Before deciding Finding care
Choose a way to be assessed, then check who is involved.
You can ask a clinic about a visit in person. You can also ask about telehealth: care by video, phone or online messages.
Pick the setting for an assessment.
An in-person visit gives you a conversation in a room. Telehealth moves the exchange to a screen, call or online message.
Ask what the assessment involves, whether you can ask your own questions and what happens if no treatment fits.
The state medical boards’ advice calls for the same care standard for phone, video and message visits as for visits in person.
Check authority where you will be during the visit.
As of September 2026, HHS guidance said a telehealth professional must be licensed or otherwise permitted to practice where the patient is located.
HHS is the short name used by the United States Department of Health and Human Services.
State rules differ, so an online form that fits one state may not meet another state’s requirements.
Ask about your location during the appointment, especially if you will be travelling.
Use the board’s record to check a doctor.
State medical boards publish licence information and public disciplinary records for doctors.
The board directory can take you to the relevant state board.
A doctor’s licence record shows permission to work plus any public action taken against that doctor by the board. It does not rate how good the care is.
Get the treating person’s full name and their licence number. Find out whether the person is a nurse, a doctor or another licensed prescriber, and which state board keeps their licence record.
Ask which pharmacy would fill a prescription.
A compounded medicine is made or changed to order for a patient.
FDA says people buying one online may not know which pharmacy made it.
Get the pharmacy’s name and look it up through the state pharmacy board; the FDA links to those searches.
If you cannot find the pharmacy in that state’s licence records, FDA advises against using it.
The record shows whether the pharmacy has a licence. It does not promise that every medicine it supplies is right for you.
Footnotes for this page
- A
The boards’ advice calls for a proper check of your health whether the visit is online or in person.
State medical boards · Advice on care by phone or video - B
HHS says whoever treats you must have permission to work in the state you are physically in during the appointment. State law sets the rules and exceptions.
HHS · Licences for care by phone or video - C
The directory includes boards for doctors with an MD degree and doctors with a DO degree, also called osteopathic doctors. Some states use separate boards for those two kinds of doctor. Check the board that holds your doctor’s licence.
State medical boards · Board directoryState medical boards · Information for consumers - D
Use the state licence search for the named pharmacy, rather than relying on the appearance of a website.
FDA · State pharmacy licence lookupsFDA · Questions about compounding
