Find care you can check.

A screen can be a place to start

Compare in-person medical practices with services offering remote visits. Whichever route you choose, find out who would assess you and how you can verify their licence.

Telehealth visits take place over video, by phone or through an exchange online. An in-person visit happens with the person treating you in the same room.

A doctor providing remote care to someone in California must hold a current California medical licence.

The person providing your care must explain remote care, get your spoken or written consent, and record it before the visit.

Consent means your agreement.

An online prescription requires a suitable medical exam first and a medical reason for the medicine.

As of September 26, 2026, California allows that exam to use a questionnaire only if the person treating you still gives you the care your health problem needs.

Ask who reviews your answers, whether they have enough information about your health, and how you can ask more questions. Ask what would lead them to arrange tests or examine you in person.

An exam or a test may come next

For remote care, the Federation of State Medical Boards advises the same thoroughness as care in person; this is a group of state boards.

In guidance checked September 26, 2026, it says the person treating you needs a way to ask more questions or get missing health information.

It also advises arranging tests or an in-person exam when the medical review needs them.

That is guidance for care, rather than a promise that every visit can stay online.

Bring a list of medicines and supplements. Add past treatments, allergies, and what you hope will change. Ask how results and follow-up will be handled.

Check the licence before a visit

1. Get the names

   Request the full names of both the person assessing you and the pharmacy that would supply the medicine.

2. Match the person to the board

   Use the person’s profession to choose the state board in the table below.

   Both MD and DO mean that the person is a doctor. Use the letters after your doctor’s name to choose the board.

   Match the role to its California board.

   Person	Board
   Medical doctor (MD)	Medical Board of California
   Doctor (DO after the name)	Osteopathic Medical Board of California
   Nurse practitioner (NP)	Board of Registered Nursing
   Physician assistant (PA)	Physician Assistant Board

3. Read the licence record

   Look for a current licence and any board discipline entry. This may show that the board stopped the person from practising for a time or took away the licence. Match the name and licence type with the details you were given.

   The state’s Department of Consumer Affairs licence search shows whether a licence is current or expired and whether the board has taken disciplinary action.

   A record with no board discipline does not prove the person gives good care.

   Find the state licence searches↗

Check the pharmacy separately

When a medicine is made to order, the process is called compounding.

Sterile means free of living germs.

California’s pharmacy board has searches for pharmacy licences and separate sterile-compounding licences.

As of September 26, 2026, an out-of-state pharmacy making sterile medicine for California needs a separate California sterile-compounding licence.

Ask the pharmacy which licence lets it make and send the medicine you are being offered. Check the person who writes the prescription and the pharmacy that supplies it separately.