Start with a name, then a licence.

Begin with the person who will assess you

Ask a clinic you can visit in person or a remote care service to explain its assessment. With telehealth, the care happens over video, by phone or through an online form.

Ask who will assess you and decide about treatment. Get that person’s full name, job title and licence number, even if someone else books the visit. Match the name and number to the state licence record. Check whether the licence is current.

Match the role to the right board

Licence information here reflects September 28, 2026.

Medical doctor · MD

For an MD, the licence record comes from the Medical Board of California.

Doctor · DO

A doctor with DO after their name has a separate licence board; use the DO licence link on the sources page.

Nurse practitioner · NP

The Board of Registered Nursing lists nurse records and a separate nurse practitioner certificate for prescribing.

Physician assistant · PA

A PA’s licence is held with the Physician Assistant Board.

The Department of Consumer Affairs search brings these boards’ licence records together.

Expect an assessment, then a plan

Note what you hope the visit will help with. List each medicine and supplement you take, and bring that list. Add any past reaction that worries you. Ask which details your assessor needs before making a treatment decision.

California’s rule, checked September 28, 2026, requires an assessment before an online prescription and a medical reason for the medicine.

That assessment does not always require an in-person exam or a live call.

A form can count as the assessment only if the care meets the level expected for your medical needs.

Filling in any online form is not automatically enough.

Ask: “How will my answers tell you whether this medicine is right for me?” If a form leaves something unexplained, ask to speak with the person deciding about treatment. Ask how to raise later questions too. For any proposed tests or in-person exam, ask why they are needed, who will make the arrangements and who will go over the results.

Name the pharmacy before the parcel

California’s pharmacy board has separate licence searches for pharmacies and for places that make sterile medicines, including out-of-state facilities.

Sterile means free from living germs.

Ask which pharmacy makes or sends the product. Keep its name with the details of the person treating you. Compare those names with the medicine’s label when it arrives.