Moving to Florida With ADHD: How to Keep Your Care Going

If you're moving to Florida with ADHD, book your first visit with a Florida provider for soon after you arrive, before your current supply runs out. Bring your records, the exact medicine and dose you take, and your pharmacy's name. Stimulant prescriptions can't be refilled, and a new provider must assess you before prescribing, so plan ahead.

At Padgett Medical Center in Tampa, new patients pay $169 for the first ADHD visit when they book online and keep a card on file, 35% off the regular $260. Nothing is charged when you book, and there's no contract. Padgett is self-pay: it doesn't take insurance, but HSA and FSA cards are accepted, and a superbill is available on request; reimbursement depends on your plan. See adult ADHD care and pricing.

When should you start planning ADHD care before a move?

Start about six weeks out. Two things take time: getting your records, and lining up the end of your last prescription with your first visit in Florida.

Request records first. Under the HIPAA right of access, a provider has 30 days to act on your request and can take one extension of up to 30 more days with written notice. You can also ask, in a signed written request, for a copy to go straight to your new provider.

Then look at dates. A Schedule II stimulant prescription can't be refilled (here's why), so know when your last fill runs out and book your Florida visit before that day. Padgett has no waitlist: you book any open time online, and the calendar shows open times over the next two weeks, so book as soon as your arrival date falls inside that window.

What should you bring to your first Florida ADHD visit?

Bring a photo ID, your ADHD records and a list of every medicine you take, with names, strengths and how you take them. A printout of your pharmacy fill history helps too.

Useful records include the evaluation that led to your diagnosis, your last few visit notes, and the medicines you've tried, with what helped and what didn't. Records inform the visit; they don't decide it. A new provider assesses you before prescribing anything, and no diagnosis or prescription is promised in advance. What to expect at an adult ADHD evaluation walks through the visit.

Can your old prescriber keep treating you after you move?

Only in limited cases. Florida's telehealth law lets a provider who isn't licensed in Florida treat a patient located in Florida by telehealth only after registering with the Florida board for that profession.

Registered out-of-state providers can't open an office or see you in person here, and the Florida Department of Health publishes the list of registrants. Controlled medicines add more rules: the same law bars prescribing Schedule II drugs by telehealth except in a few cases, including treatment of a psychiatric disorder, and federal rules apply on top. If your old prescriber offers to keep prescribing, ask how they meet both. Setting up care with a Florida provider avoids those questions.

Can a Florida pharmacy fill a prescription from your old state?

Sometimes, and it's the pharmacist's call. Florida law counts an order from a prescriber licensed in another state as a prescription only if the Florida pharmacist decides, in professional judgment, that it is valid and necessary for a chronic or recurrent illness.

If your last prescription was sent electronically to a pharmacy back home and hasn't been filled, a one-time transfer to a Florida pharmacy may be possible. How prescription transfers work explains the rules. Either way, call the Florida pharmacy and ask before you count on it.

Why is the first ADHD visit at Padgett in person?

Every new ADHD patient at Padgett is evaluated face to face: a 30-minute visit with Morgan Colee, PA, at 6904 W. Linebaugh Ave in Tampa. That holds even if you plan to use telehealth for follow-ups.

It also settles a federal question at the start. Under the Ryan Haight Act, a practitioner generally may prescribe controlled substances remotely only after at least one in-person medical evaluation of that patient; after that visit, those remote-prescribing requirements no longer apply to that practitioner and patient. The DEA and HHS have temporarily relaxed the rule, most recently through December 31, 2026. An in-person first visit means your telehealth follow-ups don't depend on whether that extension is renewed.

Why do telehealth follow-ups need you in Florida with a Florida ID?

Because Florida's telehealth law treats a visit as taking place where the patient is at the time (or in the patient's county of residence), and Padgett's provider is licensed in Florida. So follow-ups are by telehealth only while you're physically in Florida.

The Florida driver's license or state ID, shown on camera, is Padgett's own requirement; it confirms who you are and that you live here. If you drive, you'll need the license soon anyway. The Florida Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles says new residents must get a Florida driver license within 30 days of establishing residency to drive on Florida roads.

FLHSMV says you may be considered a resident once you start work here, enroll children in public school, register to vote, file for a homestead exemption or live here more than six consecutive months. You apply in person at a local driver license office, and a Florida ID card is the option if you don't drive. Until you have one, plan on in-person follow-ups in Tampa.

How does E-FORCSE work for someone new to Florida?

E-FORCSE is Florida's prescription drug monitoring program, a state database of controlled substances dispensed in Florida. Florida law requires prescribers and pharmacies to check it before prescribing or dispensing a controlled substance for a patient age 16 or older, with narrow exceptions.

Pharmacies report each controlled-substance fill by the close of the next business day. The state may share data with other states' programs under agreements, but don't count on your out-of-state history showing up; your own records and pharmacy printout fill that gap. Padgett checks E-FORCSE before prescribing any controlled medication.

How do you avoid a gap in ADHD treatment when you move?

Line up the dates, not just the boxes. Know when your last fill runs out, book your first Florida visit before then, and keep your current prescriber informed until you're seen.

If the dates slip, call the prescriber who wrote your current prescription. Don't change how you take your medicine to stretch it without asking them, and never borrow someone else's. The first Florida visit is an evaluation, not a guaranteed prescription, so leave room in the schedule. After it, monthly follow-ups are 15 minutes and $136, required to stay on treatment, in person or by telehealth once you have your Florida ID.

The telehealth details are in ADHD telehealth in Florida, and more guides are on the ADHD hub. When your arrival date is inside the two-week booking window, book your first Tampa ADHD visit.

This article is educational and is not medical advice. Talk with a licensed provider about your own health, medications and treatment options.