[Go to the reading](#read)

[Recovery, in plain words](/)

A handbook for choosing care Plain words: on

[What is it?](/start/)

[Is it real?](/approval/)

[How do I find care?](/care/)

[What will I pay?](/cost/)

[What needs checking?](/safety/)

Look at the public record

# How do you check the clinician’s name?

Start with a full name and the type of professional who would assess you. A photograph or a badge leaves the central question unanswered.

## Questions to work through

Get a name you can look up.

Ask for the clinician’s full name, profession and the state permission they would use for your visit. Keep the spelling.

Find the appropriate state board.

The Federation of State Medical Boards is behind this directory of links to boards overseeing doctors. The directory was checked September 17, 2026.

An osteopathic physician is a doctor whose degree is called a DO. Some states have a separate board for these doctors.

Read both status and history.

Look up the doctor in the state medical board’s records for both current license status and public disciplinary actions.

No public discipline does not tell you how well a clinician will care for your particular problem.

## Match the record to the visit

Confirm which state you will be in for a remote appointment, then check the clinician’s license or other legal permission there. Each state decides its rules; this health-department advice was checked on September 26, 2026.

Check that the full name, profession and state match the answer you were given. Ask the board about any status or restriction you cannot understand.

## If the person is not a physician

Ask which professional board keeps their record. Do not treat a doctor-only search as a complete check for every kind of clinician.

Keep the board result with your notes, and repeat any unresolved question to the service before deciding.

Keep this thought

A public record is useful evidence about permission and discipline. It is a starting check, not a recommendation.

## Notes for this question

### [Find the medical board](https://www.fsmb.org/contact-a-state-medical-board/)

Choose the state, then follow through to its own record search.

### [What boards disclose](https://www.fsmb.org/u.s.-medical-regulatory-trends-and-actions/guide-to-medical-regulation-in-the-united-states/information-for-consumers/)

Explains the public information boards can provide and why it helps.

### [HHS: the patient’s location](https://telehealth.hhs.gov/licensure/getting-started-licensure)

Guidance on the state permission relevant to a remote visit.

[How do I check the pharmacy?](/pharmacy/)  [What happens at a visit?](/visit/)  [Where can I seek care?](/care/)

Words, unpacked

Medical board

A state body that licenses and disciplines doctors.

Disciplinary action

A formal action by the professional board.

[Where can I seek care?](/care/) [How do I check the clinician?](/licence/) [How do I check the pharmacy?](/pharmacy/) [What happens at a visit?](/visit/) [What can I ask?](/questions/)

[Read this page as text](/licence/index.md)

This is a guide for questioning care offers, never a clinic or a place that supplies medicine.

[Begin here](/)  [What can I ask?](/questions/)  [How can I read the evidence?](/sources/)

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