Word in play / Telehealth
A screen can start a care conversation.
Ask who will review your health and decide about your medicine. Find out whether that person is a doctor or another health professional, and how you can ask them questions.
Jump to a section
- Telehealth
- Telehealth connects you to care by video, telephone, or an exchange online rather than a visit in the same room.
Compare visit formats
Find out how the exchange works.
Live conversation
You can explain your goal while the person treating you asks questions. Keep a short list beside you so nothing important gets lost.
Ask: will this be video, phone, or in person?
Read and reply
You may send information for the person treating you to review later. Ask how you can exchange more questions and answers.
Ask: how do I speak with the person making the decision?
The state bodies that license doctors come together in the Federation of State Medical Boards.
Its advice, checked in September 2026, says treatment should not rest only on a fixed questionnaire with no chance for further questions.
This is advice for state medical boards, not a nationwide law. Each state has its own rules for prescribing medicines.
The federation also advises that patients should be able to ask further questions.
Where the visit happens
Use the state you are in during the visit.
Under guidance checked in September 2026, the doctor must have a licence or another kind of legal permission before treating you. That permission must cover the state you occupy when the visit takes place.
Let the service know where you will be during the visit, including any travel. Ask for the doctor’s name and licence number for that state. If the service says another permission applies, ask it to name the permission and the state rule that allows it. Check that answer with the state medical board before deciding.
HHS: licences and remote careHHS is the Department of Health and Human Services; this page explains the state-licence question.
Prepare for the visit
Leave with a plan you can explain back.
- What information would help you understand my goal?
- Would an exam or a test change the decision?
- What are the options besides this medicine?
- Who can I reach with questions after the visit?
- How will we tell if the plan is helping me?
The medical boards’ advice calls for arranging tests or an in-person visit when those are needed to check your health.
Before the conversation ends, repeat the plan in your own words. Ask for any part you could not explain back.
Carry this question forward
Can you find the doctor and pharmacy in the state’s public licence records?
Check a care option