Tennessee legislation · 114th General Assembly
Tennessee HB1205: AN ACT to amend Tennessee Code Annotated, Title 33; Title 39; Title 53; Title 63 and Title 68, relative to healthcare services.
Status: Chaptered, May 15, 2026
Fiscal Summary NOT SIGNIFICANT Bill Summary This bill prohibits a physician or podiatrist from prescribing, dispensing, or administering medication for, or otherwise treating, the physician's or podiatrist's own self or immediate family, except in minor, self-limited, short-term, or urgent, emergency situations. However, a physician may prescribe, dispense, or administer medication for, or otherwise treat, immediate family within the physician's regular scope of practice if there is no other physician offering healthcare services at a location within 30 miles of the physician's primary practice site. This bill also prohibits a physician or podiatrist from prescribing, dispensing, or administering a scheduled drug to the physician's or podiatrist's own self or for immediate family. This bill requires a physician or podiatrist to maintain records of all treatment provided pursuant to this bill. ON APRIL 15, 2025, THE HOUSE ADOPTED AMENDMENT #1 AND PASSED HOUSE BILL 1205, AS AMENDED. AMENDMENT #1 rewrites the bill to, instead, make the following revisions to present law: Authorizes a physician or podiatrist to prescribe, dispense, or administer medication for, or otherwise treat, the physician's or podiatrist's own self or immediate family in short-term, minor, or acute, emergency situations. Authorizes a physician or podiatrist to prescribe, dispense, or administer a scheduled drug to the physician's or podiatrist's own self or immediate family only in acute, emergency situations. Authorizes a physician or podiatrist to prescribe, dispense, or administer medication for, or otherwise treat, immediate family within the physician's or podiatrist's regular scope of practice if there is no other physician or podiatrist offering healthcare services at a location within 30 miles of the physician's or podia
What the bill says
From the amended text:
Amendment No. 2 to SB1153 Crowe Signature of Sponsor AMEND S e n ate Bill No. 1153* House Bill No. 1205 by deleting all language after the caption and substituting: WHEREAS, the prescription of medication or treatment by a licensed physician to the physician's own self or to immediate family is not prohibited by law; and WHEREAS, the American Medical Association and the Tennessee Medical Association have provided ethical guidelines under which a physician may prescribe medications or treat self or members of immediate family; now, therefore, SECTION 1. Tennessee Code Annotated, Title 63, Chapter 1, Part 1, is amended by adding the following as a new section: (a) As used in this section: (1) ''Immediate family'' means a physician's or podiatrist's spouse, parent, child, sibling, or another individual in relation to whom a physician's or podiatrist's personal or emotional involvement may render that physician or podiatrist unable to exercise detached professional judgment in reaching diagnostic or therapeutic decisions; (2) ''Physician'' means a physician licensed under chapter 6 or 9 of this title; (3) ''Podiatrist'' has the same meaning as defined in § 63-3-101; (4) ''Scheduled drug'' means a drug, substance, or immediate precursor in Schedules I through V of the federal Controlled Substances Act (21 U.S.C. § 812); and SA0439 (5) "Supervisee" means an individual providing healthcare services under …