rep. Gottheimer, Josh [D-NJ-5]

    NJ • D

    Sponsored 9/28/2026

  • Rep. Bacon, Don [R-NE-2]

    NE • R

    Sponsored 1/12/2026

  • Rep. Stevens, Haley M. [D-MI-11]

    MI • D

    Sponsored 9/16/2026

Roll Call Votes

No roll call votes available for this bill.

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