Before a visit
Give the visit room to answer your question.
Bring the question that led you here. An assessment is a conversation about your health and possible next steps; it is not a commitment to start a medicine.
Words, unpacked
A follow-up is a later conversation about how care is going. A referral means being directed to another health professional.
Bring a short health note
You can use a sheet of paper. Leave space beside each item for an answer. The health professional who assesses you is your clinician.
- The problem you want help with and when you first noticed it.
- Medicines you take, including those bought without a prescription, plus vitamins, minerals, herbal products and past reactions.
- Tests or care you have already had for this problem.
- If relevant, note what you want to ask about breastfeeding, pregnancy or becoming pregnant.
Ask how the online assessment works
Telehealth brings care to you at a distance using, for example, online messages, a phone call or a video visit. Ask how you can speak back and raise a new question.
The state offices that license doctors have a national group: it is called the Federation of State Medical Boards. Advice about online care comes from this group.
Choosing an item on a medicine menu cannot by itself justify a prescription, the group advises, as of September 26, 2026.
Patients must have a chance to ask the clinician questions of their own, the group also advises.
State rules set what doctors must do when prescribing online, as of September 26, 2026.
- Who reviews the health details I send?
- How can the clinician ask me more questions?
- Before any decision, how do I put my own questions to the clinician?
Ask what needs a test or an in-person exam
Ask which question a proposed test would answer. If the visit is online, ask how any hands-on part of care would be arranged.
Doctors should arrange any needed tests or a referral for an exam in person, the group advises, as of September 17, 2026.
- What would the test change about the next step?
- Who arranges the test, where would it happen, and who reads the result?
- Who explains the result to me?
- If I need an examination in person, who sets it up?
Keep a route back for later questions
Before the conversation ends, write down the plan in your own words. Read it back if part of it is unclear.
- What are the options, including waiting or choosing other care?
- If a medicine is discussed, why that exact product?
- Who reads questions between visits?
- What happens next if I decide to wait?