[Skip to the notes](#ask-main) Tolleson / care notes Plain-language guide \> question notes # Check the clinician and the care plan Get names and answers before making a choice. Keep the medicine, clinician and pharmacy as separate checks. Jump within this page ↳ - [Get the clinician’s name](#ask-name) - [Ask how the visit works](#ask-visit) - [Name the pharmacy](#ask-pharmacy) - [Write down the follow-up plan](#ask-followup) - [Sources](#ask-sources) ## Get the clinician’s name Get the clinician’s full name and licence type before looking up the record. These Arizona boards offered licence searches on their websites as of October 3, 2026. Match the full name. Look for the licence’s current status, any limits on practice and any listed penalties for breaking professional rules. - Medical doctor (MD): Arizona’s Medical Board has Doctor Search for licence details and written board decisions about the doctor. - Osteopathic doctor (DO), another type of doctor: use Arizona’s Osteopathic Board and its own doctor search. - Nurse practitioner (NP), a nurse with advanced training: check both the nurse’s licence and the certificate for that training through the Nursing Board. Permission to prescribe must also fit the patient group the nurse was trained to treat. - Physician assistant (PA): use Arizona’s Physician Assistants Board and its PA Search to check the licence record. Telehealth means care by screen, phone or online messages. Arizona’s telehealth registration let some clinicians with a licence from another state treat Arizona patients remotely, as of October 3, 2026. They must meet the registration rules and Arizona’s care rules. This registration is not a full Arizona licence. If you are in Arizona during an online visit, ask the right board to confirm what allows this clinician to treat you there. Past penalties may be missing from a board’s online record, under Arizona’s posting rules as of October 6, 2026. Arizona restricts which records appear on board websites; ask the board for any other public records. ## Ask how the visit works Bring a short list of what you take, your health concerns and what you hope will change. Arizona usually requires consent for telehealth, as of October 3, 2026. Consent is your agreement to care once someone has explained it. As of September 26, 2026, national medical-board guidance said choosing a medicine from a website’s list, without a real assessment, was not proper care. Patients also need a chance to ask more questions, according to that guidance. - What makes this medicine fit my concern? - What are the other choices, including waiting? - What would require a test or an in-person exam? - Can I ask the clinician questions of my own? ## Name the pharmacy Ask who makes the medicine and who sends it; write down each pharmacy’s full name. A pharmacy in another state needed both an Arizona permit to send medicines here and authority to operate where it was based, as of October 3, 2026. The pharmacy permit and the pharmacist’s licence are separate checks. A pharmacy permit covers the pharmacy; a made-to-order medicine must also meet other state and federal rules. As of September 26, 2026, regular compounding pharmacies needed a valid prescription for a named patient and raw ingredients allowed under federal law. - Ask Arizona’s State Board of Pharmacy to confirm the permit and pharmacist’s licence. - Ask which exact product will be supplied and who will make it. - If it is made to order, ask why an approved medicine cannot meet your needs. - Ask the pharmacist to show which ingredient rule applies and how the ingredient meets it. - For regular pharmacies, the ingredient routes involve official pharmacy standards, an ingredient in an approved drug, or a federal list of allowed ingredients. - Ask the pharmacist which route fits this ingredient and what other rules apply to the medicine. ## Write down the follow-up plan Ask who answers later, how to reach them and how the care plan will be reviewed. Put a name beside the answer. Keep a copy of the plan after the visit. - Who handles a new symptom or a question about the label? - How do I get a copy of my care record? - What happens if the medicine is unavailable? - What happens if I decide to stop the service? Still to ask: [Next: check the bill →](/budget-notes/) ## Sources behind these notes - [Medical Board: MD records](https://www.azmd.gov/DoctorSearch/DoctorSearch) - [Osteopathic Board: DO records](https://azdo.gov/find-your-do) - [Nursing Board: licence and certificate checks](https://azbn.gov/) - [Physician Assistants Board: PA records](https://www.azpa.gov/) - [Arizona: out-of-state telehealth registration](https://www.azleg.gov/ars/36/03606.htm) - [Arizona: telehealth consent](https://www.azleg.gov/ars/36/03602.htm) - [Arizona: access to board records](https://www.azleg.gov/ars/32/03214.htm) - [Arizona: pharmacy permit requirements](https://www.azleg.gov/ars/32/01929.htm) - [Arizona: Pharmacy Board duties](https://www.azleg.gov/ars/32/01904.htm) - [FDA: federal rules for making medicines to order (PDF)](https://www.fda.gov/media/193342/download) - [FDA: ingredient rules for regular compounding pharmacies](https://www.fda.gov/drugs/human-drug-compounding/bulk-drug-substances-used-compounding-under-section-503a-fdc-act) - [Medical-board guidance: online prescribing](https://www.fsmb.org/siteassets/advocacy/policies/guidance-on-recent-trends-in-prescribing-and-dispensing-adopted.pdf) These notes offer a guide to understanding care; the site neither runs a clinic nor sells medicines. [Read this page as plain text](/question-notes/index.md) [Start](/) [Checks](/question-notes/) [Costs](/budget-notes/) [Cautions](/caution-notes/)