At-Home Ketamine Therapy Is Now Available in California

California residents can now start physician-led, at-home ketamine therapy with Discreet Ketamine. We are licensed to practice in California, and the full program, medical evaluation, prescription, and compounded medication delivered to your door, is open to eligible patients across the state.

This is the same model we have run in Florida and New Jersey, brought to California in full. If you have been reading about ketamine for depression, anxiety, PTSD, or chronic pain and wondering whether you could do it from home without traveling to an infusion clinic, the answer for Californians is now yes. I want to walk through exactly what that means, who qualifies, where we serve, and what it costs, so you can decide whether it is right for you.

What "licensed in California" actually means

It is worth being precise here, because telehealth has a lot of gray-area operators and California patients deserve to know the difference.

I am a physician licensed by the California medical board to evaluate and treat patients in the state. Prescribing a controlled medication like ketamine to a California resident requires more than a website that ships pills. It requires a clinician properly licensed in California, a compounding pharmacy authorized to dispense to California patients, and compliance with the state's prescription-monitoring rules. All of that is in place before we accept a single California patient. When you work with us, you are working with a real, licensed medical practice, not a marketplace.

That foundation is the reason we spent months preparing before opening the state rather than flipping a switch. It is also why I can offer California patients the same standard of care, the same follow-up, and the same clinical accountability that Florida and New Jersey patients already receive.

How at-home ketamine therapy works

The at-home ketamine model is straightforward, and California follows the identical path:

1. Eligibility screening. You complete a confidential online intake describing your symptoms, history, and current medications. This takes a few minutes and tells us quickly whether at-home treatment is a safe fit for you.
2. Physician evaluation. I review your intake and meet with you by video. This is a real medical visit, not a rubber stamp. Some people are excellent candidates. Some are safer with a different approach, and I will tell you honestly if that is the case.
3. Prescription and delivery. If you are approved, I prescribe compounded sublingual ketamine, which a licensed pharmacy ships directly to your home. There is no clinic visit and no infusion appointment to schedule around your life.
4. Guided sessions and follow-up. You dose at home following a clear protocol, with supervision guidance and check-ins. We track your response over time and adjust as needed.

The sublingual format, a tablet that dissolves under the tongue, is what makes at-home treatment possible. It is easier to dose predictably than older methods, and it lets you do the work in a familiar, private setting instead of a clinical one. For many patients that comfort is not a small detail. It is part of why the treatment lands.

What we treat

Ketamine is prescribed off-label for several conditions, and off-label prescribing by a licensed physician is legal and routine. The conditions I most commonly treat are:

• Depression, including treatment-resistant depression. This is the largest share of my patients. Ketamine works through a different mechanism than standard antidepressants, which is why it can help when SSRIs and SNRIs have not.
• Anxiety, including generalized anxiety that has not responded to first-line care.
• Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).
• Certain chronic pain conditions, where ketamine's action on pain signaling can offer relief.

What ketamine is not is a general-wellness product or a way to chase a recreational experience. It is a prescribed treatment for a diagnosed condition, and the evaluation exists to keep it that way.

Where in California we serve

Because the program is telehealth-based, we serve eligible residents across the entire state, from the major metros to smaller communities. That includes the greater Los Angeles area, the San Francisco Bay Area, San Diego, Orange County, the Inland Empire, Sacramento, the Central Valley, Silicon Valley, the Central Coast, and the North Bay.

If you want to see whether we cover your city specifically, the California page lists the regions and cities we serve, along with local detail. Delivery reaches homes statewide, so your location within California is rarely a barrier. What matters is your clinical eligibility, not your zip code.

What it costs, and how to pay

Most people are surprised, in a good way, by the economics of at-home care compared to clinic-based ketamine.

At-home compounded ketamine is a cash-pay treatment. Commercial insurance generally does not cover compounded ketamine or the associated telehealth visits, the same as in every state we serve. But cash-pay does not mean expensive relative to the alternatives. In-clinic ketamine infusions frequently run many hundreds to over a thousand dollars per session, and a course involves several sessions. Our monthly programs are a fraction of that, and there are no facility fees or travel costs stacked on top. I lay out the full comparison across major providers in the cost comparison guide.

There is also a real discount most patients miss: you can almost always pay with an HSA or FSA. When a physician prescribes ketamine for a diagnosed condition, it counts as a qualified medical expense, which means you can pay with pre-tax dollars and effectively save 20 to 35 percent off the sticker price. I explain exactly how that works, including the letter of medical necessity some administrators ask for, in the HSA and FSA guide.

Is at-home ketamine safe?

This is the right question to ask, and the honest answer is that safety comes from the structure around the medicine, not from the dose being tiny.

Every California patient goes through a real medical evaluation first. I screen for the conditions that make ketamine a poor fit, uncontrolled high blood pressure, certain cardiac and psychiatric histories, substance-use concerns, so that the people who dose at home are the people for whom it is genuinely safe. The prescribed amounts are modest and the cumulative exposure over a course of treatment stays well below anything associated with misuse. You dose on a defined protocol, with preparation guidance and a support person present, and we follow you over time rather than handing you a bottle and disappearing.

That combination, careful selection, a controlled and capped protocol, and ongoing physician follow-up, is what makes at-home treatment safe. It is a different thing entirely from unsupervised recreational use, and the difference is the medical practice wrapped around it.

Getting started

If you are a California resident and this sounds like it could help, the first step is the eligibility screening. It is confidential, it takes a few minutes, and it does not commit you to anything. From there I review your information and we decide together whether at-home ketamine is the right path for you.

California has waited a long time for a properly licensed at-home option, and I am genuinely glad to finally be able to offer it. If you have questions the screening does not answer, reach out. I would rather have a real conversation than have you guess.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is Discreet Ketamine really licensed to prescribe in California?

Yes. We are licensed to practice medicine in California, work with a pharmacy authorized to dispense to California patients, and comply with the state's controlled-substance and prescription-monitoring requirements. Prescribing to California residents legally requires all of that, and it was in place before we opened the state.

Do I have to travel to a clinic anywhere in California?

No. The entire program is telehealth-based. Your evaluation happens by video, and the prescribed medication is delivered to your home. There is no clinic visit and no infusion appointment.

What parts of California do you serve?

We serve eligible residents statewide, including Los Angeles, the San Francisco Bay Area, San Diego, Orange County, the Inland Empire, Sacramento, the Central Valley, Silicon Valley, the Central Coast, and the North Bay. The California page lists the regions and cities in detail.

Does insurance cover at-home ketamine therapy in California?

Commercial insurance generally does not cover compounded at-home ketamine, the same as in other states. However, most patients can pay with a pre-tax HSA or FSA, which effectively discounts the cost by 20 to 35 percent. The HSA and FSA guide explains how.

What conditions can be treated?

Ketamine is prescribed off-label for depression, including treatment-resistant depression, anxiety, PTSD, and certain chronic pain conditions. The medical evaluation determines whether it is an appropriate and safe treatment for your specific situation.

How do I know if I qualify?

Complete the confidential eligibility screening. It gives us the information to determine, along with a video evaluation, whether at-home ketamine therapy is a safe and appropriate fit for you.