Help desk · The visit sheet
A visit sheet with room for the answers.
Take your main care question to a clinic in person or a licensed service online.
Telehealth is care through video, phone or an online exchange rather than sitting in the same room.
Ask how the visit works, who makes the decision, and how to reach that person afterward.
Write down who will help.Get the doctor’s name, the pharmacy’s name and a way to ask more questions.
Who would be looking after me?
How do I check a doctor?
The doctor needs permission to practise where the patient is sitting. That is what the online-visit guidance checked September 26, 2026 says.
A doctor’s state medical board issues the licence and publishes records of penalties it has imposed. Use its record to check the licence.
Find the board behind the licence
Look for the doctor’s own name and a current licence. A record free of listed penalties is not a measure of skill or care.
State medical board directoryFederal information about telehealth licencesAnd the pharmacy?
The state pharmacy board holds the pharmacy licence record; the FDA links to those state searches.
Look up the pharmacy record
Check the actual business named as making or sending the medicine.
FDA route to state pharmacy searchesNothing in these boxes is sent anywhere. Copy the notes you want to keep before opening another sheet.
What happens before a prescription?
A prescription needs more than the patient picking from a list of drugs, according to guidance reviewed September 26, 2026.
Those prescribing points came from the Federation of State Medical Boards. It asks for a check of the patient’s needs, with a way for patients to raise later questions.
Its advice does not create one law for the whole country. States set their own rules for what doctors must do, as recorded on September 26, 2026.
Read what the board guidance asks for
Ask which rules your state requires and how the visit will meet them.
Medical board guidance on prescribingHow are extra tests or an exam arranged?
When a visit online leaves a need for tests or an exam, the medical boards’ advice puts the next step on the doctor. The doctor must arrange that care, either directly or through another person who can provide it.
Source note on tests and further care
Ask who will arrange any tests or in-person exam and explain the results.
Medical board policy for remote visitsWhat if testosterone is proposed?
As of September 26, 2026, testosterone was a federally controlled drug, meaning extra prescribing rules applied.
Source note on controlled medicines
Ask which current prescribing rule applies to the particular medicine and whether your visit needs to be in person.
Federal controlled-drug scheduleBefore agreeing to a payment plan, gather the full bill.
Use the cost worksheet