Online ADHD diagnosis in New Jersey: what is legitimate

Getting evaluated for ADHD by video is now ordinary. In a CDC survey of U.S. adults taken in October and November 2023, 46.0% of adults with a current ADHD diagnosis had received ADHD care by telehealth at some point, and 8.9% had been diagnosed by telehealth only. New Jersey law allows it. It also sets out what a clinician has to do for a remote evaluation to count, and since July 8, 2026 it has its own rules for adults who start a stimulant by telehealth. This page explains both, and the warning signs that an online service is not following them.

What New Jersey's telehealth law requires

The state's telemedicine and telehealth law is P.L.2017, c.117, codified at N.J.S.A. 45:1-61 and the sections that follow. The parts that matter for an ADHD evaluation are these.

• A New Jersey license. The clinician must be validly licensed, certified or registered under Title 45 of New Jersey's statutes and remains subject to the state's licensing boards and jurisdiction.
• A proper provider-patient relationship. Before or during the first encounter, the clinician must identify you (at minimum by name, date of birth, phone number and address), disclose and validate their own identity and credentials, such as license, title and specialty, review your medical history and any available records, and decide whether they can provide the same standard of care remotely as in person.
• The same standard of care. Diagnosis, treatment recommendations and prescriptions made by telehealth are held to the same standard as in-person care. If telehealth would not meet that standard, the clinician must direct you to in-person care.
• No prescribing from a questionnaire alone. The law says a provider shall not issue a prescription based solely on the responses to an online static questionnaire.
• Contact afterward. The clinician's identity, credentials and contact information must be available to you during and after the visit, and you must be able to reach the clinician or a covering clinician for at least 72 hours afterward.
• A complete record. The clinician must keep a full record of your care under the same confidentiality rules as any other visit.

The law also says licensing board rules may not require an initial in-person visit as a condition of telehealth in general. The in-person rules that do exist are specific to Schedule II prescribing, described below.

What a real remote evaluation looks like

The CDC states that there is no single test to diagnose ADHD. CHADD describes the parts of a thorough adult evaluation: a detailed diagnostic interview, information from independent sources such as a partner or family member, symptom checklists and rating scales, a medical examination to rule out other causes, and screening for co-existing conditions. All of these can be done or arranged remotely, but none of them is a five-minute quiz.

Expect a remote evaluation to feel like an in-person one. It should cover your current symptoms, your childhood and school history, work and relationships, sleep, substances, medical conditions and medications, and other explanations such as anxiety, depression or stress. It should end with a clear statement of what the clinician found and the options that fit. Preparation tips are in how to prepare for an adult ADHD evaluation.

Stimulants: New Jersey's rules since July 8, 2026

For an adult patient, P.L.2026, c.40 sets the following conditions on prescribing a Schedule II stimulant through telehealth.

Federal rules apply on top of state rules. The DEA's temporary telemedicine flexibilities for controlled substances run through December 31, 2026, and what replaces them in 2027 had not been published as of October 2026. The timeline and what may change are covered in telehealth ADHD prescriptions in New Jersey.

Where you sit during the visit matters

Licensure follows the patient's physical location at the time of the visit, not their home address. A clinician seeing you by video while you are in New Jersey needs a New Jersey license. If you live in New Jersey but take the visit from your workplace in Manhattan, New York's rules apply instead. The cross-river details are in New Jersey residents seeing a New York ADHD psychiatrist.

Clinicians ask where you are at the start of each video visit for this reason. Answer accurately, and tell the office ahead of time if your location will change.

Red flags in online ADHD services

The clearest recent example of what can go wrong is the federal case against Done Global. On July 7, 2026 the Justice Department announced prison sentences for the company's founder and its former clinical president, who were convicted in November 2025 of conspiracy to distribute controlled substances and conspiracy to commit health care fraud. According to the Justice Department, the company spent over $40 million on social media ads, distributed over 37 million Adderall pills, sold monthly subscriptions with automatically refilled prescriptions, and capped initial visits at half the length of a typical examination.

Warning signs to watch for:

• A diagnosis or prescription offered after an online questionnaire, with no real interview.
• A promise of a diagnosis or a stimulant before anyone has evaluated you.
• A clinician whose name and New Jersey license you cannot look up. The steps are in how to verify a doctor's license in New Jersey.
• No plan for the in-person visits New Jersey requires for stimulant patients, or stimulant visits held by phone only.
• Refills that arrive automatically, without a clinician checking in.
• No way to reach a clinician after the visit.

More detail is in red flags in online ADHD clinics.

Insurance and video visits

As enacted in 2017, New Jersey's telehealth law requires insurers offering health benefits plans in the state to cover services delivered by telehealth on the same basis as in-person services, and not to charge a higher deductible, copayment or coinsurance for them. Insurers may limit coverage to clinicians in their network. If your coverage comes through an employer, ask the plan directly how it pays for video psychiatric visits.

How this works with Dr. Shershow

Dr. Shershow is a psychiatrist licensed in New York and New Jersey who focuses on adult ADHD. Follow-up visits are held by secure video, and for any video visit you must be physically located in New York or New Jersey at the time. For patients located in New Jersey, the office will explain how visits are arranged, including the in-person visits the state requires when a stimulant is prescribed. Details are on the appointments and telehealth page and the online ADHD treatment in New Jersey page.